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Upon evidence satisfactory to the appointing authority of the death of a spouse, child, parent (including step-parent), brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild of an employee; or parent (including step-parent) of spouse; domestic partner; or person living in the immediate household, an employee shall be entitled to leave without loss of pay for a maximum of four (4) consecutive working days. In the event of the death of an employee's son-in-law or daughter-in-law or of the spouse's child, brother, sister, grandparent or grandchild, a maximum of two (2) consecutive working days shall be available for use by an employee. In the event that the internment of, or memorial service for, any of the above named relatives is to occur at a time beyond the bereavement leave granted, the employee may request to defer one of the days to a later date. Such request shall be made at the time of notification to the CEO of the death of one of the above named relatives, and may be granted at the discretion of the CEO.

A sympathy/memorial gift of flowers may be requested for the loss of an employee's immediate family member (spouse, child, parent, brother or sister) by emailing Benefits@umassp.edu with the pertinent details. 

Source: Massachusetts Legal Holidays

2024 Holidays Day of Observance
New Year’s Day Monday, January 1
Martin Luther King Jr DayMonday, January 15
President’s Day (Washington's Birthday)Monday, February 19
Patriot’s DayMonday, April 15
Memorial DayMonday, May 27
Juneteenth Independence Day Wednesday, June 19
Independence Day Thursday, July 4
Labor DayMonday, September 2
Indigenous Peoples DayMonday, October 14
Veteran’s DayMonday, November 11
Thanksgiving DayThursday, November 28
Christmas Day Wednesday, December 25
Offices Operate with Limited PersonnelDay of Observance 
Day after Thanksgiving Friday, November 29
Day before ChristmasTuesday, December 24

If you are summoned for jury duty, please present to your immediate supervisor or manager the appropriate court notification.  You will receive full pay for the duration of the court leave contingent upon remitting to Human Resources the compensation received from the court (excluding expenses).If you receive jury fees for jury service, upon presentation of the appropriate court certificate of service you will either: (1) retain such jury fees in lieu of pay for the period of jury service if the jury fees exceed your regular rate of compensation for the period involved; or (2) remit to Human Resources the jury fees if less than your regular rate of compensation for the period involved.  Jury fees shall be the per diem rate paid for jury duty by the court not including the expenses reimbursed for travel, meals, rooms, or incidentals.

If you are summoned as a witness in court on behalf of the Commonwealth or any town, city, or country of the Commonwealth or on behalf of the federal government, you will be granted court leave with pay upon filing of the appropriate notice of service with your department head.  This shall not apply if you are also in the employ of any town, city, or county of the Commonwealth or in the employ of the federal government or any private employer and are summoned on a matter arising from that employment.

All fees for court service, except jury fees paid for service rendered during office hours, must be paid to the Commonwealth.  You may retain any fees paid to you for court service performed during a vacation period.  You shall retain expenses paid for travel, meals, rooms, etc.  Court leave will not affect your employment rights.

No court leave shall be granted when the employee is the defendant or is engaged in personal litigation.

Non-Unit Professional Staff - 5 personal days are awarded in January for use during that calendar year.

Non-Unit Classified Staff - 5 personal days are awarded in January for use during that calendar year.

Note: new hires are awarded personal leave on a pro-rata status according to their date of hire.

Sick leave hours are accrued on a bi-weekly basis for a total of 12 days per year to a maximum of 120 days

Employees who retire directly from active employment and who have accumulated unused sick leave credits shall be paid an amount equal to 20% of the value of such credits, computed by multiplying the number of days sick leave available times the daily rate of salary received by the employee at the time of his/her retirement.

No cash out of sick leave will be allowed for employees who defer their date of retirement.

Chapter 149 of the General Laws, §148C and 940 CMR 33.02 require that the employer shall provide a minimum of one hour of earned sick time for every thirty hours worked by an employee, up to a maximum of 40 hours of sick time in a calendar year. Please visit the Human Resources policies page for more information regarding the Earned Sick Leave Law.

Earned Sick Leave Policy

Non-Unit employees are automatically enrolled in the sick leave bank.  The Bank provides paid leave for periods of illness or disability that exceeds an employee's accrued time.  It is not meant, however, as a substitute for long-term disability insurance.

Get more information about the Sick Leave Bank Policy.

Vacation hours are accrued on a bi-weekly basis and can be viewed on your pay advice.

Non-Unit Professional Staff
Accrue 20 vacation days per year (up to a maximum of 368 hours/46 days). In addition longevity vacation days are accrued as follows:

  • 1 additional day after 5 years of service
  • 2 additional days after 10 years of service
  • 3 additional days after 20 years of service

Non-Unit Classified Staff
The maximum accrual for Non Unit Classified Staff is 345 hours/46 days. Vacation days accrue as follows:

  • 10 days per year up to 4 1/2 years of service
  • 15 days per year: 4 1/2 to 9 1/2 years of service
  • 20 days per year: 9 1/2 to 19 1/2 years of service
  • 25 days per year: 19 1/2 or more years of service

MA Parental Leave

After 3 months of consecutive employment, an employee is eligible for up to 8 weeks of unpaid leave under the MA Parental Leave for activities related to the care and well-being of a newborn or adopted child. The UMass President's Office provides up to 10 days of paid leave during this 8-week period under the HR-Internal-05-Paid Parental Leave Guidelines

Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

After 12 months of employment, an employee is eligible for up to 12 weeks unpaid, job protected leave, during a 12-month period related to the birth or adoption of a child; a serious health condition of the employee; or the need to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition. Health and life insurance benefits continue. While on approved, unpaid FMLA, employees may utilize sick, vacation, and personal accrued time. All leave plans run concurrently.

