Sick leave may be used by an employee if:

1. 1. The employee is ill or injured and is unable to work.

2. 2. The employee has an appointment for the diagnosis or treatment of a medically related condition.

3. 3. The employee wishes to attend to the needs of the employee's eligible family members who are ill or to assist them in obtaining other services related to their health or well-being.

1. a. Sick leave used for these purposes may not exceed eighty hours per calendar year.

2. b. The employee may take up to an additional four hundred eighty hours of the employee's accrued sick leave per calendar year to care for the employee's child, spouse, or parent with a serious health condition. The employer may require the employee to provide written verification of the serious health condition by a health care provider.

4. 4. The employee has a newborn child or newly placed child, as follows. During the first six months following the birth or placement of a child, an employee may use up to two hundred forty hours of the employee's accrued sick leave for the employee's newborn child or to care for a child placed with the employee for adoption or placed with the employee as a precondition to adoption. This does not prevent an employee from using sick leave for the employee's illness, medical needs, or health needs following the birth of a child or from using leave under North Dakota Century Code section 54-52.4-03.

5. 5. The employee is seeking services or assisting the employee's spouse, parent, child, or sibling in obtaining services, relating to domestic violence, a sex offense, stalking, or terrorizing. At the discretion of the employee's supervisor, the sick leave hours used for this purpose may be limited to forty hours per calendar year.

6. The employee requests leave to bereave the death of a child. Sick leave for this purpose is limited to one hundred sixty hours and must be taken within six months following the death of the child.

7. It is appropriate as a participant in and per the recommendations from an employee assistance program.

History: Effective September 1, 1992; amended effective January 1, 2012; January 1, 2017; April 1, 2020; July 1, 2026.

General Authority: NDCC 54-44.3-12

Law Implemented: NDCC 54-44.3-12(1), 54-52.4-02, 54-52.4-03