Sick leave is accrued for Academic Personnel, USPS, and TEAMS employees from the time of employment, credited at the end of each pay period. There is no waiting period to use sick leave, and the employee may only use what is available in their balance before future accrual.
Full-time eligible Academic Personnel, TEAMS, and USPS employees earn four hours of sick leave each biweekly pay period, or a proportionate number of hours based on the time in pay status during each pay period. Part-time eligible employees also earn sick leave based on the time in pay status during each pay period. There is no limit to the amount of sick leave employees may accrue.
Sick leave can be approved for various reasons, such as personal illness, exposure to contagious diseases, visits to doctors or dentists for the employee, and parental leave in accordance with UF Leaves Regulation 1.201. Additionally, it can be used for up to 30 days due to illness, injury, or death within an employee’s immediate family, pending supervisory approval. In cases of a serious medical condition, employees may be eligible for an extended medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the UF Extended Leave of Absence program.
Leave Entitlement and Cash-out Chart
Note: Medical documentation for sick leave should only be submitted to UFHR Central Leave Office by emailing central-leave@ufl.edu.
An employee’s spouse, children, and parents are immediate family members for purposes of FMLA. Please note that the UF definition of immediate family is different and broader than the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) definition of immediate family.
For the purpose of UF sick leave use and extended medical leaves of absence, the university’s definition for “immediate family” is defined as:
An “immediate family member” shall be defined as an employee’s spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, brother, sister, grandchild or great-grandchild; or the child, parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, brother, sister, grandchild, or great-grandchild of the employee’s spouse or domestic partner, or the spouse or domestic partner of any of them. This also includes individuals for whom the employee is the current legal guardian.
If an employee anticipates being out of the office on a regular basis to care for a family member that meets the UF definition but not that for FMLA, Central Leave would recommend that the employee submit an Extended Leave of Absence Request Form.
The university’s Sick Leave Pool enables employees to combine a portion of their accrued sick leave for collective use by eligible members. Members of the Sick Leave Pool may be able to draw upon the pool because of personal catastrophic illness or injury.
TEAMS, USPS, and Out-of Unit Faculty: No payment for sick leave will be made for any type of separation from employment. If you transfer to a leave-accruing position within the University of Florida, your sick leave balance will be transferred.
Faculty Covered by the Collective Bargaining Unit Agreement (In-Unit) Hired Prior To 04/01/2010: If you separate from university employment by retiring after completing at least ten years of creditable service*, you or your beneficiary upon an employee’s death will be paid for part of your unused sick leave hours. Unused sick leave hours are paid at the rate of 1/4 of unused hours earned, not to exceed an actual payment of 480 hours. If you transfer to a leave-accruing position within the University of Florida, your sick leave balance will be transferred.
*Time spent on personal leaves of absence does not count toward the requirement for 10 years of creditable service for purposes of sick leave cash-out.
The Special Pay Plan is a mandatory retirement plan available to salaried (non-OPS) employees for sick and vacation payments at the time of separation.