Leave Advancement Policy
Some employees may feel compelled to come to work while possibly infected with a virus or contagious conditions because they do not have sufficient accrued leave and would be in leave without pay status. This policy allows employees with no leave balance to borrow against future leave accrual in order to remain in pay status and away from the work-site, thus reducing the possibility of spreading an infectious virus to co-workers.
Faculty, academic staff, unclassified professional staff, and university support staff appointed to regular positions who have exhausted all forms of available paid leave for which they are eligible (e.g., vacation leave, sick leave, compensatory time, holiday compensatory time, and the employee’s discretionary holiday) who have contracted qualifying infectious conditions designated by the University.
Qualifying contagious viruses/infectious diseases are at the discretion of the University based upon information obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and/or the Douglas County Health Department. Designation of contagious conditions is subject to change based upon the overall health threat to the public at large, vaccine development and availability.
The University reserves the right to require that an employee with such conditions leave work and utilize accrued paid leave or requests advanced leave in the absence of any form of paid leave.
Advanced leave must be requested and approved by the hierarchy appropriate for each department/unit in writing. Approvals for advanced leave may be provided after the employee returns to work, and retroactive leave/pay adjustments may be made as prior approvals may not be possible at the onset of the contagious condition.
Approval of requests for advanced leave must be obtained first from the Department Head/Chair. Following that approval, faculty and academic staff requests will be submitted to the Office of the Provost for review and approval, while requests from unclassified professional staff and university support staff will be reviewed and approved by Human Resources (HR). The University will not approve advanced leave for employees who have a history of leave abuse as determined by HR.
Eligible employees may be approved for advanced leave in the amount of the total number of hours the employee is regularly scheduled to work in a bi-weekly pay period. Advanced leave is to be used in accordance with the employee’s regularly scheduled work hours and will be paid at the employee’s regular rate of pay.
Advanced leave does not count as time worked for FLSA purposes for hourly (non-exempt staff) but will count as hours in pay status. As a result, advanced leave for hourly (non-exempt) employees shall be used in .25 hour increments and in half- or full-day increments for salaried (exempt) employees.
Employees receiving shared leave, workers' compensation or disability leave are ineligible for leave advancement.
If an employee separates from service before the number of hours deducted from the employee’s sick and/or vacation leave accrual equals the number of hours used as advanced leave, the remaining balance of hours that were not deducted shall be multiplied by the employee’s current rate of pay and that amount will be deducted from the employee’s final paycheck.
In the event that the number of hours used as advanced leave exceeds the amount not recovered from the employee’s final paycheck upon separation, the employee may be required to pay to the State of Kansas, as liquidated damages, an amount equal to the current rate of pay for the advanced leave that was received by the employee and was not recovered prior to the employee’s separation.
Human Resources
University of Kansas
Carruth O'Leary Hall
1246 West Campus Road
Lawrence, KS 66045
hrdept@ku.edu
785-864-4946
09/20/2024: Updated Human Resource Management (HRM) to Human Resources (HR).
04/28/2016: Updated Review Date.
09/03/2015: Updated Review Date.
08/13/2015: Updated Human Resources/HR to Human Resource Management/HRM. Removed references to H1N1 in purpose and applies to, policy statement, and sections. Added Douglas County Health Department to list of discretionary agencies. Added statement that the university reserves the right to require advance leave. Removed provost’s office as determining agency for leave abuse issues. Moved information regarding FLSA status vs in pay status to exclusions/special circumstances. Added exclusions for shared leave, workers’ comp and disability leave. Added “current rate of pay” to reimbursement statements. Removed the provost as a contact. Added more keywords.
01/23/2015: Policy formatting cleanup (e.g., bolding, spacing).
01/27/2010: Approved by the Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor.
