Planning a Leave of Absence

Prepare for your leave of absence:

• Review your available paid and unpaid leave options, related policies, and governance documents for your employee group.
• Check on Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) eligibility and documentation requirements.
• See if your leave qualifies for coverage under one of the University’s disability coverage programs.
• Determine how your medical, dental, and other benefits coverage will be affected while you’re not working. Rates per pay period are available in the plan documents and web pages for each benefit (medical rates, dental rates, etc).
• Contact the Leave Administration team with questions.

• Types of Leave
• Family and Medical - FMLA Leave policy
• Employee Services | Disability Resource Center
• Civil Service rules and union contracts
• Vacation Paid Time Off
• Sick Time Off
• Short Term Disability Coverage
• Long-Term Disability Coverage
• Academic Disability Program

Plan coverage for your work:

• Discuss leave with your supervisor.
• Work with your supervisor to transition your work to others, as needed.
• Keep your supervisor informed of any date changes related to your leave of absence.

Request your leave:

• Submit your leave of absence request in MyU > MyTime > Request a Leave of Absence.

Plan with your leave specialist:

• Work with your leave specialist to develop a pay and absence plan, including who will enter your absences. They will help you determine what type of leave to use during your absence and for what period of time.
• Make sure your leave specialist has your contact information for when you’re away.

• Employee Services | Disability Resource Center

Track your time off:

• If working intermittently, enter your time off in your absence tool (for example, in the My Time tab in MyU) each week or notify your leave specialist.

Pay and Benefits:

• Understand pay information, especially if considering extending your leave.
• Utilize Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for concerns, if necessary.

Stay connected:

• IMPORTANT: Stay in touch with your leave specialist. Make sure you respond to emails and notify them if you need to extend, shorten, or change the type of your leave.

• Benefits Vendor Contact Info
• Employee Services | Disability Resource Center

Prepare for your return to work:

• Your leave specialist will contact you one to two weeks before your planned return to confirm. Double check that they entered your return date accurately.
• Update your leave specialist if your planned return date changes so they can notify your supervisor and HR staff.
• Get a written “return to work” note from my doctor, if required by my department.
• Work with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) to ensure you have the right accommodations when you return, if applicable.
• Review the family resources available when returning from leave (e.g., lactation policies and spaces).

Update your benefits, if necessary:

• Review the Live Events and Your Benefits information. If your leave was due to a change in your family status (like the birth of a child), you may be able to update your benefit coverage within 30 days of the date the change happened.

• Family Resources
• Life Events and Your Benefits
• Employee Services | Disability Resource Center

• Check your pay stub to be sure benefits were reactivated accurately, if applicable.
• Know where the lactation room is in your work area and its scheduling procedures, if applicable.

• Employee Services | Disability Resource Center

All University of Minnesota faculty and staff who are taking a parental, personal, medical, or military leave of absence should submit their leave in MyU. The OHR leave of absence specialists can answer questions and implement and track leaves.

A couple groups of employees have different needs based on their employment situation:

Medical School Faculty Employed by University of Minnesota Physicians (UMP)

• You will need to inform both UMP and the University’s Leave Administration team about your leave since the HR systems are not integrated.
• You will need to file two separate disability (U of M and UMP) claims, if appropriate.

Unit 2 Craft and Trades Employees

• Those covered by this bargaining unit are not eligible for University leaves since they receive benefits through their trade union.
• However, you qualify for Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protections and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• Your time away under FMLA will be tracked through OHR’s Leave Administration team.
• Trades staff who contact the Disability Resource Center will be directed to OHR if their issue qualifies under either FMLA or ADA.

Your assigned leave specialist will work with you and the UReturn team on a possible accommodation.

Please contact [email protected] for specific benefits questions.

During a paid leave, all of your benefits remain the same. 

During an unpaid leave that covers one or more pay periods, you will be responsible for paying your benefits through our direct bill process. If your leave is unpaid but covered under FMLA, you will pay a portion of the cost for the benefits and if your leave is unpaid and not covered under FMLA, the University will not contribute toward the cost of your medical, dental, and life insurance benefits and you will pay the full cost.

Be sure to review the Administrative Policy for Unpaid Personal Leaves for Faculty and P&A Employees, your employee group governance document, and federal and state continuation provisions (COBRA).

Flexible Spending Accounts

Health Care FSA

If you make contributions while out on a leave of absence that lasts longer than one month, you may continue to submit expenses for reimbursement. If you do not make contributions while on leave, any expenses incurred while on your leave are not eligible for reimbursement.

Dependent Care FSA

You can use the money remaining in your account for work-related dependent daycare expenses through the end of the year.

Eligible faculty members may request development leaves, including single semester, sabbatical, and entrepreneurial leaves. These types of leave are not processed by the Leave Administration team.

Learn more about these types of leave, including procedures, reporting requirements, and their impact on salary and benefits, in the Faculty Development Leaves policy.