3.3.17 - Disaster Leave Benefit

Last updated on July 3, 2023

POLICY: The College strives to protect the status of employees during a major disaster while maintaining business continuity. Additionally, the College recognizes that there may be instances when an employee may personally suffer a loss of their primary residence during a declared disaster requiring the employee to be absent from work.  The College has established paid leave in the form of Disaster Leave to be used by its employees during a relief effort.

Scope: This policy applies to all full-time employees.

The College provides up to twenty-one hours of disaster leave to its employees.  The amount of leave permitted is on an annual basis and does not accrue.

Definitions:  

“Disaster" as defined by 20 ILCS 3305/Illinois Emergency Management Act means an occurrence or threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural, technological, or human cause, including but not limited to fire, flood, earthquake, wind, storm, hazardous materials spill or other water contamination requiring emergency action to avert danger or damage, epidemic, air contamination, blight, extended periods of severe and inclement weather, drought, infestation, critical shortages of essential fuels and energy, explosion, riot, hostile military or paramilitary

Primary personal residence: The home in which the full-time employee resides most of the time.  This does not include vacation or second homes, nor property owned but not occupied by the employee.

Details:

1. Leave may be available under this policy to an employee who has sustained severe or catastrophic damage to or loss of their primary residence, or has been ordered to evacuate that residence, because of a natural or man-made emergency disaster.
2. Leave entitlement is concurrent with the College’s fiscal year (July 1-June 30).
3. The immediate supervisor has sole discretion for authorizing the use of disaster leave for an employee who is a victim of a disaster in increments no less than .5 hours and up to the maximum allowed as previously noted. In cases for which it is impossible to request leave in advance (for example, immediately following a disaster when communication is not available), paid leave may be granted retroactively by the supervisor upon written request.
4. Formal documentation from recognized disaster relief organi­zations or insurance companies verifying severe, extreme, or catastrophic damage to or loss of personal property as a result of the declared emergency in which the damage or required evacuation rendered the employee’s home temporarily or permanently uninhabitable should be requested by the supervisor and forwarded to SRC Human Resources
5. The employee’s timecard should indicate unusual conditions for any leave used under this policy.
6. Compensation under this policy is computed at individual employee’s base rate of pay.
7. Leave under this policy is not considered time worked for overtime calculations.

The College will not pay for expenses incurred by the employee in recovering from the personal effects of a disaster.