Franklin & Marshall College

For professional staff

Purpose

Members of the professional staff are encouraged to support the efforts of Franklin & Marshall and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lancaster by donating their time and talents. This policy allows eligible members of the professional staff to request paid time off work, as outlined below, in order to engage in community service through the Franklin & Marshall and Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program for students at Reynolds Middle School and Buchanan Elementary School.

Eligibility

Full-time members of the professional staff of Franklin & Marshall are eligible to request paid time off work as outlined below.  Professional staff employed in temporary, short-term positions are not eligible.

At the discretion of the appropriate Senior Officer, certain departments may be exempt from this policy based on College needs and workload.

Guidelines

A full-time professional staff member may request up to one (1) hour of paid time off work per scheduled work week, or the equivalent of 1 hour per scheduled work week, in order to provide volunteer services through the Franklin & Marshall and Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program for students at Reynolds Middle School or Buchanan Elementary School in Lancaster. Time off work may be granted under the following conditions:

• the individual's College work performance remains at a thoroughly satisfactory level, as evaluated solely by his/her supervisor or department manager,
• the duties and responsibilities of co-workers are not negatively impacted, in the opinion of the supervisor, by the professional staff member's time away from work,
• the ability of the office or department to provide service to students, alumni, other departments, and other internal and external customers is not negatively affected, and
• the professional staff member is not compensated by the agency or organization for his/her services.

Procedures

Members of the professional staff who are interested in participating in this mentoring program should contact the Big Brothers Big Sisters caseworker, at (717) 358-4641, for more information. Before participating in the program, the individual will complete a screening and training program through Big Brothers Big Sisters, to prepare to be an effective mentor.

Time away from the College to participate in this program is subject to supervisory approval. To request time off work, an eligible College staff member is to:

• Make an initial request, to his/her immediate supervisor, to take time off work to participate in this mentoring program.
• Notify the Director, Human Resources that he/she will be participating in this program, upon the supervisor's approval of the initial request.
• Request permission for time off work through the supervisor at least 2 days in advance each time the individual wishes to leave work to provide volunteer services through this program (unless a regular, fixed schedule has been agreed upon).

Members of the professional staff should, whenever possible, work with their supervisor to schedule a fixed day and time each week or month when they will be away from the College. Such a schedule should be established based on the department's workload and priorities.

A staff member's supervisor retains the right to deny a request for time off work, based on department and College needs. If more than one individual from the same department requests time off via this policy, the supervisor may determine how best to handle such requests, based on the needs of the department.

Pay

When time off work is scheduled according to the procedures set forth in this policy and approved by the supervisor, such time off work will be with full, regular base pay. A maximum of one (1) hour away from work per regularly scheduled work week, or the equivalent of 1 hour per scheduled work week, plus reasonable time for travel to and from Reynolds Middle School or Buchanan Elementary School, will be granted per this policy. Pay will not be provided for community service which occurs on a day or time when the professional staff member normally does not work.

Non-exempt members of the professional staff must record actual work hours on their time sheets. To record time off work with pay per this policy, "W/P" should be written in the absence column, and "PCS" should be written in the remarks section of the time sheet (to designate paid community service).  

It is expected that non-exempt members of the professional staff will not work extra hours or overtime to make-up for time spent in community service. 

The College reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify or eliminate this policy at any time.
9/2003