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Section 5 - Leave

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Section 6 - Employee Benefits and Awards

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Community Service Leave

Policy

In recognition of the State’s diverse needs for volunteers to support schools, communities, citizens and non-profit organizations, and recognizing the commitment of State employees to engage in volunteer service, Community Service Leave, within the parameters outlined below, may be granted to:

parents for child involvement in the schools (as defined below)
any employee for volunteer activity in the schools or in a Community Service Organization (as defined below), or
any employee for tutoring and mentoring in the schools, or
any employee for volunteering in a State of North Carolina Public University, Community College System or State agency provided that the service is outside of the employee’s normal scope of duties and responsibilities and that the employee is not receiving any form of compensation for the services rendered.

Definitions

Following are definitions of terms used in this policy:

Terms	Definition
School (public or private)	One that is authorized to operate under the laws of the State of North Carolina and is: an elementary school, middle school, high school, or a child care program Advisory Note: Advisory Note: For employees who live in a state adjacent to North Carolina, the agency may grant community service leave to parents for involvement in the child’s school.
Public University	A constituent institution of the University of North Carolina.
Community College	An educational institution that is a member of the North Carolina Community College System.
State Agency	A State government agency that is authorized to operate under the laws of the State of North Carolina.
Child	A son or daughter who is: a biological child, an adopted child, a foster child a step-child, a legal ward a child of an employee standing in loco parentis
Community Service Organization	A non-profit, non-partisan community organization which is designated as a IRS Code 501(c)(3) agency, or a human service organization licensed or accredited to serve citizens with special needs including children, youth, and the elderly. Advisory Note: Although religious organizations may be 501(c)(3) agencies, this leave does not apply to activities designed to promote religious beliefs.

Covered Employees and Credits

With approval of the supervisor, an employee is eligible for Community Service Leave as follows:

Type of Appointment	Amount Granted
Full-time - permanent, probationary, trainee, or time-limited	24 hours/year OR 1 hour/week (up to a max of 36 hrs) for mentoring/tutoring (as outlined below)
Part-time (half time or more) – permanent, probationary, trainee, or time limited	Prorated –equal to percentage of full- time amount
Temporary, intermittent, or part-time (less than half-time)	None

The twenty-four hours (24) of paid leave shall be credited to each employee on January 1 of each year, unless the employee chooses the mentoring/tutoring option. New employees shall be credited with leave immediately upon their employment, prorated at two hours per month for the remainder of the calendar year.

Employee Option for Tutoring and Mentoring

In lieu of the twenty-four (24) hour award as noted above, an employee may choose to tutor/mentor in a school. Leave under this option shall be used exclusively for tutoring or mentoring a student in accordance with established standards rules and guidelines for such arrangements as determined and documented by joint agreement with the employee’s agency and the school.
The amount of community service leave for tutoring/mentoring is one (1) hour of community service leave for each week, up to a maximum of 36 hours, that schools are in session as documented by the elected board of the local education agency or the governing authority of any non-public school.

Advisory Note: Any time used for tutoring/mentoring, including time spent traveling to and from the school, must be accounted for either by the use of the one hour of community service leave or other leave policies.

Changing Options

If an employee chooses to change options during the calendar year, the maximum hours that may be granted is the maximum allowed under the new option chosen minus the amount already used.

What is Community Service

Community service, for this purpose, is:

meeting with a teacher or administrator concerning the employee’s child,
attending any function sponsored by the school in which the employee’s child is participating. This provision shall only be utilized in conjunction with nonathletic programs that are a part or supplement to the school’s academic or artistic program,
performing school-approved volunteer work approved by a teacher, school administrator, or program administrator,
performing a service for a community service organization
performing volunteer work for a public university that is approved by a university administrator or other authorized university official;
performing volunteer work for a community college that is approved by a community college administrator or other authorized community college official, or
performing volunteer work for a State agency that is approved by the agency head or his/her designee.

Advisory Notes:

Service does not include activities designed to promote religious beliefs such as teaching or leading religious assemblies or in raising funds to support religious activities. Service would include activities supported by religious organizations such as working in soup kitchens, homeless shelters or other community activities.
Service may include working inside a polling facility to assist voters with the voting process as long as the employee is not receiving pay for the work. Vacation leave shall be charged if the employee is receiving pay for the "inside" poll work or if the employee is distributing brochures, transporting voters or other partisan campaigning outside of the polls.

Agency Policy

Each agency shall set forth a policy that shall be administered consistently.

Approval of Leave

Employees must receive approval from their supervisor to use this leave. The supervisor or other agency management may require that the leave be taken at a time other than the one requested, based on the needs of the agency.

The agency may require acceptable proof that leave taken is within the purpose of this policy.

Inter-Agency Transfer

If an employee transfers to another State agency, any balance of community service leave not used shall be transferred to the new agency. Under the tutoring/mentoring option, the employee should secure approval from the new supervisor prior to the transfer so that any necessary changes may be communicated to appropriate officials.

Not Cumulative

Leave not taken is forfeited; it shall not be carried into the next calendar year.

Separation

Employees shall not be paid for this leave upon separation.

Additional Time for Community Service Activities

The agency may allow an employee additional time away from regular duties above the 24 hours of paid leave to perform significant community service activities with provisions for the employee to make up the time.

Hours worked in excess of forty during a workweek would constitute overtime under Federal regulations for FLSA non-exempt employees; therefore, it will be necessary for make-up time for these employees to be limited to the workweek in which the time is lost or in a week when the employee has not worked a full work schedule due to such absences as holidays, vacation, sick leave, etc.

The following guidelines for granting additional time apply:
The amount of time that any employee may be allowed is left to the discretion of the agency head.
When agency operations require, all arrangements for the community service activity time may be interrupted or suspended.
Consideration of employee requests should include:

nature of work - not all jobs permit rearrangement of work schedules,
the quality of the employee’s job performance with the agency,
indication from the supervisor that unit performance can be maintained,
Any special circumstances such as the importance of the community service activity to community relations needs of the agency.

Records

Supervisors who approve such activities shall maintain records indicating the number of employees involved and the number of hours used

Partisan Political Involvement

Partisan political activity during State time and the use of State equipment or supplies for any community service are not permitted. Special care must be taken to avoid any possible interpretation that the State is, in fact, permitting time off and in so doing supporting a political candidacy. Political activity must be in accordance with G.S. 126-13 of the State Personnel Act.