Leave of Absence (LOA) Without Pay Guidelines

Except for disciplinary suspensions, active military duty, and leave covered by workers’ compensation benefits, an employee must exhaust accumulated paid vacation and compensatory time before leave of absence without pay will be granted.

Sick leave and applicable sick leave pool time must be exhausted prior to placement into a Leave of Absence status if the employee is absent due to reasons which are eligible for sick leave usage. Otherwise, an employee may have a sick leave balance while on Leave of Absence in instances where s/he is absent for reasons which are ineligible for sick leave benefits. An employee may go on Leave of Absence for illness, injury, or for other reasons with appropriate approval.

Approval guidelines in the following chart are in accordance with the President’s Delegation of Authority for Human Resources.  

Leave of Absence vs Unpaid Time Off Request

Leave of Absence

A leave of absence (LOA) should be used when the absence is full-time, continuous, unpaid and for a duration of 30 days or more. This is an unpaid, job-protected leave status. Employees are not eligible to receive the state contribution for insurance premiums (SGIP) unless they are on leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Once the business process for leave of absence completes the employee will receive the Action item: Change Benefit Elections. An employee may remain on LOA for up to one year with appropriate approvals.

Note: This event (Change Benefits Elections) will default coverages to waive if no selections are made. The Employee must complete this event to continue coverages at full cost to the Employee. The employee will be billed for Benefits by the Systems Billing office while on leave of absence.

Return from Leave of Absence

To Return Worker from Leave of Absence select Actions>Time and Leave > Return Worker from Leave. The Employee will receive two Actions; Request Delegation Change to edit any delegations that may have been set up prior to going on leave and Benefit Change - Return from Leave to enroll in coverages.

Note:  This benefit event will keep coverages the Employee selected with the Leave of Absence benefit event. The Employee must complete this event to make any changes to their Benefits.

If an Employee will not return to work from the leave of absence, you should complete the Return Worker from Leave process before Termination is initiated to avoid downstream corrections that require administrative support and additional work.

Tip: The employee will get paid for the day you return them from leave. If you do not want the employee to be paid you will need to enter Unpaid Time Off leave in Workday.

Refer to Workday Job Aid: Leave of Absence (Place or Return Worker) found on Workday help on the SSO menu.

Unpaid Time Off

If the employee will be on unpaid time off for less than 30 days, submit a time off request for Unpaid Time Off in Workday.

Resources

System Regulations

• 03.02 Sick Leave
• 03.04 Leave of Absence Without Pay
• 03.05 Family and Medical Leave
• 03.03 Leave of Absence with Pay