Part-time employees and graduate teaching fellows of the university are receiving sick leave benefits for the first time thanks to a new law.

Oregon’s “Mandatory Sick Leave Law” went into effect Jan. 1 and requires employers to provide sick leave to all of their employees. For the University of Oregon, this grants sick leave to Graduate Teaching Fellows, university-employed students, temporary workers and part-time faculty for the first time, Senior Director of Labor and Employee Relations Bill Brady said.

“Previously the only group on campus who were accruing sick leave were [Service Employees International Union workers]. This extends the right to [ part-time officers of administration], faculty, students, and GTFs,” Brady said.

Student employees will accrue one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, which is the minimum required by the new law. Although this law extends sick leave to student employees for the first time, some expressed concern that it is not enough.

Freshman Theresa Wanner works for UO Dining Services. She says that some students work longer shifts than others, some up to eight hours, and that the minimum requirement is not enough.

Student employees typically work between 10 and 20 hours per week. Under the minimum requirement, full-time employees receive eight days after working for a year.

“[The amount of sick leave students get] is nothing,” Wanner said. “If it’s just a cold, you can come in. But if it’s really bad, you need more.”

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation negotiated with the university in the fall and will receive greater benefits than the law requires. GTFs will accrue two days of sick leave for each term they are employed and receive an extra day for the first term they are employed.

Shawna Meechan, president of GTFF, says that the group negotiated for per-day sick leave rather than per-hour sick leave for GTFs because it makes more sense for them. Some GTFs work irregular hours and have busier schedules than others. This makes it difficult for some GTFs to find peers that can cover their shift because some may exceed the .49 full-time equivalency, the maximum that GTFs are allowed to work.

“Prior to this, if you were sick, you had to barter with your friends or beg your supervisors to cover for you. More often than not, people would come in sick which is problematic,” Meechan said.

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