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Time Away From Work

Cornell University provides time away from work to eligible employees for a variety of reasons. Time away from work must be approved and/ recorded in a manner that protects the interests of both the institution and its employees.

Policy details

Contact:

Your local college or unit administrative office or the Office of Human Resources.

Revision History:

02/04/2022: In the Sick Leave (New York State) section, clarified information about requesting and documenting paid sick leave and updated links.

02/03/2022: In the Military Leave Policy Amendment, updated the expiration date to December 31, 2022. In Time Away from Work (Excluding Academic and Bargaining Unit Staff), updated the expiration date for the Military Leave Policy Amendment to December 31, 2022, and updated links.

05/10/2021: In the Sick Leave (New York State) section, updated language regarding transfers.

02/25/2021: Removed interim status for interim Sick Leave (New York State) section; also updated definition of “graduate student” and added additional contacts for policy-related questions. 

1/26/2021: In interim Sick Leave (New York State) section, updated accrual rate description. In Health and Personal Leave section, added more references to the interim Sick Leave (New York State) section.

1/14/2021: Updated expiration date for for the Military Leave Policy Amendment to December 31, 2021.

1/12/2021: In interim Sick Leave (New York State) section, revised definition of “student employee (hourly)”.

12/17/2020: To maintain compliance with the New York Paid Sick Leave law, updated Health and Personal Leave section, and added interim Sick Leave (New York State) section.

10/7/2020: Updated main policy document to add Juneteenth (June 19) as a permanent university holiday per President Pollack’s university statement.

09/21/2020: Updated main policy document to add "surrogate parent" and definition to the Funeral Leave section.

09/14/2020: Updated Voting Time section to add guidance for employees who work outside of New York State.

8/11/2020: Updated main policy document to add a link in the Related Documents section to this HR document: "Holiday Pay for Employees Regularly Scheduled to Work Weekends."

6/3/2020: Per updated New York State election law, Voting Time section has been reverted to the pre-2019 provisions regarding employee time off to vote (time off required only if working hours don’t allow sufficient time to vote).

2/25/2020: Updated Voting Time in accordance with New York State's amended election law, which now provides up to three hours of paid time off for employees to vote.

1/31/2020: Updated military leave amendment expiration date on page 17 of the main policy document.