Time Off Benefits
Employees have access to both paid and unpaid leave as part of their employment with the U of A.
Other Types of Leave
Bereavement Leave
You may use sick leave when you are absent from work because of the death of a member of your immediate family. Immediate family means your mother, father, sister, brother, husband, wife, child, grandchild, grandparents, in-laws, or any individual who has acted as your parent or guardian.
If you wish to attend the funeral of anyone outside your immediate family, you should make a request, as far in advance as possible, to your supervisor. Your absence will be charged to compensatory time first, then annual leave, or to annual leave if you have no compensatory time accumulated.
Children's Educational Activities
If you are a full-time, benefits-eligible employee, you will receive eight hours of leave each calendar year to participate in, assist with or attend your children's educational activities. Unused children's educational activities leave may not be carried over to the next calendar year, and you will not receive compensation for unused children's educational activities leave at retirement or when your employment with the university ends.
For the purposes of children's educational activities leave, "child" is defined as any person enrolled in an educational program for pre-kindergarten through grade 12 (preK-12) who is your natural child, adopted child, stepchild, foster child, grandchild, legal ward, or for whom you are the legal guardian or act in any other legal capacity as a parent, or is over the age of 18 and declared legally incompetent.
Pre-kindergarten means an educational and child development program that is designed to prepare children who are at least three (3) years of age for an academic kindergarten program.
Educational activities are defined as: parent-teacher conferences, your participation in school-sponsored tutoring, school-sponsored volunteer programs, field trips, classroom programs and academic competitions, and your assisting with athletic, music or theater programs. Children's educational activities leave may not be used to attend sports activities.
Disaster Service Volunteer Leave
If you are trained and certified as a disaster service volunteer by the American Red Cross and your specialized disaster relief services are requested by the Red Cross in connection with a disaster, you may receive up to 15 working days in any calendar year to participate in specialized disaster relief, without loss of pay or benefits. Leave will be granted only for disasters occurring in Arkansas or contiguous states. You must request disaster service volunteer leave in writing, to the chancellor, and attach a copy of your Red Cross orders to the request.
Organ or Bone Marrow Donation Leave
If you serve as a human organ donor, you may take up to 30 days additional leave with pay at the time you make the donation. If you serve as a bone marrow donor, you may take up to seven days additional leave with pay at the time of the donation. This leave will not affect your leave accrual or time credited toward career service.
Workers' Compensation
If you become injured or ill while you are at work due to a work-related incident, you may be eligible to receive Workers' Compensation. Workers' Compensation is available to you by law to ensure that you get appropriate and reasonable medical care for injuries or illnesses sustained while you are on the job. Should your injury or illness require that you take an extended period of absence from work, you may be eligible for disability benefits through Workers' Compensation. Workers' Compensation claims are submitted to the Office of Risk Management. Determination and payment of claims is made by the Public Employee Claims Division located in Little Rock. Workers’ Compensation leave benefits and Family and Medical Leave can run concurrently and Workers’ Compensation leave can count against an employee’s FMLA leave entitlement.
For the Procedure for Reporting and Treatment of an On-the-Job Injury or Illness please see https://risk.uark.edu/workers-compensation.php.
Voting Leave
In most communities, polls remain open long enough to allow you time to vote before or after working hours. In cases of extreme hardship, such as having to travel a great distance to your polling place, you may be permitted to report to work late or to leave early in order to vote. The time permitted for this purpose is given to you with pay and without reduction of your sick leave, annual leave, or any other benefit. If it is necessary for you to use this privilege, please notify your immediate supervisor before election day.
Catastrophic Leave Bank
The university has a catastrophic leave bank program to which you can donate accrued sick leave and annual leave for use by employees who have a catastrophic illness or who have an immediate family member with a catastrophic illness, and whose own leave has been exhausted. You may also apply for catastrophic leave if you need it and meet the eligibility criteria. Some specific details of the university's program follow:
- Catastrophic illness: A medical condition of an employee or of the spouse, parent or dependent* child of the employee, as certified by a physician, which requires the employee's
absence from duty for a prolonged period of time and which results in a substantial
loss of income for the employee because of the exhaustion of all earned sick, annual,
holiday and compensatory leave time.
