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Faculty Absence Policy

Last updated on May 10, 2024

Faculty Absences and Leaves

Faculty of record who are unable to attend a course meeting session for any reason must notify the program chair of their absence. If the faculty member who will be absent has a substitute in mind that they can recommend to their program chair, they should do so. For unanticipated absences such as illness or bereavement, this notification should take place ideally within 24 hours of the absence. For planned absences such as jury duty, personal or professional leave, faculty should notify their chair of the upcoming absence as early as possible ahead of the absence.

All faculty receive 80 hours total of paid sick time per academic year, which carries over and is replenished each September. This sick time is reduced by the number of instructional hours missed for each illness-related absence. Faculty are required to follow any policies set forth by Human Resources with regard to reporting and tracking their sick time.

It is the responsibility of the college to find a substitute for a faculty member who is absent due to illness or other disability. Certification of illness by a licensed physician may be required for absence beyond three working days, and in any case the faculty member must notify Academic Affairs in addition to their academic chair and director as soon as possible, ideally a minimum of 24 hours in advance to ensure an appropriate faculty substitute. Abuse of sick leave privileges may lead to termination.


Excused Absences

Extended Absences

Any faculty member who misses more than two consecutive weeks of class must contact Human Resources (in addition to their program chair) to discuss the duration of their absence and whether a formal leave is necessary/required. If the absence is planned, the faculty must contact Human Resources a minimum of four weeks in advance. Otherwise the faculty must contact Human Resources as soon as possible.

Personal Leave

The provost may grant other leaves of absence without pay to ranked faculty, for one semester, two semesters, or 12 months. Permission for such leaves depends on the needs of the school or the division and program and on the faculty member’s length of service in a position, in a particular program in a school or division and in the college as a whole. Faculty may request a leave for professional activities, for personal reasons, or to extend a Family Care and Medical Leave of Absence. Faculty should discuss these leaves with the program chair, dean, and the provost before making a formal request to the provost in writing.

Ranked faculty are entitled to one year of leave without pay every five years. They may request a leave in writing from the dean within four weeks of the semester before the leave time begins.

Leaves of any kind or combinations of sabbaticals and leaves may not exceed 24 months of continuous absence from the college.

Jury Duty

Faculty are eligible to receive time off with pay for jury duty as long as they are available to perform some work during the school week. The college in this case will engage a teaching substitute. The benefit has a limit of 30 calendar days or until the end of the contract, whichever comes first. If the jury is held longer than 30 days, ranked and unranked faculty may petition the president for an extension of the leave. Faculty required in court as witnesses are also given time off with pay.

Bereavement

The college recognizes that there may be a need for a faculty member to take a personal leave in order to grieve the loss of an immediate family member (such as a spouse or domestic partner, siblings, parents, or children). In these cases the college will grant a two-week leave with full pay to the bereaved faculty member. The college will also provide a paid substitute for this two-week period.


Substitutes

If the faculty of record is able to trade coverage with another current faculty member, and the program chair is notified of and approves of the coverage, no substitution fee will be paid. Neither faculty will have their time off (sick time, personal/professional days) reduced as a result of the trade. "Trading coverage" means that Faculty A covers a meeting session of Faculty B's class, and Faculty B in return covers a meeting session of Faculty A's class within the same semester.

In the event that a faculty of record is unable to attend class during its regularly scheduled time, and a faculty trade is not possible, it is the responsibility of the program chair to identify and coordinate coverage of the class by a substitute.

Substitutes must be current CCA faculty members. Guests, alumni, staff, or other non-faculty may not deliver or supervise instruction without the presence of a CCA current faculty member at any time.

It is the responsibility of the faculty of record to provide any necessary course materials, instructions, and/or other preparatory resources or information either to the chair of the program in which the course is offered or directly to the substitute in order for the substitute to successfully deliver course content.

Ranked faculty may be asked to substitute for faculty absences. Substitutions by ranked faculty are not compensated, and are considered college-wide service. Faculty members may include instances of substitution coverage on their Faculty Record Report.

Unranked faculty substitutes are eligible for payment and will be compensated based on the number of hours of class meeting time they cover at an hourly rate.

If a single substitute covers three or more consecutive weeks of a specific course section, they will be added as a co-faculty of record. The substitute (ranked or unranked) will then be paid a prorated portion of their line rate based on the total number of weeks of instruction covered. There is an expectation that the substitute will coordinate with the other faculty of record on grading and any other responsibilities associated with their role as co-faculty of record.


Medical Leaves of Absence

All faculty who need to miss more than 2 consecutive weeks of instruction for medical related reasons (including kin-care) should contact CCA's leave partner, Tristar, to formalize a leave of absence.

Tristar is CCA's leave administration partner. A Tristar Intake Specialist will respond to your email within 48 business hours.

More information is below.

Tristar is available 6 AM – 6 PM PST, Monday - Friday and offers CCA employees direct access to claims/leave resources and information. Tristar also has a voicemail recording available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week that allows employees to leave a message and a representative from Tristar will return the call within 48 hours.

How Do I Report a Leave?

Option 1

  • Email leaves@cca.edu to reach an Intake Specialist to report your claim/leave

Option 3

  • Report your leave via leaves.cca.edu
  • You will log in to leaves.cca.edu with your CCA email and password to create a new leave (choose "LOGIN WITH SSO"). Please reference this quick user guide for more information.
  • Once you complete the Leave Request, a specialist will reach out to you within two business days to discuss the leave

Please have the following information available when you report your claim/leave:

  • Your physician or medical care provider's name, address, fax and telephone numbers
  • Your last day worked, first day absent from work, and anticipated return to work date