While USPS is a federal employer, some of their benefits are better than others, and since it’s a union, their benefits are better than the average for federal employees.
sick leave policy depends on several factors within the employer. The employer pays employees to accrue sick leave that is used as an incentive to keep employees healthy. Employees may use their sick leave whenever they need to, and may leave work without notice.
USPS Sick Leave Policy In 2022
Sick leave is a part of the USPS benefit policy that allows employees to take time off for various medical reasons that apply to the employee or the employee’s immediate family. Sick leave is accrued at the end of every bi-weekly pay period at a rate of 4 hours per pay period for full-time employees and 1 hour per 20 hours worked for part-time employees. There are no restrictions on which benefits an employee can use.
It’s true the USPS requires more sick leave than any other federal agency. It also requires more sick leave than private and public companies!
What Is The Difference Between Sick Leave And Other Types Of Leave?
Employee can stay home sick without getting any pay if the employee is sick for a valid medical reason.
In other words, a lot of these medical reasons are also related to the employee.
Sick leave can also be used to care for a family member who is ill. For example, if your parents fall ill, you can take off work to take care of them.
Not all employers are required to offer sick leave to their employees, however if your employer does offer it, you will not be paid.
Most other types of leave, like annual leave, sick leave are paid but not guaranteed. There is a limit to how many hours or how often you can take them. However with sick leave, there is no limit. It’s never too late to take that sick day.
How Do You Accrue Sick Leave With USPS?
We pay overtime to employees working on our projects outside of their standard work hours, and not all employees work the same hours. We pay our employees a percentage of their pay for working overtime.
That is the difference between a long term employee and an employee who is working on a month to month basis.
All sick time will be applied at the end of the bi-weekly pay period.
Full-time employees accrue 4 hours of sick time every pay period, whereas part-time employees accrue an hour of sick time for every 20 hours worked.
Examples
The following example is a paraphrase of the same text, which is the original.
Employees who work part-time are not paid for any hours worked over 104 hours per year (13 days).
Sick leave accumulates over two pay periods.
Accrual of sick leave begins on the first pay period in which an employee becomes unable to work due to illness. After the first pay period, sick leave starts to accrue
on payday that coincides with the first pay period that does not include a
paid workday.
When Can You Use Sick Leave With USPS?
If you are out of work because of a medical issue, you can use sick leave. If you are out of work because you want to take “vacation” time, then you don’t use sick leave and instead put that time in your vacation time account.
It is not possible for an employee to use sick leave for an illness, injury, or the contraction of a contagious disease.
If you are scheduled to be absent from your job for a medical, dental, or optical appointment, sick time would be a benefit that would cover your absence.
Employers should be wary when considering using sick leave in these situations because they should be prepared to prove that the disability is directly related to the death/funeral.
The United States Postal Service does not have a restricted sick leave policy. But, it does use a “deems desirable” policy.
In the US, employers in New York and California, and in Connecticut and Massachusetts, must have a written policy for taking sick leave.
From November 1, the Postal Service is no longer going to consider a letter
to someone overseas as “desirable” as long as the letter is
postmarked within the US. There can still be “desirable” exceptions to
this, including letters that the sender and recipient have a long
personal or business relationship, as well as letters that involve
international funds transfers and large monetary transactions.
How Do You Use Sick Leave At USPS?
You have several options available to you to use sick leave as a US Postal service employee.
The best way to keep your position is to have an active and current position.
A couple of years ago, you had to provide a doctor’s note to prove a dependent needs a permanent absence.
After the supervisor gives it a go, the decision is then up to the department head who then makes the final decision.
So you have to prepare to be sick every day… because it might not be tomorrow or today.
If you wake up the morning you’re supposed to work and find yourself too sick to work, you can always call your supervisor and let them know about your situation.
Your supervisor will fill out a form that says you’re not in the office and you can go on vacation.
To find out more about USPS policies and what is happening in your office, you should also read our related articles on USPS employee leave of absence policy, USPS new hires policy, and USPS work from home policy.
Conclusion
Postal workers can now earn an Unpaid Sick Leave if they have worked at least 100 hours over the past year and have worked at least 20 hours in the current pay period.
You earn sick leave points for working overtime hours and sick days. Your points are reduced at a certain rate for each additional day after 2 days absence. You accumulate sick leave at different rates depending on your category of employment (e.g., regular employee and contractor, and student). This is also affected by each additional work week.
You can use your sick leave to cover a personal medical absence or care for your dependents dealing with a medical issue.
No need to send in anything, even if you are sick.
If you get fired, you may lose your job, but not any vacation, sick, or personal leave time.
No proof required for any absences under the sick leave policy.
Sick leave can be used by USPS employees. Contact your supervisor or fill out a PS Form 3971.
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