Objective

UT Southern hereby formally authorizes its full-time employees to use up to 8 hours of paid work hours each calendar year to participate in volunteer activities that benefit the community. Part- time employees may utilize pro-rated volunteer time, as listed in this procedure.

Examples of community volunteer activities can be found at the State of Tennessee’s Volunteer

Tennessee website: https://www.tn.gov/volunteer-tennessee.html.

Scope

Employees who meet all of the following criteria are eligible to participate: (1) regular employees (see HR0105—Employment Status); (2) one-year of continuous employment; and (3) their most recent performance evaluation score was at least 15 (“fully achieves expectations”).

Volunteer Activities Time Full-time employees: 8 hours

Part-time employees at 75%: 6 hours All other part-time employees: 4 hours

Employees may utilize volunteer activity time at organizations that do not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, or parental status.

Volunteer activity time does not count as hours worked for purposes of overtime pay. Volunteer activity time is not considered “work time” for purposes of workers’ compensation (even if the employee engages in volunteer activity time during work hours). Accordingly, employees that engage in volunteer activities under this procedure accept the risks and, by participating in volunteer activity time, agree that their volunteer activities are at their own risk.

Roles

Supervisors must review their employees’ requests to utilize work hours for volunteer activities in

advance to avoid conflicts with work needs and responsibilities.

Procedure

1. Requesting Volunteer Hours
   1. Employees must request to utilize volunteer activity time at least two weeks in advance. Supervisors may require employees to submit requests with longer notice in advance.
   2. Supervisors have sole discretion to approve or deny their employees’ requests.
2. Proof of Attendance
   1. Supervisors may require their employees to submit proof of participation in the volunteer activities.
3. Time Utilization
   1. Full-time employees may utilize volunteer activity time in the following increments:
      1. All 8 hours at once.
      2. Two 4-hour increments.
      3. Four 2-hour increments.
   2. Part-time employees at 75% time may utilize volunteer activity time in the following increments:
      1. All 6 hours at once.
      2. Two 3-hour increments.
      3. Three 2-hour increments.
   3. All other part-time employees may utilize volunteer activity time in the following increments:
      1. All 4 hours at once.
      2. Two 2-hour increments.
      3. Four 1-hour increments.

Penalties/Disciplinary Action for Non-Compliance

Employees who fail to comply with policy HR046 – Volunteer Activities and this procedure will not be eligible to participate under this procedure until they bring themselves into compliance with this procedure.

Responsible Official & Additional Contacts

Subject Matter	Office Name	Telephone Number	Email/Web Address
Policy Clarification and Interpretation	UT Southern HR	1-931-424-7379	jhlubb@utsouthern.edu

Related Policies/Guidance Documents

HR0446 – Volunteer Activity Leave HR0305 – Annual Leave (Vacation) HR0373 – Personal Leave

HR0105 – Employment Status