Unum Leave Administration

Unum Leave Administration - Request & Claim Processing

UVA HR is moving the administration of Family Medical Leave (FMLA) and other leave types to an outside partner firm called Unum effective January 1, 2020. This affects all faculty, staff, professional research staff, and team members throughout the Academic Division, the College at Wise, and the Medical Center. This change does not impact UPG employees. See your position category below for details about leave administration changes. Please note there are no changes to leave benefits, only to the process to request a leave of absence.

Changes by Position Type

Open your position category below to see what types of leave are now administered by Unum, and what types are still administered by UVA HR. 

  • Faculty & PRS

    AS OF JANUARY 2020 

    Leave Type:                             Administered by:

    Family Medical (FML)              Unum (change)

    Military                                     Unum (change)

    Paid Parental (PPL)                 Department in conjunction with UVA HR

    Sabbatical                                Department in conjunction with UVA HR

    Educational                              Department in conjunction with UVA HR

    Personal                                   Department in conjunction with UVA HR

     

    DISABILITY

    Leave Type:                           Administered by:

    ORP                                       Unum (changing from The Standard)

    VRS                                       The Reed Group

  • Staff

    AS OF JANUARY 2020 

    Leave Type:                             Administered by:

    Family Medical (FML)              Unum (change)

    Paid Parental (PPL)                 Unum (change)  University Staff; UVA HR Classified Staff

    Military                                     Unum (change)

    Educational                              UVA HR

     

     

    DISABILITY

    Leave Type:                           Administered by:

    ORP                                       Unum (changing from The Standard)

    VRS                                       The Reed Group

  • Medical Center

    AS OF JANUARY 2020 

    Leave Type:                             Administered by:

    Family Medical (FML)              Unum (change)

    Paid Parental (PPL)                 Unum (change)

    Military                                     Unum (change)

    Educational                              Department

    Personal                                   Department

     

    DISABILITY

    Leave Type:                           Administered by:

    MCRP                                     Unum 

     

Why a New Partnership

  • Using one vendor to manage multiple leave types - FMLA, disability, parental and military, delivers a more efficient and harmonized service enhancing the experience for UVA community members. 
  • Unum’s secure web services allows employees to access and make changes to open claims, as well as view updates, available letters and documents.
  • A Leave Administration Assessment conducted by an outside third party (Willis Towers Watson) in April 2018 concluded that manual administrative processes and leave tracking do not allow UVA to have complete accounting of costs and implications for absence benefits.
  • Using a firm specializing in benefits compliance and leave processing mitigates the University’s compliance risk with federal laws, and guidelines.
  • Unum already has a relationship with the University Medical Center and has a proven track record of high customer service satisfaction.

Claims Process Prior to January 1, 2020

Leave - All employees with a current FMLA approval will not need to recertify but will need to report any FMLA time taken to Unum beginning January 1.  Employees should continue to follow their department’s call-out procedure and managers should continue to enter intermittent FMLA hours taken in Workday or Kronos.

Disability - Academic Division faculty and staff in the ORP who are, or will be, out on an approved disability claim prior to January 1, 2020 will continue to work with The Standard for the duration of their claim.  New claims with an anticipated disability date of January 1 or later will need to be filed with Unum. 

 

How to Submit Leave Requests as of January 1, 2020

  1. Step 1

    Faculty, Staff, PRS and Medical Center team members should speak with their supervisors about the need for a leave of absence including dates of leave, if known, and approximate duration.

  2. Step 2

    Follow instructions for leave request processing on the Paid Leave webpage on the HR website. 

     

  1. Step 3

    Follow instructions for disability claims processing on the Disability Benefits webpage on the HR website. 

    ORP Retirement Plan members and Medical Center Team Members should contact UNUM for Short Term Disability benefits.

    VRS Retirement Plan members in the Virginia Sickness and Disability Plan (VSDP) should contact Reed Group for Short Term Disability benefits.

  2. Step 4

    For additional questions about the leave and disability processes, contact AskHR@virginia.edu, or 434-243-3344. 

Manager Training

UVA HR in partnership with Unum can provide information and training sessions managers and supervisors. Please contact askhr@virginia.edu for inquires about future training sessions. 

  • Training Dates & Locations

    In December 2019 UVA HR and Unum provided in-person information and training sessions to Medical Center and Facilities Management managers and supervisors to explain the details of the partnership, and how the new leave request and approval process will work with Unum so that you may better assist your team members. 


     

Recording - Unum Medical Center Manager Training