Leaves of Absence

Vacation Leave

Vacation leave is earned each pay period and credited on the last day of that pay period. Vacation leave-accruing faculty begin earning leave from the time they are employed. There is no waiting period for using vacation leave. An employee may only use what is available in the balance prior to future accrual. Full-time faculty earn 6.769 hours biweekly, approximately 22 days per year, or a number of hours that is directly proportionate to the number of hours they are in pay status during less than a full pay period. Vacation leave for part-time employees is earned in proportion to the amount of time in pay status during each pay period. There is a limit of 352 vacation leave hours an employee may accrue. For additional information, please see the following website – Vacation Leave

Sick Leave

Sick leave is earned each pay period and credited on the last day of each pay period. Sick leave-accruing faculty begin earning leave from the time they are employed. There is no waiting period for using sick leave. An employee may only use what is available in the balance prior to future accrual. Full-time faculty earn 4 hours biweekly, approximately 13 days per year, or a number of hours that is directly proportionate to the number of hours in pay status during less than a full pay period. Sick leave for part-time employees is earned in proportion to the amount of time in pay status during each pay period. There is no limit to the amount of sick leave employees may accrue. For additional information, please see the following website – Sick Leave

December Personal Leave

Vacation-accruing faculty are eligible for four personal leave days per year (32 hours assuming full-time status), known as December Personal Leave (DPL). For part-time employees, DPL is earned in proportion to their Full-Time Equivalency (FTE).The four personal leave days will be credited to eligible employees on December 2nd of each year; however, an employee must be in pay status for at least a reasonable portion of his or her last scheduled workday before December 25th in order to be eligible to use these days off from work. An employee’s FTE as of December 26th should be used to determine the appropriate benefit. If an employee is required to work during the holiday closing period (December 26 – 31), they may use their DPL at an alternate date, prior to the end of the fiscal year (June 30th). DPL not used by the end of the fiscal year will be forfeited. For additional information, please see the following website – Holiday Closing Period.

Sick Leave Pool

The University’s Sick Leave Pool is a way for employees to combine a portion of their individually accrued sick leave for collective use. If you join the Sick Leave Pool, you may be able to draw upon the pool – after approval from the Sick Leave Pool Committee – in instances in which you must use all of your sick, vacation, and compensatory leave hours (if applicable) because of personal (not family) catastrophic illness or injury. Catastrophic injury or illness is defined as a severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of the employee that has resulted in a life-threatening condition and/or has had a major impact on life functions.

To be eligible to participate in the Sick Leave Pool, you must be appointed to a sick leave-accruing position, and have a minimum of 64 hours of sick leave on balance if you are full-time. Full-time employees whose applications are accepted will contribute eight hours of sick leave automatically to the Sick Leave Pool. All figures associated with the sick leave pool are figured on a prorated basis for part-time employees.

To enroll in the pool, you must submit an application for membership during the annual October open enrollment period.

For additional information, please see the following website – Sick Leave Pool.

Terminal Leave

Effective July 1, 2013, UF policy allows vacation-accruing employees to request usage of up to 160 hours (4 weeks) of vacation leave upon notice of termination from UF. This is in addition to the leave cashout (up to the maximum for the individual salary plan) the employee may receive upon separation. As always, approval of vacation leave requests is at the discretion of the supervisor. Please also see the UF College of Medicine Faculty Leave Policy: Faculty Minimum Resignation Notice Requirement and Terminal Leave Policy (May 2013)

Leave Cashout upon Termination

Employees will receive a cashout on up to 200 hours of vacation leave upon separation. (There is not a cashout for unused sick leave). If the value of the vacation leave cashout is less than $5000, the cashout is paid via check to the employee. If the amount is $5000 or greater, the funds (up to a limit of $53K) are placed into a Special Pay Plan. This plan is a defined contribution plan authorized under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code. The cashout funds, which are not subject to Social Security taxes, are used to set up a tax-deferred account in the participant’s name. Participants decide how to allocate the money in their account among the available investment funds. For additional information, please see the following website – Special Pay Plan.