« Leaves of Absence



During the last eight months, I've come across a number of incidents which lead me to believe that it would be helpful to offer some guidelines on issues surrounding Employee Leave, with or without pay. Simply put, UCLA's Leave of Absence policies allow employees to be away from work for approved reasons without jeopardizing their employment. Vacation and Sick Leave accruals are how employees may be paid for those leaves, as appropriate.

Following is a summary of the fundamental differences. Please refer to the Personnel Policies for Staff Members (PPSM) or applicable union contract for specifics on UCLA's policies in these areas: PPSM 41-46 or appropriate labor contract for represented employees.


An employee requests leave when the employee is unable to work for reasons which fall within our leave policy, generally illness (either their own or that of a close family member), urgent personal business, or vacation.

The major distinctions for leave are whether they are designated APPROVED or UNAPPROVED.

The supervisor has responsibility for designating the leave as Approved or Unapproved, according to the Leave policies. The Leave may be further designated as falling under the provisions of the Vacation policy, FMLA, the California Pregnancy Disability Act, or other leaves as described in our policy manuals.

The employee indicates on his/her timesheet what hours (applies to non-exempt only) or days he/she was absent during the month, and the supervisor, by signature on the timesheet, accepts the employee's absence record for the month.


Whether or not a leave is paid or unpaid is a separate, although related, subject.

Sick leave accrual means that an employee will be paid for approved absence from work due to his/her own illness, or the illness of a close family member as defined in the policy. However, the presence of sick leave accrual does not mean that an employee is entitled to approved sick leave. It means that if the sick leave is approved, the accrual will result in that leave being paid, as opposed to unpaid. If the supervisor does not approve the leave as bona fide medical leave under the policy, then the employee takes those days as unpaid, unapproved leave. Several occurrences of unapproved leave would typically result in disciplinary action.

This is an important point. Some supervisors have said to me that they do not put an employee on Leave of Absence, or approve a Leave of Absence, if the employee has sufficient sick leave accrual to pay for the time away from work. Employees may feel that they do not have to apply for a Leave of Absence if they have sufficient sick leave accrued. However, the presence of sick leave accrual does not give the employee the right to use the accrual to pay for leave at the employee's discretion, nor does it mean that an absence which the employee claims is due to illness is automatically approved.

Unapproved leaves are never paid. Approved leaves may or may not be paid, depending on the reason and availability of vacation or sick leave accrual.

The supervisor should apply consistent departmental procedures, in compliance with UC policy, to all employees requesting sick leave approval. This means that the department should require everyone to follow a standard practice if an unexpected illness occurs, such as requesting a call to a designated person(s) in the department by a specific time on the day the individual will be absent. When an employee returns from an extended sick leave (which might be three days, or a week, or two weeks, depending on departmental practice) he/she should produce documentation of the illness. If it was an extended medical leave, documentation that the doctor is releasing the individual to return to work is required.

Consistent practice is what is important here. To ask one employee who was out for a week to provide documentation, and not ask another, is not good practice.

Examples
Employee A is rarely absent. He calls in on Monday to say he thinks he has the flu and will stay home. He calls again on Tuesday and Wednesday, still ill. If it is departmental policy to ask for a doctor's note after five days of continuous absence, the supervisor should tell the employee on Wednesday that if he is unable to return to work on Friday (which is the fifth day), a doctor's note will be required when he returns. If he returns on Monday without the doctor's note, the Leave should be designated unapproved, and thus unpaid.

Employee B is often absent: a day here, two days there. The employee has not given you any documentation or reason for the absences, other than "I wasn't feeling well". You've told the employee that the level of absence is unacceptable, and that another such absence of any length within the next month will require a doctor's note, or the absence will be considered unexcused. Because you have reason to question whether or not the employee has a bona fide reason for the absence, and have informed her of your expectations, you do not have to wait five days to request a doctor's note to consider the absence unexcused. If she is absent again, and fails to deliver the note, the absence is unexcused, sick leave may not be used even if she has sick leave accrual, and further disciplinary action for chronic absenteeism should be implemented.

If the leave falls under California or Federal leave statutes, such as FMLA, the requirements of those statutes take precedence over departmental practice.

Vacation accrual is typically used for a leave designated as vacation. Approved in advance is the key. Non-exempt employees may use vacation leave for partial days, if approved in advance. Non-exempt employees should use sick leave accrual for partial days for medical appointments as well as for illness.

Vacation accrual may be used for illness only as consistent with UC, California, and Federal policies, and with supervisory approval. Employees may never choose to use sick leave for approved vacations. If an employee becomes ill while on an approved vacation leave, the employee may request sick leave for whatever period was affected by the illness, with appropriate documentation. That documentation should be provided as soon as the employee returns.


If an injury occurs at work, the time required for the initial evaluation of the injury is considered time worked, if the supervisor takes the action of sending the injured employee to Occupational Health. If the employee does not inform a supervisor of an injury, and sees his/her private physician, that absence is usually approved as for any other medical appointment, and is paid with accrued sick leave.

An employee who is absent for longer than three days because of a worker's compensation injury, and is expected to be absent for a period longer than a week, must be given approved leave (with medical certification). Payment for that leave is covered by sick leave or vacation leave as covered by our Worker's Compensation policies, and varies depending on the type of disability coverage the employee has. If you are unclear about the specifics, please see the applicable policy or contract.

Sometimes, an employee with an injury covered under Worker's Compensation is not absent for an extended period but instead is treated through physical therapy or requires other regular medical appointments. Absence for these appointments is considered the same as for any other medical appointment. They show on the timesheet as time away from work (non-exempt only), and sick leave accrual is used to pay for the absence. If the employee has no sick leave accrual, the employee needs to let the Worker's Compensation representative assigned to the case know, as he/she may be able to apply for compensation for these absences through Worker's Compensation. It is important to let employees know this at the beginning of their treatment, because if they don't apply for that compensation at the time of the injury, they may not be able to get it later. Use of vacation accrual for this purpose is at the discretion of the supervisor.


If you find Leave policies confusing, you are not alone. When in doubt, consult the appropriate policy language, or call CHR, L&S Human Resources, or the Worker's Compensation office (for work-related injuries) Keep in mind that there are at least two decisions to be made for every Leave: is the Leave approved? And is the Leave paid?

As with all other personnel policies, consistent application of standards is the key to maintaining respectful and equitable treatment for all employees.