A new staff leave program began in January 2024, when we transitioned to a paid time off (PTO) model. For the first time, employees have access to paid parental and caregiver leave programs, as well as short-term disability.
This program applies to benefit-eligible administrative, service and support staff and certain non-regular academic employees as approved by the president.
Applying for Short-Term Disability, Parental Leave or Caregiver Leave
Employees can apply for qualifying leaves (short-term disability, parental leave and caregiver leave) by completing the instructions outlined on the Taking Qualifying or FMLA Leave webpage.
Supervisors and timekeepers can request a qualifying leave on behalf of someone else by emailing the Leave Administration Team at umleaveadmin@umsystem.edu.
Applying to Use Banked Sick Leave
With the implementation of the new leave plan, employees should use available PTO when they need to be out for a sick day. Employees with accrued sick leave from the former staff leave plan that ended Dec. 31, 2023, may access their sick leave for specific situations:
- After PTO has been exhausted and need to be home due to illness
- During the elimination period for short-term disability
- To make up the difference between the employee’s regular pay and the 60% university-paid short-term disability
- To supplement workers’ compensation
To request sick leave, complete the “Sick Leave Request eForm” via myHR, located under the “Leave Request eForms” tile. Sick leave requests may be made up to 30 days in advance. Supervisors and timekeepers can request sick time on behalf of someone else by emailing the Leave Administration Team at umsickleaverequests@umsystem.edu.
Click on a header to expand the selection and uncover additional information.
Leave Program Structure
- Informational handout (PDF)
The new paid-time-off (PTO) program uses a single bank of days that employees may use for sick, vacation or personal time. For the first time, employees have access to paid parental and caregiver leave, as well as short-term disability.
For information on all leave types, see the Information on Leave, Including Holidays webpage and HR Policy Manual Leaves (HR-400) index.
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Fixed |
Holidays |
Winter Break (excludes MUHC) 4 days per year |
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| Flexible Leave |
PTO (Paid Time Off) Days Per Year*
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| Qualifying Leave | Short-Term Disability Covers 60% of employees’ pay for up to 20 weeks |
Parental Leave Covers 100% of employees’ pay for up to 4 weeks |
Caregiver Leave Covers 100% of employees’ pay for up to 2 weeks |
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* Hours will be prorated for employees working less than 100% FTE. MU Health Care hourly employees will also have a PTO cash-in option.
Employees' PTO began accruing Jan. 1, 2024. You can view your PTO accruals anytime using myHR (Kronos for MU Health Care). Employees will continue to enter time off requests for PTO, existing vacation and existing personal days as they have in the past.
New employees do not have to wait until their probationary period has ended to use their accrued time. Employees within their first six months of employment with the university may use PTO as it is accrued.
Other leave types such as shared, military, voting, funeral leave, or compensatory time policies are not impacted under the new leave program. For more information on the different types of leave available, visit the Information on Leave webpage.
The use of PTO hours should be scheduled in advance whenever possible. Employees shall continue to follow department established guidelines for attendance, unplanned absences and requesting approval for time off. The use of PTO does not indicate the time off is automatically approved.
Previously Accrued Vacation, Sick and Personal Time
Employees stopped accruing vacation, sick and personal days on Dec. 31, 2023. Employees' previous accruals have been treated as outlined below.
VacationRollover and payout:
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SickExisting balance will be banked:
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PersonalAvailable until 2024 anniversary date:
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You may review current leave balances in under "My Time" > "Leave/Comp Time." See the (PDF, pg. 9) for step-by-step instructions. MU Health Care employees can .
Employees will continue to enter time off requests for PTO, existing vacation and existing personal days, and view available accrued time balances as they have in the past.
Personal Days
The last personal day accruals were earned on the employee’s anniversary date in 2023. Employees have until their anniversary date in 2024 to use their remaining personal days. Personal days not used prior to the employee’s anniversary date in 2024 will expire.
You anniversary date is the date you started in a benefit-eligible role at the university. If you are unsure when your anniversary date is, please ask your supervisor. Supervisors may view employees' anniversary dates through HRprd.
Get more detailed information from the HR Policy Manual at HR-403 Personal Days (As of Jan. 2024).
Sick Leave
Employees' sick time is frozen and is available for limited use. Employees request sick time through the Leave Request eForms tile in myHR; these requests are entered by the HR Leave Administration Team. Supervisors will be notified of the employees' use of sick time.
Banked sick hours are able to be accessed for specific situations:
- During the elimination period for short-term disability
- To make up the difference between the employee’s regular pay and the 60% university-paid short-term disability
- To supplement workers’ compensation
- To cover sick leave events when PTO has been exhausted
Employees use PTO for sick leave events since PTO combines vacation, personal and sick days. If an employee has exhausted their PTO, they may access unused sick hours for sick leave events.
Get more detailed information from the HR Policy Manual at HR-404 Sick Leave (As of Jan. 2024) and HR-404 Sick Leave (Prior to Jan. 2024).
How are unused sick hours treated at separation or retirement?
There is no change in how unused sick hours will be treated at retirement or separation under the new leave program.
Unused sick hours are forfeited at separation and are not eligible to be paid out. The only exception is applied to employees who are members of the DB Plan or Hybrid Plan (DB component) at the time of their separation, who meet minimum retirement eligibility under the Retirement, Disability and Death Benefit Plan. To meet minimum retirement eligibility, an employee must be at least age 55 with at least 10 years of creditable service (with one year of creditable service earned after age 54), or age least age 60 with at least 5 years of creditable service. These employees will receive service credit equal to their unused sick leave in their final pension calculation. This additional service credit cannot be used to reach vesting, the retirement eligibility threshold, or decrease any reduction applied due to early retirement.
For employees in the DC Plan or Hybrid Plan (DC component), the employees’ benefit is determined based on their contributions, employer contributions and any investment earnings or losses. To retain the employer contributions made by the university, the employee must earn at least 3 years of service credit to vest in the employer contributions. Service credit from unused sick leave cannot be applied to an employee’s total service to reach vesting.
Visit the Core and Voluntary Retirement Plans webpage for more information about the university’s’ core retirement plans.
Vacation Transition
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Employees with more than 10 days (80 hours) will have the first 10 days (80 hours) converted to PTO and then will receive a full payout for the rest of their balance. Visit the Transitioning Vacation webpage for more information.
| Vacation Balance at Transition | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
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| 0-80 hours (0-10 days)* |
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| 81-240 hours (11-30 days)* |
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| 241-352 hours (31-44 days)* |
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*Hours will be prorated for employees working less than 100% FTE.
Payments for unused vacation will be at the employee's current rate of pay at the time of payout on an off-cycle paycheck in February. If an employee separates from the university and still has accrued vacation available, the remaining balance will be paid out.
Employees will be able to use their available vacation balances until they are fully paid out. For example, an employee desiring a payout may use PTO before accrued vacation