Volunteer Leave

Policy Statement

Durham Technical Community College provides paid volunteer leave to all eligible employees.

Procedure

Durham Technical Community College (Durham Tech) offers paid volunteer leave to eligible employees for nonproductive paid work time to participation in qualifying activities with qualifying organizations during work hours. Employees must have successfully completed their probationary period and must not be on a formal action plan in order to be eligible for volunteer leave. Volunteer leave may be granted as follows:

• Full-time employees working forty (40) or more hours per week – twenty-four (24) hours per calendar year

• Full-time employees working thirty (30) to thirty-nine (39) hours per week – eighteen (18) hours per calendar year

Employees wishing to use volunteer leave must complete the following steps:

1. Discuss their volunteer leave request with their supervisor and receive pre-approval.

2. Upon supervisory pre-approval, the employee must submit the Volunteer Leave Request Form to Human Resources. The director of Human Resources will determine whether the activity qualifies and will respond to the employee and supervisor accordingly.

3. Upon Human Resources approval, the employee must submit a volunteer leave request via the Employee Leave System.

4. After volunteer leave is taken, the employee must complete his or her leave report via the leave system and report the volunteer hours in the College’s Volunteer Log.

At its sole discretion, the College may require documentation verifying service hours at a qualifying organization. The Center for College and Community Service can provide assistance with locating qualifying volunteer opportunities.

Definitions

For the purposes of this policy, eligible employees are permanent full-time employees who work thirty (30) or more hours per week.

For the purposes of this policy, qualifying organizations is defined as a non-profit, 501(c)3 status organization; K-12 school; or government organization.

For the purposes of this policy, qualifying activities is defined as volunteer work at a qualifying organization that provides for an unmet need in the community (e.g., housing or food insecurity) and for which employees do not receive compensation for volunteer work. In accordance with NC General Statutes – Chapter 126 Article 5, § 126-13, qualifying activities must not include “political activity while on duty or within any period of time during which [an employee] is expected to perform services for which he receives compensation.” Volunteer leave may be used for non-partisan voter engagement activities, but cannot be used for campaigning for candidates or other partisan activities. Qualifying activities must not lead, direct, or encourage any religious or antireligious activity in violation of the portion of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States prohibiting laws respecting an establishment of religion. Employees or supervisors who have questions regarding what constitutes acceptable qualifying activities should consult the director of Human Resources.