Sick Leave Pool Frequently Asked Questions

The sick leave pool is a voluntary program to provide employees who are members with sick leave hours after all their accrued leave has been exhausted.

Any faculty, administrative or support staff employee who has been employed with the University for at least 12 months, and has at least 64 hours of sick leave available is eligible to join.  Membership is not open for adjunct, student or other personnel services (OPS) employees.

There is a mandatory donation of eight hours of sick leave required to join the sick leave pool.

Enrollment in the sick leave pool is done once a year through an open enrollment event.  The open enrollment event occurs from Nov. 1 through Nov. 30. The application for sick leave pool membership will be reviewed by the sick leave pool committee. Once enrolled, an employee will be eligible to request sick leave pool benefits as of the following January.

Sick leave pool benefits may only be requested if an employee suffers a catastrophic injury or illness, and after all of the employee's accrued leave has been exhausted.  Both an application to use sick leave pool benefits and a certification of health care provider are necessary when requesting sick leave pool benefits.  All requests to use benefits are reviewed and either approved or denied by the sick leave pool committee.

Sick leave pool benefits are only able to be used for the catastrophic injury or illness of the covered employee, and may not be used for the care of immediate family members.

Any work-related injuries or illness are covered under workers' compensation, not by the sick leave pool.  For information about workers' compensation, please visit the workers' compensation page.

An employee does not repay any used hours granted by the sick leave pool, however, any unused hours granted by the sick leave pool must be returned.

An employee may donate up to 16 hours of sick leave to sick leave pool upon termination or retirement.  Submit a completed donation to sick leave pool upon employee termination form.

Membership in the sick leave pool may be canceled at any time by the employee.  Once membership has been canceled, an employee is no longer eligible to receive sick leave pool benefits, and must reapply to the sick leave pool if so desired.