UVA is committed to balancing the demands of your workplace, your individual needs, and the needs of your family. The University complies with the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2601 et seq., and Regulations 29 C.F.R Part 825).
Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) is a job-protected leave without pay (or use of your accrued leave with pay) for up to 12 workweeks (26 weeks for qualified Military leave) during a leave plan year for reasons specified in the FMLA. Those reasons include the following:
Birth of a child (to be taken within 12 months of the child’s birth)
Addition to the family through adoption or foster care (to be taken within 12 months of the child’s placement)
Care for a family member (child, spouse, or parent) with a serious health condition
A serious health condition that makes you unable to do your job
Military leave for a qualified exigency or to care for a covered service member’s serious illness or injury. (You may be granted up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a covered military service member who sustained a serious injury or illness if you are the spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin.)
Eligible employees include faculty, professional research staff, classified salaried employees, University staff, Medical Center team members, salaried research assistants, and wage employees who have been employed for both:
At least 12 months within the last 7 years
At least 1,250 hours during the 12 months before the start of leave
Family and Medical Leave Policies
Detailed descriptions of FMLA Policies by employee type:
Leave sharing permits eligible employees in a Leave Without Pay or docking status (14 consecutive calendar days of no pay) to receive income by using leave donated by other employees. Part- and full-time (20–40 hours per week) salaried Classified and University Staff who qualify for the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are eligible.
Leave Sharing may be used when leave balances have been depleted and either an employee or a family member covered by the Family Medical Leave Act has an illness or injury. Employees participating in short-term disability programs receive benefits for personal injury or illness and are not eligible for Leave Sharing. However, these employees may participate in Leave Sharing for a family member.
PTO Leave Donation - team members may donate accrued PTO to another team member who needs additional leave due to a serious health condition, or to care for an immediate family member with a serious health condition. See policy for details. The PTO Donation form and PTO Donation Request form are available in the forms repository.
Additional Family and Medical Leave Types for Faculty
In addition to unpaid leave provided by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), UVA provides several categories of personal leave for faculty to balance personal and professional commitments. Other than unpaid leave provided under FMLA, leave for personal reasons may be approved at the discretion of a supervisor, dean, or vice president. Approval is not guaranteed. With supervisor approval, faculty members may use available annual leave to extend the approved period of personal leave. Annual leave is a form of paid leave.
Parental Leave: A faculty member who is tenured, tenure-track, or non-tenure-track with an appointment of one year or more, may request up to 3 weeks of leave with full pay or 6 weeks of leave at half-pay upon becoming a parent (through the birth of a child, through adoption, placement of a foster child, or assumption of legal guardianship for a child under 7 years of age). Benefits remain unchanged during paid leave. No more than 2 faculty members may be approved for parental leave related to a single birth or placement event.
In addition to paid leave, faculty members may request an additional 9 weeks of unpaid parental leave. During this time, UVA will pay no salary but will contribute the employer's portion of any allowable health and life insurance premiums, so long as the faculty member continues to pay the employee’s share. During these 9 weeks, the University will not make contributions to the faculty member’s retirement benefit plan.
Parental leave must be completed within 12 months of the date of the birth or placement of the child. If the parents of a child (birth, adoptive, foster, or legal guardian) are faculty members working in the same department, unit, or program, they may be required by their school or unit to stagger, or otherwise coordinate, their paid and unpaid parental leave to minimize the disruptive effect on the department or unit.
For faculty members who give birth, any approved paid parental leave is in addition to paid leave received as a result of short-term disability.
All paid and unpaid parental leave runs concurrently with any unpaid leave granted under FMLA.