Community Service Policy
I. Purpose
Goucher College contributes to and, in turn, is enriched by the Goucher community, the communities of metropolitan Baltimore, our home communities, and the communities of our world. In support of this, the College has established this policy and these procedures to enable employees to engage in the community during normal working hours.
II. Definitions
A. Assigned Duties: Activities in support of College’s initiatives or interests that an employee is requested to participate in or attend on behalf of the College.
B. Volunteerism: An outside activity that an employee has chosen to participate in that benefits the community.
III. Scope
This policy applies to regular faculty and staff.
IV. Individual community service
The College provides one full day of paid leave (pro-rated for, part-time employees) for communitybased volunteerism, with supervisory approval. Volunteer activities must meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Volunteer activity is for a public/private primary/secondary school, childcare program, or a program for mentoring tutoring or literacy; or
- Volunteer activity is for a community service organization defined as a non-profit, non-partisan community organization designated as an IRS Code 501 (c)(3) or 501 (c)(4) agency; or
- Volunteer activity is participation in an event organized or sponsored by an organization defined as a non-profit, non-partisan community organization designed as an IRS Code 501 (c)(3) or 501 (c)(4) agency; or
- Volunteer activity is for a human service organization licensed or accredited to serve citizens with special needs including children, youth, or the elderly; or
- Volunteer activity is participation in an event organized or sponsored by a human service organization licensed or accredited to serve citizens with special needs including children, youth, or the elderly.
- Employees must provide written evidence of the leave (e.g., event registration confirmation, written or emailed note of appreciation) to their supervisors in order to receive the appropriate leave credit. Failure to provide the appropriate evidence may result in the employee’s time being charged to their leave bank or being unpaid.
- Employees should request Community Service leave absences in Workday.
- Community service leave must be used in hour increments and includes time spent commuting to or from the volunteer site.
- Community service leave is not granted for days employees are not scheduled to work or time employees volunteer after regularly scheduled work hours.
- Community service leave does not contribute to time worked for determining overtime eligibility and may not be offset by additional time worked during the workweek.
- Unused community service leave is not carried over to the next fiscal year, and employees are not paid for unused community service leave upon separation from employment.
V. On-campus events
Goucher College hosts a variety of events (e.g., move-in day, family and friends weekend) throughout the year where employees may be asked to participate, with supervisory approval. While these projects likely offer an opportunity to deviate from normal work activities, time spent contributing to the completion of projects associated with these events will be treated as assigned duties and time will be paid accordingly.
VI. Responsible departments
The Associate Vice President for Human Resources is responsible for questions regarding this policy.
VIII. History
Adopted: December 2021
Updated: January 2026