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• Academia Sinica has enacted these Guidelines to protect the leave rights of research fellows and research specialists. (Unless otherwise stated, the leave is paid.)
• Academia Sinica research fellows and research specialists may take leave according to the following regulations:
  • Seven days (one day consists of eight hours) of personal leave are permitted every academic year. Family care leave may be taken when a family member needs to be vaccinated, suffers a serious illness, or has to be personally taken care of due to a serious incident. Seven days of personal and/or family care leave are permitted every academic year. Family care leave may be taken when a family member needs to be vaccinated, suffers a serious illness, or has to be personally taken care of due to a serious incident. If there are more than seven days of personal and/or family care leave, pay will be deducted for the additional days (beyond seven) for which the staff member is absent.
  • Sick leave may be taken for medical treatment or necessary rest due to illness or pregnancy. Twenty-eight days of sick leave are permitted every academic year. Personal leave can be substituted for sick leave if the limit is reached. The following rules apply to sick leave:
    
    • Female research fellows and research specialists may take one day of leave per month if they are unable to work due to menstruation. Three days of period leave throughout the whole academic year will not be incorporated into sick leave. Additional days of period leave will be considered sick leave.
    • Those who cannot be cured in a short period of time due to serious injury or disease, or who need to take leave for recuperation due to miscarriage, can extend the leave time with the approval of Academia Sinica after all sick leave, personal leave, and annual leave have been taken. The extension period starts from the first day of the first extended leave requested by the staff. A maximum of one-year leave extension in two years is permitted. Any extended leave previously taken in the last two years will not be counted if the staff returns and has been working for over one year.
  • Fourteen days of marital leave are permitted. Marital leave must be taken within three months starting from 10 days prior to the marriage registration date. However, those approved by Academia Sinica for special reasons may take the leave within one year.
  • Those who are pregnant shall be given eight days of prenatal leave before delivery, and the leave can be taken at multiple times, but shall not be reserved until after delivery. Forty-two days of maternity leave are permitted after delivery. Forty-two days of miscarriage leave are permitted for a miscarriage which happens after 20 weeks. Twenty-one days of miscarriage leave are permitted for a miscarriage which happens between 12 and 20 weeks. Fourteen days of miscarriage leave are permitted for a miscarriage which happens before 12 weeks. Maternity leave or miscarriage leave should be taken at one time. Those who have consumed all prenatal leave before giving birth may apply for part of the maternity leave before giving birth if necessary. The limit is 12 days, and can apply at multiple times; for those who have a miscarriage, the amount of maternity leave taken earlier shall be deducted from the miscarriage leave.
  • Those who accompany their spouses for pregnancy checkups, or because their spouses give birth or have a miscarriage after more than 20 weeks of pregnancy, will be given seven days of pregnancy checkup accompaniment and paternity leave that can be taken at multiple times. Pregnancy checkup accompaniment leave should be completed during the spouse's pregnancy; paternity leave should be completed within 15 days (including public holidays) before and after the spouse's delivery date or miscarriage date.
  • Fifteen days of bereavement leave for the death of parents or spouse; ten days of bereavement leave for the death of stepparents, parents-in-law, and children; five days of bereavement leave for the death of great-grandparents, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, stepparents-in-law or siblings. Any other bereavement leave may only be taken for the death of a person who is related to the staff by consanguinity or adoption at the time of death, except for the stepparents or stepparents-in-law who raised the employee or his/her spouse before adulthood or live with the staff or his/her spouse until death. Bereavement leave can be taken at multiple times and should be completed within 100 days after the date of death.
  • Those who donate bone marrow or organs will be given leave according to actual needs.

  Regarding the days of allowed personal leave stipulated in Subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph, for those who have served for less than one academic year, after calculating the ratio of the number of months of service, if it is less than half a day, it will be counted as half a day; if it exceeds half a day but less than one day, it will be counted as one day.

  The personal leave, family care leave, sick leave, period leave, marital leave, prenatal specified in Paragraph 1 can be taken by the hour.

