All full-time employees who are on 9, 10 or 12-month contracts.
Paid volunteering leave provides employees with an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to service and stewardship, one of the university's core values. Full-time employees are eligible to take up to 7.5 hours of paid time off each fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) to volunteer in the communities in which they live and/or work. This is a great way to make a difference at your child’s school, support your favorite nonprofit or explore new ways to make a difference. Choose any organization that means something to you, so long as the organization is not political in nature or requires you to engage in religious activities.
Perform your volunteer service.
Report your Huskie Give Back volunteer service time on your timesheet or benefit usage form in the designated column. Include a comment with the date, time and organization with which you volunteered. If your volunteer service is performed outside of your regular NIU work hours, you may make arrangements with your supervisor to apply the volunteer leave time off as comp time or as flexible scheduling during your work week.
Yes.
All eligible employees can request the time off regardless of whether the service work occurs outside of normal working hours. The volunteering leave time off can essentially be used as comp time, however faculty may not cancel classes to volunteer or claim this benefit.
In order to treat all employees equally, employees are only permitted to use up to 7.5 hours (the typical work day for most employees).
The decision to accept a request for volunteer time off is within the discretion of the supervisor, based on the business and operational needs of the department. If the supervisor determines that the requested time will conflict with business needs, they are encouraged to work with the employee to find a time that works for both the department and the employee. Faculty are not permitted to cancel class to participate.
No.
You should not submit time volunteering as working hours on your SOEEA report.
Your volunteer time off may include the time required to travel to the volunteer site.
As with any activities that occur outside of NIU employment while an employee is using paid time off, NIU is not liable for injuries incurred during volunteer time off. Therefore, it is not necessary for the employee or supervisor to complete the Workers' Compensation Injury Report. Of course, in the event an employee sustains any injury at any time, employees are advised to seek medical attention appropriate to the injury.