Possible reductions in the number of days faculty and staff may take in sick leave and vacation are receiving different reactions from SIUC personnel.

In April 1994, SIUC President John Guyon requested the Joint Benefits Committees to review the University’s employee leave policies and to reduce the overall payouts for accrued vacation and sick leave.

The committee’s final report included changes to the leave policies which eliminate 43 days of sick leave currently available to faculty and administrative/professional staff. These sick days are given every year without regard to years of service at the University.

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The committee’s report creates a maximum accrual rate for sick leave based on years of service to the University. The report would allow full-time faculty or administrative/professional staff members one sick day per month.

The committee also proposed a revision for faculty and staff for the use of vacation in the case of illness only when the employee does not have any sick leave left.

Presently, faculty and administrative/professional staff receive 43 days of sick leave a year, while civil service employees receive 12.

Robert L. Wolff, agriculture professor, said there has not been a strong reaction in his department to the report one way or another.

Wolff said the sick leave and vacation policies at SIUC still are very generous and the possible changes do not concern him or his department.

One of the benefits was that some of that sick leave could be used to count toward retirement time at the end, Wolff said. I have looked at the sick leave positively. It was reassurance that the employer was looking after me.

Roland Person, assistant science librarian, said there are some concerns in his department. He said the changes significantly affect his department because faculty in his department are 12-month faculty, and the changes are for nine-month faculty.

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Person said his department wants to be careful not to lose what would otherwise benefit its faculty, because this would affect the amount of days faculty members could save.

We’ve conveyed our concerns to the chair of the committee, Person said.

Joann Marks, member of the Joint Benefits Committee, said she thinks the faculty and administrative/professional staff’s initial reaction to the report will be displeasure at the loss of sick days. She also said she thinks faculty and administrative/professional reactions could change.

If they take a look at it and understand it, it’s not that drastic, Marks said.

Marks said the change to the sick leave policy is more equitable because of the disparity on campus between civil service workers and faculty and administrative/professional staff.

Marks said the constituency groups are looking at the report now, and the final decision will be made in December.

She said the report took almost a year to write and would take a long time to implement because it would have to be approved by Guyon, University staff and the Board of Trustees.