• Academia Sinica research fellows and research specialists who have one of the following situations will be given leave for official affairs. The period shall be determined by Academia Sinica according to actual needs:
  • To be called up for various military service in accordance with the law.
  • Participating in various voting sponsored by the government according to law.
  • Those who must rest or receive medical treatment due to injury or illness caused by danger during research work or on the way to and from work, and the period is within two years of the injury.
  • Participating in various conferences, activities or speeches related to their research at the invitation of domestic and foreign institutions or schools, with the approval of Academia Sinica.
  • Attending to testify and defend based on statutory obligations, with the approval of Academia Sinica.
  • Those who are subject to compulsory isolation as determined by the competent health authorities at all levels due to statutory infectious diseases. However, this does not apply to those who are ill due to causes attributable to themselves.
  • Attending events or meetings assigned by Academia Sinica.
• Those who have taken sick leave for the period extended by Subparagraph 2, Paragraph 1 of Article 2, or have taken official affairs leave for the period specified in Subparagraph 3 of Article 3, and still require more leave, shall take unpaid leave or shall be retired or dismissed according to law.
  Those to whom the preceding paragraph applies but have not recovered after more than one year from the date of taking unpaid leave shall be retired or dismissed according to law. However, if unpaid leave is due to the implementation of research work and the circumstances are special, it may be extended at the discretion of Academia Sinica, though the extension is limited to one year.
• Those who take unpaid leave according to the previous article and recover from illness during the period of unpaid leave may apply to Academia Sinica for reinstatement with a certificate from a legal medical institution or doctor. However, for the purpose of retirement or dismissal, the staff may apply to Academia Sinica for reinstatement at any time without attaching a certificate of recovery, and the date of reinstatement shall be the effective date of retirement or dismissal.
• Academia Sinica research fellows and research specialists shall be given 21 days of annual leave each academic year, and the leave can be taken by the hour.
  Unused days of annual leave for an academic year can be carried over to the next academic year, but no overtime pay will be paid for the leftover leave; if the leftover leave is not completed within the next academic year, it will be considered forfeited.
  Those who report for duty after September can be granted annual leave in proportion to the number of months of service from the current month to the end of the academic year; the calculation method is in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 2 of Article 2. From August of the next academic year, annual leave shall be granted according to the provisions of Paragraph 1.
• In order to promote academic growth, Academia Sinica distinguished research fellows and research fellows who meet one of the following conditions may draw up lecture and research plans. After passing through the council of research institute, (preparatory office) or research center and getting approval from the President of Academia Sinica, they can take a sabbatical leave to engage in lectures and research and receive full salary during the period. However, no such application can be made during a service extension period. Those conditions are as follows:
  • For every three years and six months of continuous service, fellows may apply for a sabbatical leave of half a year for research.
  • For every seven years or more of continuous service, fellows may apply for a sabbatical leave of one year for research.

  Academia Sinica distinguished research fellows and research fellows who apply for unpaid leave may take sabbatical leave in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph after returning to work. The seniority during the period of unpaid leave shall be handled according to the following regulations:

  • The seniority accrued during the period of transferring to central government agencies with unpaid leave may be counted in half as the continuous service years in the subparagraphs of the preceding paragraph.
  • The seniority accrued during the period of unpaid leave, other than that stated in the preceding subparagraph, shall not be counted. However, the years of service in Academia Sinica before and after the unpaid leave may be counted together and regarded as continuous service.

  Those who apply for half-year sabbatical leave should complete it within one year from the date of approval; those who apply for one-year sabbatical leave can apply separately for two half- year leaves, but should complete the leaves within two years from the date of approval. The leaves that are overdue shall be deemed as waived.

  For research staff who apply for sabbatical leave as stipulated in Paragraph 1, each research institute (preparatory office) or research center shall not have more than one-tenth of the number of distinguished research fellows and research fellows of the institute (preparatory office) or center each year. If the number of research staff is less than ten, the research institute (preparatory office) or research center shall report to the President of Academia Sinica for approval.

• Academia Sinica distinguished research fellows and research fellows shall return to Academia Sinica to continue their service immediately after their sabbatical leave expires. The subsequent required service period is twice as long as the period of their sabbatical leave. Those who fail to fulfill their required service obligations are not allowed to apply for sabbatical leave again.

  Lectures and research reports should be submitted upon the expiration of the sabbatical leave mentioned in the preceding paragraph. After the unit confirms that the research report is consistent with the content of the original application plan according to the internal review mechanism, the report should be submitted to Academia Sinica for reference.

• The leave of absence of Academia Sinica research fellows and research specialists within 30 days shall be approved by the director of the research institute (preparatory office) and research center, and those exceeding 30 days shall be approved by the President of Academia Sinica.
  Those who fail to follow the procedures for requesting leave or request leave under false pretenses will be treated as absent without leave, and their salary will be deduced for the number of days absent.
• For the granting of leave stipulated in these Guidelines, regular holidays shall be deducted. However, the holidays will not be deducted for those who take official affairs leave due to work injury or illness, extended leave due to illness, or take sabbatical leave stipulated in Article 7. For leave requests by the hour, a day is considered eight hours.

In the event of any inconsistency between the Chinese and English versions, the Chinese version will prevail.