Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Leave of Absence

Short Term Disability

The Colleges' short term disability policy covers periods of medically certified illness or injury when the illness or injury is non-work related. The Colleges provide coverage that is consistent with New York State Disability Law. Generally, coverage is provided for any certified non-work related illness or injury lasting more than seven calendar days. Payment of benefits begins on the eighth calendar day of medically certified illness or injury and runs for up to a maximum of 26 weeks. An individual may have multiple periods of disability in a 12-month period, subject to certain restrictions, though the sum total of the periods of disability may not exceed 26 weeks in any 12-month period. Payment is 70% of average weekly wages up to a maximum benefit of $800 per week. For more information and/or disability claim forms, please contact the Office of Human Resources.

Salary Continuance for periods of Short Term Disability

The Colleges also have a salary continuance benefit policy which is comprised of two parts. The first part is a salary makeup benefit to cover the gap between an employee's regular salary and the insured benefits. The second part is a salary continuance benefit to cover certain disability periods which fall outside the maximum periods of short-term disability under New York State regulations. In both cases the eligibility for salary continuance ends when the employee becomes eligible for long-term disability benefits.

(1) For periods of extended, medically certified illness or injury which is not work related, beginning with day eight, the Colleges provide all benefits-eligible employees with the equivalent of full pay. The Colleges do this by making up the difference between the short-term disability payment (described above), and the employee's regular salary for as long as the employee is disabled. The maximum benefit period under the salary continuance policy is 26 weeks in any rolling 12-month period. All periods of extended, medically certified illness or injury within the rolling 12-month period will be applied toward the 26 week maximum.

(2) Additionally, an employee may have (a) multiple periods of disability caused by different illnesses and injuries exceeding the 26-week maximum benefit period in any 12-month period or (b) recurring periods of disability from the same or related illness or injury where the periods of disability are separated by more than three months and the total of the multiple periods of disability exceed the 26-week maximum benefit period in any 12-month period. In both of these two instances, the Colleges will provide salary continuance equal to the employee's regular full salary or the gap between the employees' regular full salary and the part-time salary earned during a period of disability, for the period of short-term disability in excess of the 26-week maximum.

(3) Prior to returning to work following the disability period, the employee must provide Human Resources with a completed Return to Work form or written statement from their attending physician which may also include any work related restrictions.
Though the paragraphs above are focused on full-time disability, there are also provisions for partial disability. The employee must first exhaust seven consecutive sick days and establish a potential long-term disability date in order to be eligible for the benefit. The Office of Human Resources would be glad to meet with anyone concerned with issues of disability to review how disability and salary continuance benefits work.

For the eligible employees not working during the non-academic months, the sick day, disability, and salary continuance policies continue across periods of time when classes are not in session. Under New York law, periods during which no work is performed but which are contiguous to a period of active employment and following which there is a presumption of the continuation of active employment, are deemed to be periods of employment for determining periods of disability.

In order to be eligible for any of the above benefits, an individual must file a disability claim with the Office of Human Resources before the scheduled procedure begins (where advance knowledge is reasonable) or as soon after the injury or onslaught of illness as possible. If claim forms are not received in a timely fashion, there may be a lag in time between the end of regular salary payments and the start of disability and salary continuance benefit payments. Further, some or all of the benefits described above may be forfeited if the claim form is delayed for too long.

Long-Term Disability

Long-term disability coverage is effective on the first of the month following the eligible employee’s  date of hire with the Colleges. The Colleges pays the full premium cost of this benefit.

Benefits start the first of the month following a six-month elimination period and continue while the employee is disabled, up to age 65, or, depending on age at inception of disability, until age 70. The elimination period is a period of continuous disability, though limited periods of work are allowable within the context of the definition of continuous disability. A period of trial return to work, of less than three months, is not considered a break in a period of continuous disability.

Once an employee is enrolled in long-term disability, the benefits available under the long-term disability policy are provided to the exclusions of any other compensation or other payments from the Colleges (unless the employee is due some compensation for working on a limited basis while receiving long-term disability benefits). See, however, the premium waiver provision of the Colleges' life insurance program which provides for a continuation of insurance coverage during periods of long-term disability.

Partial coverage under long-term disability is provided if employees are able to return to the workforce on a part-time basis and are earning less than 80% of their regular salary.

