Certified Sick Leave (less than 20 days per cycle)

Certified sick leave entries can be made in ESS up to 3 years retroactively and 3 years in advance. Requests for Certified Sick Leave must include a medical certificate from a licensed medical practitioner indicating the date(s) of absence from duty by reason of illness, injury, or incapacitation, without identification of diagnosis.

The process for successfully processing and approving a Certified Sick Leave request includes these procedures and roles:

• The system automatically routes requests to the HR Partner only if the staff member is eligible and the Sick Leave is for up to a cumulative or consecutive period of 20 days within a leave cycle (1 April to 31 March).
• If the request is approved by the HR Partner, the sick leave quota is updated, and an e-mail notification is sent to the Staff Member and the Time Manager. The status of the leave request is updated in ESS and the certified sick leave is recorded in ECC.
• If the request is rejected by the HR Partner, an e-mail notification is sent to the Staff Member, Time Manager and Time Administrator. The status of the request is updated in ESS, and the staff member can amend and re-submit, or submit an alternative leave request.

When a request is rejected, it is often because the staff member has not attached an official document to support the requested Certified Sick Leave.

When the staff member’s request is rejected the HR Partner must change the leave to, for example, Uncertified Sick Leave, Annual Leave, Special Leave without Pay (SLWOP) after consultation with the staff member. For some leave types like annual leave will have to be discussed with the staff member’s time manager/first reporting officer.

Exceptional Record Entries in ECC
Exceptionally, when neither the Staff Member nor Time Administrator/Time Senior Administrator have access to ESS, the HR Partner or Time Senior Administrator can view, create, or modify attendance records including certified and uncertified sick leave, directly in ECC. However, the preferred mode of submission should always be through ESS and any ECC entries or changes must be accompanied by a detailed note making reference to the approval details.

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