Sick Pay and Short-Term Disability

Short-Term Disability (STD), in conjunction with sick pay used during the 1 week Benefit Waiting Period, provides M&P staff salary protection for up to 26 weeks for extended absence due to a non-work related illness or disability. The plan is applied per disability. When receiving short-term disability, payments will be coordinated with the state Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) benefits.

Sick Pay

Paid sick days provide income protection when employees are ill, injured or caring for an ill family member (e.g. child, spouse, parent, parent-in law and same-sex domestic partner). This time cannot be used for other purposes.

Eligibility

Any regular employee scheduled to work 20 hours or more each week is eligible for sick time with pay; additionally, an employee may also use sick time to care for a family member (see the Expanded Sick Time Policy). Paid sick days are computed at the normal base rate of pay. 

Eligible part-time employees scheduled to work 20 hours or more per week are paid for sick days on a pro-rated basis.

Annual Allowance and Accumulation

The annual sick day allowance for eligible employees is 9 days and is an advance entitlement available for use at the beginning of the fiscal year (July 1st). Sick days can be used immediately.

In the fiscal year of hire, new employees will receive a pro-rated amount of 9 sick days when they start, based on the number of months during the fiscal year in which they have been employed at least 15 calendar days. 

Part-year employees will receive a pro-rated amount of 9 sick days on their first working day of the fiscal year based on the number of months during the fiscal year in which the employee is scheduled to work at least 15 days. 

Employees who exhaust their sick day allowance and need additional days may use Paid Time Off (PTO) or apply for a disability leave of absence.

Reporting Absences Due to Illness

Employees are expected to report all absences due to illness or injury directly to their supervisors or department heads and should indicate probable length of absence so that schedule adjustments may be made. 

Employees absent for prolonged periods should communicate with their supervisors weekly. Sick time can be used in increments of 1/2 day or full days only.

Medical Certification or Examination

Supervisors may require certification of illness from an employee’s physician or a medical examination with another physician to verify the need for continued absence. 

To be certain that an employee’s health permits a safe return to work, the University may require medical certification or an examination by Yale University Health Services in appropriate cases.

Short-Term Disability

View details of the Short-Term Disability Plan.

Cap on Maximum Number of Carryover Sick Days

The maximum Sick Day carryover is the number of unused sick days carried over from the previous fiscal year or 50 days, whichever is greater.  

Questions and answers 

How many sick days will I be allowed to carry over this year?
The maximum Sick Day carryover is the number of unused sick days carried over from the previous fiscal year or 50 days, whichever is greater.

For example, you carried over 75 sick days into the current fiscal year, then you can carry over up to 75 days of accrued sick time into the next fiscal year.  The number of unused sick days in any year becomes the new limit of sick days you can carry over in the following year.

How do I earn Sick Pay?
All nine (9) sick days are provided at the start of the fiscal year and are available immediately for your use to care for yourself and family members during times of illness. Employees hired after July 1 will receive a pro-rated amount based on their date of hire.

What is the difference between Sick Pay and Short-Term Disability?
Sick Pay can be used to pay for an absence due to a non-work related illness or disability, or to provide care for a sick family member; it is always paid at 100% of your salary, unless you are using the accrual while on an approved leave of absence in half days.   Short-Term Disability is coverage to ensure salary protection for up to six (6) months when an M&P staff member becomes unable to work for a period of time due to a non-work related illness or disability. Short-Term Disability is available or those on an approved leave of absence for one’s own health condition.  All payments will be coordinated with any payments received from the state Paid Family and Medical leave program. View more information on the Short-Term Disability Plan.