P210: Professional Development Leave

2. POLICY

Fanshawe College is committed to fostering a high-performing and sustainable College by creating an engaging workplace that values employee development and growth. Employees and their supervisors share responsibility for professional development.

PD Leave is granted to assist employees in their efforts to pursue College-approved academic, industrial, or other community-related activities that will enhance their ability in areas aligned with the mission, vision, values or other operational needs of the employee's School or Department.

The Policy Sponsor develops, implements and maintains a system designed to achieve these ends. This system aligns with and is reflective of the College mission, vision, strategic goals and values.

3. REFERENCES

College Policies

• A201: Research and Innovation
• C104: Expense Reimbursement

Collective Agreements

• Academic Employees Collective Agreement
• Support Staff Collective Agreement
• Part-Time Support Staff Collective Agreement
• Administrative Employees Terms and Conditions of Employment

4. ADDENDA

• Procedure A: ACCESS TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAVE
• Form 1: APPLICATION FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAVE

Procedure A: ACCESS TO PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAVE

Issued by: VP, People & Culture

Effective: 2024-10-24

1. PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to outline procedures for employees and supervisors to access College Professional Development (PD) Leave.

2. PRINCIPLES

2.1. Fanshawe College is committed to fostering a workplace where employees are proud to contribute and grow. PD Leave is granted to assist employees in their efforts to pursue College-approved academic, industrial, or other community-related activities that will enhance their ability in areas aligned with the College's strategic directions or the operational needs of the School or Department.

2.2. PD Leave is available to full-time employees and regular part-time employees subject to the conditions detailed below. The duration of a PD Leave may be one to twelve months. A twelve-month leave is typically scheduled from September 1 to August 31 in the following year.

2.3. The following conditions arise from Terms and Conditions of Employment for Administrative Staff, or Academic Employees Collective Agreement, or Support Staff Collective Agreement, or Part-time Support Staff Collective Agreement:

2.3.1. Full-time employees who take a PD leave are required to return to full-time work for a period of one year or shall repay College salary and fringe benefits received while on PD Leave.

2.3.2. Regular part-time support staff employees who take a PD leave are required to return to work for a period of one year or shall repay College salary and fringe benefits received while on PD Leave.

2.3.3. For academic employees, the minimum number of employees granted PD Leave each year follows provisions of the Academic Employees Collective Agreement.

2.4. For all employee groups, the granting of PD Leave beyond any prescribed minimum numbers is considered when other eligibility requirements (below) are met and the College financial condition permits.

2.5. Documentation and discussion associated with a PD Leave application are confidential to the parties involved.

3. ELIGIBILITY

Full time employees and regular part-time support staff employees are eligible to apply for a PD Leave when all the following criteria are met:

3.1. The employee will have completed six years of full-time employment or six years of employment as a regular part-time support staff employee at the College by the time of the proposed start of the PD leave.

3.2. The PD Leave aligns with the College mission, vision, strategic goals and values, and the operational needs of their School or Department, and has the objective of one or more of the following:

• Development of currency in a particular field of study, or professional skill through practical experience in the community.
• Completion of formal academic studies to increase the credentials of the employee and to benefit the College.
• Completion of learning or development activity that benefits the College and the employee professionally; or
• Research or learning leading to the development of material related to identified College needs.

3.3. The timing of the leave is acceptable to the School or Department.

3.4. Suitable staffing arrangements are available.

Preference is given to applicants who have never taken a PD Leave and then those with longer service since their last PD Leave.

4. RESPONSIBILITIES

The employee, the employee's immediate supervisor, the supervisor's supervisor and the Senior Manager, Organizational Development and Learning initiate and process PD Leave applications using this procedure.

Employees are responsible to review their proposal with their immediate supervisor prior to submission. All proposals are to be submitted even if not supported by the employee's supervisor.

5. APPROVAL OF PD LEAVE APPLICATIONS

The President makes PD Leave approval decisions. The endorsement of other managers indicates support for the application.

6. COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Copyright and intellectual property rights on work produced during PD leave are governed by College policy A201: Research and Innovation.

7. COMPENSATION DURING PD LEAVE

7.1. The College salary and benefits applicable during PD Leave is determined as follows:

• Academic employees: in accordance with the Academic Employees Collective Agreement.
• Administrative employees: in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of Employment for Administrative Employees.
• Support staff employees: fifty-five percent of the employee's base salary increasing by 5% per year after 6 years of employment with the College to a maximum of 70%.
• Regular part-time support staff employees: in accordance with the Part-time Support Staff Collective Agreement.

7.2. If the aggregate of the College payment and compensation or payments from other sources arising from the leave and during the leave period exceeds the amount of the employee's normal salary, the College salary payment during PD Leave is subject to reduction.

On completion of a PD Leave, an employee who has received compensation or payments from other sources arising from the leave during the leave period is required to submit to the College a statement of their gross income related to the Leave and to reimburse the College for any excess compensation.

Form 1: APPLICATION FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAVE

Issued by: Executive Director, Human Resources

Effective: 2024-10-24

(See form attached in the policy PDF).