Personal Time Away

The following options provide employees with personal time away from work:

• Bereavement Leave - Funeral leave is available in the event of the death of certain family members without using hours from your PTO bank.
• Educational Activities Leave - You may have direct access to up to 8 hours each fiscal year to attend school-sponsored activities for your children using your EIB.
• Foster Parent Leave - You may attend certain foster parent meetings without using hours from your PTO bank.
• Institutional Holidays - Institutional holidays are provided annually for all employees. If an employee is required to work on the holiday, it may be banked for up to 12 months.
• Leave Without Pay - LWOP may be available if you need time away from work and are ineligible for, or have exhausted, your paid time off options.
• Paid Time Off - You accrue hours monthly in a Paid Time Off (PTO) bank that provides discretionary leave to be used for any purpose, such as vacation, personal time and short-term employee or immediate family member illnesses/injuries.
• Donor Appreciation Leave - Up to 8 hours of Donor Appreciation Leave (DAL) may be used for personal leave in appreciation for an eligible employee’s consistent donation over a calendar year.
• Using Leave Accruals Before Retiring or Leaving the Institution - With their manager's approval, employees may use eligible accruals through the date they separate without returning to work. Read more about the specific steps needed for compliance with state code.  

The employee requests time off through the timekeeping system with as much advance notice as is possible and follows their Departmental Time Off Procedures. All personal time away must be approved by your manager according to the Attendance Policy (MD Anderson Institutional Policy #ADM2089) and Departmental Time Off Procedures. Obtaining leave with pay under false pretenses, or other abuses of any paid leave privilege, may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.

Scheduled Hours, Leave and Workweek Classification

Department leadership has the authority to adjust an employee’s work schedule as long as the standard hours of the employee are met.¹ Read more about examples and tips for coding time.

Four Hour Rule

Time off during the workday of less than 4 hours is not deducted from employees' accrual banks when they meet all of the criteria below:

• Work in an exempt position;
• Are employed full-time;
• Absence isn’t related to a pending or approved intermittent FMLA case;
• Receive approval from their manager prior to using it.

Divisions or departments:

• May not use accrued time for absences less than 4 hours for employees;
• Have the authority to determine if accruals must be used for partial day absences of 4 or more hours and 
• Have the authority to establish and revise standards of practice for their departments related to this time off. These rules must be consistently applied within the same area.
  

The Four Hour Rule is for occasional use. Managers can ask why the time off is needed and can deny the request based on business needs. Follow your department's normal time off procedure when requesting time off using the Four Hour Rule.

Using the Four Hour Rule

• Employees in both remote or in-campus positions can use the 4 Four Hour Rule.
• Employees, including those who are overtime eligible, cannot make up unworked time or have time entered to bring them to their standard hours.
• Those classified as FLSA status 'S' or 'T' must physically work greater than 40 or 80 hours (depending on their job title) to be eligible for overtime.

Source:

¹MD Anderson Legal Services Legal Opinion