Leaves of Absence & Other Time Off

There may be times in your career with the University that you will take a leave of absence. It could be a sabbatical, for personal reasons, or for a disability. It may be a paid or unpaid leave. Depending on the kind of leave and whether or not it is paid or unpaid, determines how your benefits will be affected.

When you go on leave

Review the appropriate checklist(s) and/or factsheet(s) to see what happens to your benefits while you are on leave and to help you determine what actions you need to take.

If you go on a leave and will miss one or more paychecks, you must complete the Benefits: Request to Continue/Cancel University Coverage (PDF) form and give it to your Department Benefits Counselor (DBC) before the leave or as soon after the leave starts as possible. If you will be continuing any benefits, such as your medical insurance, also give your DBC a check for the premiums due to that point. Complete instructions accompany the form. If you do nothing, your benefits will be canceled at the end of the 2nd month after premiums were last paid and you will be charged for any unpaid premiums.

Additional information for certain leaves

  • Disability leave:
    • In addition to reading the applicable checklist(s) and factsheet(s), it is critical that you read the Disability Benefits information. Contact your DBC to coordinate getting you a disability packet.
  • FMLA designated leaves:
  • Bereavement:
    • Non-represented employees:
      • The University recognizes the importance of family and the difficulties employees face following the death of a family member or another person close to the employee.  
        • Death of a Family or Household Member: In the event of the death of an employee’s family member or of a person residing in the employee’s home, the employee may take up to 10 days of accrued sick leave. 
        • Death of Any Other Person: In the event of the death of an individual who is not an employee’s family or household member, the employee may take up to five days of accrued sick leave in a calendar year.
        • Additional Unpaid Leave: If an employee requires more than the time allowed for bereavement leave, they may request an unpaid personal leave of absence or may use any accrued vacation, PTO (if applicable), and/or compensatory time off, if available. 
    • Represented Employees must refer to their applicable CBA Leave of Absence Article. 

When you return from leave

  • Reenroll in all benefits within 31 days of return from leave: You must re-enroll even if you kept your benefits up while you were on leave. Use the UPAY 850 (PDF) (Health & Welfare enrollment) and/or UPAY 919 (PDF) (FSA enrollment) forms.
  • Leave without pay is less than 120 days: your enrollment is limited to the plans and levels of coverage you had before your leave began.
  • Leave without pay is more than 120 days: you may enroll in any plans or level of coverage; you are treated as a new employee for benefits enrollment purposes.
  • Review the UCRP Service Credit Buyback booklet (PDF) to see if your leave is eligible for service credit buyback and to determine if that is what you want to do. The sooner you buy back lost service credit, the less it costs you.