Leave of Absence Without Pay
Key Points
- Any absence from duties needs formal permission, even if it is for short-term sickness, for long-term medical issues, for family formation, or for unpaid leave.
- Absence from duties without formal permission can be construed as resignation from one’s position.
- An approved leave of absence allows the employee to resume work, pay, and benefits on the scheduled date.
- Approval for a leave of absence for reasons not covered in IU Policies is not guaranteed. The leave must meet the needs of both the unit and the individual.
- Extension of a leave of absence is not guaranteed. Understandings of leave of absence may include notification requirements, and if the person does not affirm their intent to return in a timely way, they can be terminated.
Procedures vary according to the type and duration of leaves, and the tenure status of the individual.
- For partial unpaid leaves of absence for one year or less, permission from the chair and dean (or the school’s chosen procedure) is required. Extending the partial leave of absence beyond one year requires chair, dean, and Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) approval for each year. All documentation is kept in faculty files in the school. (School of Medicine manages its own partial paid leaves of absence.)
- In cases of partial paid leaves of absence, the unit remains liable for covering benefit costs.
- Each partial paid leave of absence needs to be for a specific reason and for a limited duration. It cannot be used to redefine a workload on an ongoing basis. Full-time faculty members may request, and the dean may grant, at their discretion, an appointment of 75-100% on an ongoing basis.
- For (fully) unpaid leaves of absence for less than one year, permission from the chair and dean (or the school’s chosen procedure) is required.
- For unpaid leaves of absence for one year, permission is also needed from OAA.
- Send a request from the dean to approve the leave to acadhr@iu.edu.
- Requests for a second year of leave without pay must be approved by OAA and need explicit justification as to why this continues to be in the university’s interest.
- Requests for continuing a leave of absence into two or more years will require executive vice chancellor approval and will be rare.
For all non-IUSM pre-tenure, tenure-track faculty , faculty should consult their chairs about whether an extension of the tenure probationary period is appropriate. Family formation leaves (for non-IUSM faculty), will result in a one-year stoppage of the tenure clock, but those leaves do count for eligibility for sabbaticals.
- Unpaid leaves of absence may or may not count towards tenure, and usually will not count towards eligibility for sabbaticals or for qualifying for retirement benefits based on years of service.
- If an unpaid leave of absence involves scholarly work comparable to work at IU Indianapolis (e.g., as a visiting scholar at another institution), or is a prestigious scholarly fellowship, it may qualify as time towards tenure or towards sabbaticals. Please provide full details to acadhr@iu.edu.
IU policy HR-04-40: Health Care Benefits during an Unpaid Leave of Absence applies to all employees.
For leave history data, contact the school HR business partner. All unpaid leaves of absence require chair and dean support. Chairs and deans may contact Faculty Affairs at ude[dot]ui[at]rhdaca for assistance.
Reviewed and revised: 10/2023.