Administrative Policies

Emergency Closings

An emergency closing may occur in which the normal operations at KCTCS facilities are curtailed by declaration of a start date/time and subsequently an ending date/time by the college president/ceo, or by the KCTCS President for emergency closings of the KCTCS system office. Emergency closings may occur for unusual conditions such as severe weather, power outages, fuel shortages, or other calamities or crises.

An emergency closing could be for a full or partial day, including a closure with a delayed start of business for the day, a closure that begins during the course of the workday (but prior to the regular established office closing), or a closure for an entire workday(s).

Definitions of Essential and Non-Essential Personnel

“Essential personnel” and “non-essential personnel” are defined as follows:

Essential Personnel

“Essential personnel” may be designated and assigned to work to facilitate KCTCS operations to continue as needed when KCTCS closes for a given holiday, emergency closing, or institutional closing. In general, if an employee’s job duties affect the security, safety, or physical operation, or other critical operation of KCTCS (including providing services to students, administering payroll, systems, etc.), his/her position may be considered “essential” during a specific holiday/closing and therefore the employee is designated as such. The department supervisor and college leadership shall designate essential personnel for a given holiday/closing and assign their responsibilities and hours of work in advance to the extent possible. Essential personnel may be assigned to work a full day or only a partial day(s) on the actual holiday/closing or evenings/weekends adjacent to holidays/closings. The individual positions/employees who shall be designated as essential personnel may vary from closing to closing.

Non-Essential Personnel

Employees who are not officially designated as “essential personnel” (i.e., those who are assigned to work during the holiday/closing) are considered “nonessential personnel”, and therefore are not assigned to work when KCTCS closes during a holiday, institutional closing, or emergency closing. If a given employee who is not designated as “essential personnel” by his/her college makes an individual decision to work during a holiday, institutional closing, or emergency closing (including during a delayed start of business and during a closure that occurs prior to regular office closing hours), he/she would receive his/her regular rate of pay during this holiday/closing and would not be subject to receive any holiday/closing overtime compensation for work during the holiday/closing. If the employee does meet the hourly threshold for regular overtime compensation for the work week and is a nonexempt employee according to the FLSA as described in other KCTCS policies and procedures, the employee could be eligible for overtime compensation.

Leave Compensation

Eligible employees shall be authorized to receive compensation related to KCTCS emergency closings through one of two avenues:

1. Emergency closing leave entitlement
2. Working during an emergency closing

Eligibility and compensation provisions during an emergency leave are as follows:

1. Emergency Closing Leave Eligibility/Compensation (non-essential personnel)
   
   During emergency closings, “non-essential personnel” who were otherwise scheduled to work at the affected physical location shall not report to work or remain at work. Only those employees officially designated as “essential personnel” during the emergency closing shall report to work or remain at work as instructed.
   
   Except for the working hours for those employees who are officially designated as essential personnel to perform services during an emergency closing, paid emergency closing leave is provided to eligible regular employees unless otherwise stated in this policy or a related KCTCS human resources procedure.
   
   Employees on a Regular Work Schedule
   
   Emergency closing leave time shall be paid at regular rates for eligible regular full-time employees who were otherwise scheduled to work at the affected physical work location during the emergency closing period.
   
   In addition, emergency closing leave time shall be paid at regular rates at a pro rata percentage to full-time for eligible regular part-time employees (those who work a schedule of 50 percent or more on an annualized basis) who were otherwise scheduled to work at the affected physical work location during the emergency closing period.
   
   Eligibility in Alternate Schedules and Circumstances
   
   Work schedules and employee status for both regular full-time employees and regular part-time employees may affect employees’ eligibility for compensation during emergency closing leaves as follows:
   
   
   1. Employees on Flex-Time/Alternate Schedules: Emergency closing leave pay for an employee who works a flex-time schedule will be for the number of hours (if any) that the employee was originally scheduled to work on the emergency closing day(s).
      
      
   2. Ineligible Regular Part-Time Employees: Regular part-time employees who work a schedule of less than 50% of a full-time schedule on an annualized basis shall not receive paid leave for an emergency closing. 
      
      
   3. Temporary Employees: Temporary employees shall not receive paid leave for an emergency closing.
      
      
   4. Effect of Retirement on Emergency Closing Leave: Employees whose retirement occurs during a designated emergency closing period shall receive the emergency closing leave pay up to and including on their last day of employment.
      
      
   5. Weekly Overtime Calculation: Paid leave time due to an emergency closing is not counted as "time worked" for the purpose of calculation of overtime compensation for the week for eligible employees.
      
      
   6. Unaffected Locations: If an emergency closing of a physical work location occurs, employees who are scheduled to work at unaffected locations during the emergency closing period shall report to work as scheduled.
      
      
   7. Additional circumstances: Following is a table that further specifies entitlement for paid emergency closing leave for non-essential personnel. 
      