Forms and Related Information

For further information, please email Benefits at Benefits@umassp.edu.  

Massachusetts Paid Family & Medical Leave (MA PFML)

The MA PFML went into effect on January 1, 2021 and provides paid, job-protected leave to eligible employees.  The MA PFML has 2 components-paid family leave and paid medical leave for the employee.  

Paid family leave may be taken to:

  • Care for a family member with a serious health condition (this benefit is effective on July 1, 2021) 
  • Bond with a child during the first 12 months after the child’s birth
  • Bond with a child during the first 12 months after adoption or foster care placement
  • Care for a family member who is or was a member of the Armed Forces, National Guard or Reserves and developed or aggravated a serious health condition in line of duty on active duty while deployed to a foreign country
  • Manage family affairs when a family member is on or has been called to active duty in a foreign county while in the armed forces, including the National Guard or Reserves

Paid medical leave may be taken to:

  • Manage the employee's own serious health condition

Employees who apply for PFML on or after November 1, 2023, are eligible to use any available employer-provided paid leave to supplement or "top off" their weekly PFML benefit up to their IAWW (individual average weekly wage).  It is important to note that any employer-provided paid leave time used to "top off" a weekly PFML benefit is not retirement-eligible. 

For more information, please go to the FAQ's for Employees on the DFML website. 

For other general information on PFML and how to apply, please go to the DFML website on Mass.gov. 

 

Earned Paid Sick Leave Frequently Asked Questions

Any person who performs services for an employer for wage, remuneration, or other compensation, including full time, part-time, seasonal, and temporary employees, except: a. Federal work study students; b. Students providing support services to residents of a residence hall, dormitory, apartment building, or other similar residence operated by the institution at which they are matriculated in exchange for a waiver or reduction of room, board, tuition or other education-related expenses; or c. Students exempt from Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) tax pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 3121(b) (10). The law does not override employers’ obligations under any contract or benefit plan with more generous provisions than those in the law. Employers that have their own policies providing as much paid time off, usable for the same purposes and under the same conditions as the law, are not required to provide additional paid sick time. Therefore, University employees that are already receiving accrued sick time that is in compliance with the conditions of the state law, and is more generous than the state law requires, will not be impacted by this new law.

Yes.

The employee would need to be enrolled in the sick leave plan for every job separately. The employee would accrue sick leave for each job based on the hours worked at each respective job.

If an employee is otherwise eligible for FMLA leave, s/he may use earned sick leave concurrently with the FMLA leave.

When students are paying FICA taxes over the summer, they are considered employees under the sick time law and should accrue sick time accordingly. This time can only be used while these students continue to pay FICA taxes. Once these students become FICA-exempt during the academic 1 year, they may not use accrued time as they are no longer employees for the purposes of the sick time law. Also being FICA-exempt would constitute a break in service.

  • Example: Being FICA-exempt would constitute a break in service for student employees under the regulations. If a student employee had unused sick time of 10 hours or more, they can carry it over up to a maximum of 40 hours and use it during the next period they are paying FICA taxes, assuming the break is between 4 and 12 months. Any unused sick time less than 10 hours, would be lost.

Effective June 28, 2015, a new sick leave accrual plan (5M) and benefit plan (MASICK) was created for all non-benefited employees and will be administered on a calendar year basis.

Accruals will be done at a rate of .0333 hours (2 minutes per hour worked) which equates to 1 hour of sick time earned for every 30 hours worked.

The earned sick leave is credited every pay period during payroll processing.

Earned sick time will be available on the HR Direct timesheet and on line remittance advice.

Although the law permits a 90 day vesting period, UMass will allow all eligible non-benefited employees to begin using hours as they accrue.

Employees are eligible to use 40 hours per year, in no less than 15 minute increments.

Yes. Employees may carry over a total of up to 40 hours into the next calendar year.

Yes. The employee can earn the difference between what was carried over and 40 hours.

  • Example 1: On January 1, 2016 the employee carries over 30 hours of unused sick leave, he/she may earn 10 hours additional hours during 2016.

No. The employee will only accrue earned sick leave based on the actual hours worked, including overtime hours.

No. The employee will accrue sick leave for each position separately. The employee may only use sick leave accrued from each position to cover the hours not worked in their respective jobs.

No. There is no cash-out when employees enrolled in this leave plan separate from service

When non-benefited employees become benefited employees, any accrued and unused sick time under the new non-benefited leave accrual plan would be transferred to the benefited position. If an employee goes from benefited to non-benefited, then they should only be eligible to transfer up to 40 hours of accrued and unused sick time to the non-benefited position.