521 - School Visitation
Subject: School Visitation
Section: U521
Date: July, 2018
Purpose:
To establish guidelines for staff employees to attend their children’s school conferences and activities in compliance with the Illinois School Visitation Rights Act.
Who is governed by this policy:
This policy applies to all benefits eligible staff employees.
Policy:
The University encourages employees’ involvement in their children’s school-related activities. Employees who have children in primary and/or secondary school may receive an additional eight (8) hours of unpaid school visitation time per school year after accrued vacation and personal holiday leave time have been exhausted. In general, employees may elect to use accrued vacation or personal holiday time for school visitation at any time. (See Policy U509 Vacation and U511 Personal Holidays.)
Employees can use an additional eight (8) hours of unpaid leave for school visitation per school year once their accrued vacation and personal holiday leave time have been exhausted.
Additional unpaid time off will be given in increments of no more than four (4) hours. A staff employee is not required to make up this time, however, supervisors should make a good faith effort to permit non-exempt employees to make up this time.
An employee must consult with their supervisor to schedule the leave so as not to disrupt the operations of the unit unduly. Requests for time off for school visitation purposes must be made in writing at least seven (7) days in advance. In case of emergencies, 24-hours advance notice should be given if practicable.
An employee may be required to provide documentation for the requested time off to their supervisor. Failure to submit a verification statement from the school may be considered an unexcused absence and may result in disciplinary action.
Employees should indicate any unpaid school visitation time taken on the appropriate time off calendar.
Employees represented by a bargaining unit may be governed by the appropriate bargaining unit agreement.
Roles and Responsibilities:
| Governed Party | Roles and Responsibilities |
| Employee | The Employee is responsible for following the Supervisor’s time off request procedures. |
| Supervisor | The Supervisor is responsible for setting time off request procedures, ensuring they are followed, verifying the use of time off is appropriate, and approving time off use in the time off calendar. |
Related Information:
Policy U222 Compensable Time, Record-Keeping and Tracking Absences
Illinois School Visitation Rights Act
Key Contacts:
| Name | Extension | |
| Center of Expertise – Employee & Labor Relations | elrelations@uchicago.edu | 4-7345 |