      Paid Leave Entitlement for Non-essential Personnel
      During Emergency Closings

      Full/Partial Emergency Closing Leave Days	Eligibility for Paid Emergency Closing Leave For Affected Employees
      a. On pre-approved paid leave (vacation, sick leave, compensatory leave, bereavement leave, etc.).	a. Eligible for paid emergency closing leave during the emergency close.
      b. On unscheduled paid leave that occurs when calling in on the day of the emergency closing.	b. Eligible for paid emergency closing leave during the emergency close.
      c. On unpaid leave on the emergency closing day.	c. Ineligible for paid emergency closing leave.
      d. In a no-pay status on the workday/leave day immediately before or after an emergency closing day	d. Ineligible for paid emergency closing leave
      e. Emergency closing begins at the start of the workday, continuing through the duration of the workday	e. Eligible for paid emergency closing leave for the entire of the workday, subject to all other provisions.
      f. Emergency closing causes a delayed start to the workday.	f. Eligible for paid emergency closing leave beginning with the start of the workday and continuing until the end of the emergency closing time period. Scheduled employees who do not report to work immediately at the time the emergency closing ends, are not eligible for emergency closing leave during the non-closing hours; those hours are subject to other applicable leave.
      g. Emergency closing begins at a given time during the course of the workday after the workday has begun.	g. Eligible employees are paid emergency leave beginning at the time the emergency closing begins. Employees who leave work prior to the start of the emergency closing are not eligible for emergency closing leave during the non-closing hours; those hours are subject to other applicable leave time

2. Compensation for Working during Emergency Closings (essential personnel)
   
   If essential services are required during the closing, “essential personnel” may be assigned to work during the emergency closing and/or during other times necessitated by the emergency closing that are outside of employees’ normally scheduled work hours.
   
   Supervisors’ Responsibilities
   
   For employees who work during an emergency closing, supervisors and employees are encouraged to use adjusted/flexible scheduling during the week in which the emergency closing occurs, in order to try to ensure that regular full-time employees reach, but do not exceed, 37.5 hours (or the designated prorated amount for regular part-time employees) when feasible. Supervisors shall also notify the payroll department of essential personnel when they do work during an emergency closing, preferably via their employees’ time sheets.
   
   Applicable Compensation
   
   The applicable compensation for essential personnel for hours worked during an institutional closing varies by personnel system and is addressed below:
   
   
   1. Definitions: “Exempt” and “nonexempt” positions are defined in the KCTCS policy regarding emergency closing.
      
      
   2. Exempt Employee Compensation: Essential personnel under all personnel systems who are exempt employees and who work during an emergency closing shall receive their regular pay rate for hours worked during the closing. Any additional provision, if applicable, is stated below.
      
      
   3. Compensation and Overtime Provisions for Essential Personnel: The applicable pay rate for employees who are essential personnel required to work during an emergency closing varies by personnel system and is addressed below.
      
      Following is information that specifies the pay and overtime provisions regarding essential personnel for hours worked during an institutional closing.
      • KCTCS Personnel System
        • Nonexempt Employees
          For hours worked during an emergency closing (full or partial day), essential personnel shall:
          • Receive emergency closing pay at their regular pay rate. In addition, because they are considered to have worked overtime, for the hours worked they shall be paid at 1½ times their regular rate. If necessary and feasible, employee work schedules may be adjusted for the week in order to maintain the regular number of total hours to be worked.
          • Receive emergency closing pay for the regular pay rate for those hours worked on evenings/weekend days that are adjacent to the emergency closing (but are not designated as an emergency closing since they are evenings/weekend days). In addition, because they are considered to have worked overtime, for these hours worked they shall be paid at 1½ times their regular rate.
            
            
      • UK Personnel System
        • Nonexempt Employees
          For hours worked during an emergency closing (full or partial day), essential personnel shall:
          • Be paid at the regular pay rate (unless total hours worked are in excess of 40 hours for the week), and take equal time off within 6 weeks of the emergency closing.
          • Be paid at the regular rate on evenings/weekend days that are adjacent to the emergency closing period (but are not designated as an emergency closing since they are evening hours/weekend days) unless total hours worked are in excess of 40 hours for the week, and take equal time off within 6 weeks of the emergency closing.
          • Be paid the overtime rate of 1.5 hours for every hour worked in excess of 40 hours during the week in which the work on the emergency closing occurs, if it is not possible to adjust employee work schedules for the week in order to maintain the regular number of total hours to be worked.
        • Exempt Employees
          For hours worked during an emergency closing (full or partial day) and adjacent evening hours/weekends, essential personnel shall:
          • Be paid at the regular pay rate, and take equal time off within 6 weeks of the emergency closing.
            
            
      • 151B/18A Personnel System
        • Nonexempt Employees
          For hours worked during an emergency closing (full or partial day), essential personnel shall:
          • Be paid at the regular pay rate, unless total hours worked are in excess of 40 hours for the week.
          • Be paid at the regular pay rate for working on evenings/weekend days that are adjacent to the (but are not designated as an emergency closing since they are evening hours/weekend days), unless total hours worked are in excess of 40 hours for the week.
          • Receive overtime compensation for every hour worked in excess of 40 hours during the week in which the work on an emergency closing occurs (if it is not possible to adjust employee work schedules for the week in order to maintain the regular number of total hours to be worked), in accordance with the administrative regulations for KRS Chapters 18A and KRS Chapter 151B (see Appendix 1 of Section 2 of the KCTCS Administrative Policies and Procedures).
        • Exempt Employees
          For hours worked during an emergency closing (full or partial day), essential personnel shall:
          • Be paid at their regular pay rate.
          • During the week in which the work on the emergency closing occurs, if the total hours worked in that work week exceed 40 hours, when combined with all other hours worked during that same work week, employees shall earn compensatory time at the regular rate for the hours worked in excess of 40 hours (if it is not possible to adjust employee work schedules for the week in order to maintain the regular number of total hours to be worked), in accordance with the administrative regulations for KRS Chapters 18A and KRS Chapter 151B (see Appendix 1 of Section 2 of the KCTCS Administrative Policies and Procedures).

Related Policies

Additional provisions regarding emergency leave shall be adhered to in accordance with other KCTCS policies and procedure(s) related to emergency leave, compensation, and leaves of absence.

In addition, KCTCS has separate policies and procedures governing leaves due to holidays and institutional closings.