Johnson County Community College
Series 400: Personnel
Section 419: Employee Benefits

The college provides each full-time regular employee with a short-term disability benefit. Such benefit provides a percentage of an employee's regular salary to be paid to an employee for a specified period of time during which the employee suffers a qualifying extended disability not covered by regular sick leave.

At the time of application for employment, the employee shall certify to the college that he/she is capable of performing the essential duties of the position for which he/she applied. If a disability should occur after employment, the employee may be eligible to apply for short-term disability leave. In order to be eligible to apply for a short-term disability benefit, the employee must have been employed in a regular full-time position for at least six (6) calendar months prior to the date of disability, and comply with all other provisions, qualifiers and limitations as set forth in the short-term disability policy.

Upon being granted a disability leave, it shall be the responsibility of the employee to update the college as requested through the principal administrator of the Office of Human Resources of his/her medical status during the disability leave and to provide any related information as requested by the college. At any time while an employee is on disability leave, and consistent with business necessity, the college reserves the right to require that the employee submit to a job-related physical examination by an appropriately licensed medical professional of the college's own choosing and at the college's expense. Prior to returning to work, the employee shall notify the college of the date he/she intends to return to work and shall submit a release from his/her attending physician fully describing the conditions and/or limitations, if any, for returning to work. If a conditional release to return to work is issued, the college will work with the employee to identify any reasonable accommodations that may be needed to allow the employee to return to work. If reasonable accommodation would cause undue hardship to college operations, then the employee may be terminated. Reasonable accommodation also is not required if the disability arises from verified illegal drug use or alcoholism. Consistent with business necessity, the college also reserves the right to require that the employee submit to a job-related physical examination by an appropriate licensed medical professional of the college's choosing to verify that the returning employee has sufficiently recovered to perform the essential functions of his/her position and to specifically define the nature of any work restrictions. The college shall pay for the required examination. Returning employees who refuse to submit to such examination may be terminated. Employee absences for short-term disability leave for which an employee does not qualify for short-term disability benefits may be charged to accrued sick leave or accrued vacation leave or shall be without pay when authorized.

An employee on short-term disability leave shall not accrue vacation and sick leave benefits. Insurance coverage may be maintained during such leave provided that the employee continues to pay his/her portion of the individual and dependent coverage as provided by college policy, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the provisions of any applicable insurance policy. All contributions for the Tax Sheltered Annuity, flex plan reimbursement accounts, and KPERS shall be suspended during the disability leave and no payments will be made to the employee for vacation, sick leave, personal days and holidays during such leave unless otherwise authorized by this policy.

An eligible employee shall be granted a maximum of twenty-six (26) weeks of short-term disability leave for each separate and unrelated disability. Once an employee has exhausted the maximum twenty six (26) week benefit, he/she may not be qualified to receive additional short-term disability benefits as a result of the same or any closely related disability, as determined in the discretion of the college. Under such circumstances, he/she will be entitled to any remaining unpaid leave available pursuant to the Family and Medical Leave Act and to any accrued sick leave or vacation leave available.

All time granted an employee for short-term disability leave will count as leave time to which an employee may be entitled under the Family and Medical Leave Act. An employee returning from short-term disability leave within the time permitted by the Family and Medical Leave Act will be guaranteed reinstatement rights as provided for under the Act. However, an employee returning after the time off as allowed by the Family and Medical Leave Act shall not be guaranteed reinstatement. If an employee has exhausted all Family and Medical Leave Act leave, the decision to permit him/her to return to work after a short-term disability leave will be based upon the ability of the employee to perform his/her essential job functions with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, unless such accommodation would cause undue hardship to college operations. If an employee is permitted to return to work from such a leave, the work assigned may be either in the area he/she left or in a related area for which he/she is considered qualified by the college administration.

In the event an employee is medically unable to return to work at the expiration of the disability leave, the employee may be eligible to apply for a long-term disability benefit under KPERS.

Date of Adoption:
Revised: 1/6/94, 6/12/96