The benefit amount is 60% of monthly wages up to a maximum benefit of $10,000 per month. Benefits are reduced by payments received from other sources (Social Security, other Colleges' sponsored disability payments, workers' compensation).

Because the Colleges pay the premiums for the long-term disability, the benefits are taxable to the recipient (under the current tax code). However, social security benefits are not. The combination of the untaxed social security benefits and the after-tax disability benefits begins to approximate the after-tax salary before long-term disability. Employees should be aware that this tax information is illustrative only and may not reflect an employee's specific circumstances or the status of the tax code at the point in time that benefits are received. Person-specific tax advice needs to come from an appropriate professional and cannot come from the Colleges.

The Colleges provide this benefit through coverage under a group insurance policy. For further details of this coverage, refer to the Summary Plan Description or to the Office of Human Resources.

Family and Medical Leave (FMLA)

Hobart and William Smith Colleges understands the importance of family issues to its workforce. We also recognize that many of our employees face conflicting demands of family obligations and work. Because employees may find it necessary to take leave from their jobs for a temporary period to address certain family responsibility or their own serious health condition and in order to comply with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Colleges offers eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave per year.  Employees are required to maintain the same level of health benefits and related premium costs during the leave.  Employees are eligible for leave if they have worked for their employer at least 12 months, at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months, and work at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles.

Paid Family Leave (PFL)

In accordance with New York State legislation, the Colleges will provide Paid Family Leave (PFL) coverage for eligible employees. PFL provides wage replacement and job protection to employees who need time away from their jobs to:

• Bond with a newly born, adopted or fostered child.
• Care for a family member with a serious health condition, or
• Assist loved ones when a family member is deployed abroad on active military duty.

Employees who are estimated to work full-time on a work schedule of 20 hours per week of consecutive employment and part-time employees that work less than 20 hours per week and employed after 175 days worked are eligible for the benefit. Faculty are currently exempted from PFL.

Paid Family Leave coverage will be funded by either HWS or by the employee. The weekly contribution rate is 67% of the employee’s weekly wage capped at NYS average weekly wage of $1,688.19 which means the maximum weekly benefit is $1,131.08. The maximum annual contribution for 2023 is $399.43.

For more information on Paid Family Leave, FAQ’s, benefits and eligibility, please visit https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/2023 or call 844-337-6303.

New York State Paid Prenatal Leave

Effective 1/1/2025

New York State's Paid Prenatal Leave Law provides pregnant employees with 20 hours of paid prenatal leave, ensuring that pregnant employees can take time off for medical appointments related to pregnancy without the fear of losing income.

Paid Prenatal Leave applies to all private employers in New York state, with no minimum employee threshold, and is applicable to both full-time and part-time employees. Pregnancy-related health care includes physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring, testing, and discussions with a health care provider related to the pregnancy.

This personal leave time may be taken in hourly increments, and compensation provided must be at the employee’s regular rate of pay or the applicable minimum wage, whichever is greater. Employers are not required to pay an employee for unused prenatal personal leave at the time of separation from employment.

Bereavement Leave for Faculty Members and Administrative Employees

Time off due to the death of a close family member may be granted. A close family member is defined as parent, spouse, domestic partner, child, brother, sister, grandchild, grandparent, current mother/father/sister/brother/grandparent-in-law and step or foster children/parents. Up to three days with pay will be given for the above situations. Requests for additional time will be addressed on an individual basis with the Senior Dean of Faculty (faculty only) and the Office of Human Resources.

Jury Duty

Faculty members and Administrative employees who are called to serve as jurors will have their regular pay continued during the period of service. If at any time a per diem is offered (usually after 30 days) by the court system to the juror for his/her service, then the per diem should be waived. A copy of the initial summons and evidence of the dates of service must be provided to the supervisor and the Office of Human Resources. Faculty members and administrative employees are asked to try to defer jury service to times which will not conflict with the academic year.

Hourly, Staff Employees
The Colleges agree that, when an employee is required to serve as a juror, it will pay the regular straight time pay, based on the regularly schedule hours of work, for the first three days of jury duty. Thereafter, the employee will be paid the difference between the jury or court pay and their regular straight time pay provided the employee has notified their supervisor and submitted proof of service and payment to the Office of Human Resources.