- Eligibility: You must be a full-time (100% appointed) employee to participate in the Catastrophic
Leave Bank Program. To receive benefits under the program, you must have at least
one year of service with the university or the university and another state agency
or institution of higher education. The employment does not have to be continuous,
but it must have been full-time employment in a regularly benefited position. You
must have exhausted all of your sick, annual, holiday and compensatory leave, and
as a result, face a substantial loss of income because of your, your spouse's, parent's
or dependent* child's medical condition. Your own injuries or illnesses that are covered and compensated
by workers' compensation are eligible under the Catastrophic Leave Bank Program, but
your workers' compensation and catastrophic leave compensation combined may not exceed
the compensation you received before the onset of your illness or injury. If you have
been disciplined for any abuse of leave during the previous two years, you are not
eligible to participate in the program. You must have at least 80 hours of accrued,
unused, combined annual leave and sick leave at the onset of the catastrophic illness
or injury. This requirement may be waived by the chancellor or the chancellor's designee
under extraordinary circumstances.
- Donations: Donations to the Catastrophic Leave Bank Program are optional. You do not need to
donate to be eligible to receive benefits. No one may directly or indirectly intimidate,
threaten, or coerce you or any other employee in connection with donating, receiving,
or using annual leave, sick leave, or catastrophic leave. You may not donate if doing
so would reduce your combined accrued annual leave and sick leave balance to less
than 80 hours. Donations can only be made in one hour increments, and there is no
limit to the amount of hours that may be donated. You may donate annual leave or
sick leave, or a combination of the two. Donations from active employees are taken
only during the annual donation drive, normally held in the month of November. If
you leave the university, you may donate unused hours of sick leave, annual leave
or a combination of the two at the time you terminate your employment. The chancellor
may extend the donation period on a case-by-case basis.
- Application for use: Applications for the Catastrophic Leave Bank Program are available in your department office and through Human Resources. When you request catastrophic leave, your department must verify that you have not been disciplined for leave abuse and you must provide a copy of your physician's diagnosis detailing your condition. It is important to explain the reasons for regular use of sick leave. After your application has been reviewed by your supervisor and your dean, director or department head, it will be sent to Human Resources for verification and for submission to the Catastrophic Leave Bank Committee for review. The completed application must be submitted to the Leave Administrator by the 1st working day of the month upon which the employee is requesting catastrophic leave. The committee is composed of nine university employees who review applications on a first-filed, first-considered basis. The Catastrophic Leave Bank Committee makes a recommendation on each application to the vice chancellor for finance and administration who makes the final decision to grant or deny catastrophic leave.
- General rules: If you are granted catastrophic leave, you will continue to receive your normal pay and benefits, such as contributions to insurance and retirement, but your next salary increase will be delayed for the same number of days you are on catastrophic leave or leave without pay. While you are on catastrophic leave, you will continue to accrue leave in accordance with university policies, but any leave you earn while you are on catastrophic leave must, as a condition of your voluntary participation in the program, be assigned to the Catastrophic Leave Bank. If an employee is granted Catastrophic Leave he/she will need to follow up with the Leave Administrator by the 1st of each month to advise if they will continue to need leave. No retro hours will be awarded. You may also meet the eligibility requirements for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). If so, all catastrophic leave time will be charged against your 12-week FMLA entitlement for the calendar year in which it occurs (Section 7.6). Catastrophic leave is limited to six months, or 1,040 hours, in a 24-month period, unless you have been denied disability, retirement or social security benefits. If you do not report to work at the end of your period of catastrophic leave, you may be terminated unless you provide a satisfactory reason for not returning before the date you are scheduled to return to work. The Catastrophic Leave Bank Program does not create any expectation or promise of continued employment. Further information about the program is available from Human Resources.
*A child who may be claimed as a dependent under the Arkansas Income Tax Act of 1929.