Overview
During times of death in the immediate family, Jackson State University understands that employees may need additional time off for various reasons pertaining to their loss.
Policy Provisions
- Up to three (3) days of earned medical leave with full pay may be granted.
- If the period exceeds three days in any one occurrence, the excess will be charged to accrued personal leave or deducted from the employee’s salary.
- One day of accrued personal leave with full pay will be granted for relatives or persons outside of the immediate family.
- Any additional time off is permissible but requires approval based on workloads and staffing requirements.
Immediate Family Members
Immediate family members under this policy are defined as:
- Parents or legal guardians (includes spouse)
- Brother
- Sister
- Child/Step-child
- Spouse
- Significant other(s)
- Employee’s paternal and maternal grandparents (includes spouse)
- Grandchildren
- Step-parents (includes spouse)
- Aunt
- Uncle
Employee Responsibility
- Employees who need bereavement time should notify their supervisors as soon as possible.
- Employees may be required to provide evidence of the immediate family member’s death, such as a copy of the death certificate or a copy of the newspaper obituary.
- Employees who require additional time beyond that provided in this policy should discuss the situation with their supervisors. Options include using vacation time or an unpaid personal leave.
Management Responsibility
- Managers should notify Human Resources when one of their employees requests bereavement days.
- Deaths of immediate family members can be extremely difficult. Supervisors should be sensitive to the need for additional time off in some cases.
- Bereavement leave requests for employees not covered in this procedure may be granted at the discretion of the department head.
- Department heads are responsible for ensuring that bereavement leave is documented on the appropriate corporate form for attendance reporting or time card/sheet.
Entitlement
- Upon notification of death, the Office of the President will in most cases, notify the University family of the employee’s and/or immediate family member’s death. No notification will be issued when the affected employee requests that no notification be issued.
- In the event of an employee’s death, communication will be sent from the President.
- The Division of Human Resources will send a card of condolence from the University.
- Other expressions of bereavement are encouraged but may only be funded through private expenditures or donations.