UW Leave Policies 

Faculty Leave Policy
Visit the full list of UW Faculty Leave Policies including FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) that pertain to academic personnel.

Tenure Clock Extension
Birth or adoption of a child makes faculty automatically eligible for UW Tenure Clock Extension

HCDE Faculty Leave Guidelines

Approved February 7, 2024

HCDE faculty are occasionally presented with a variety of reasons for needing to take time off from their full time duties. The UW has clear guidelines on implementing sabbatical leave, but does not yet have guidelines on implementing other types of leaves. This document serves to clarify guidelines for how non-sabbatical faculty leaves can be implemented in HCDE.

In general, faculty paid on any amount of state funds or funds generated from our professional MS program must be engaging with student learning and fulfilling the educational mission of the university. Moreover, the Department Chair must determine that the leave will balance the benefits to the faculty member while also benefiting the department as a whole, as taking leave places a greater burden on the faculty and staff who remain to cover service and teaching.

Allowing faculty to take leave is part of HCDE’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and in allowing faculty to have impact beyond academia (e.g., through industry or community engagement) helps fulfill its mission toward impact. The Department Chair is responsible for fully and clearly conveying these guidelines, opportunities, and resources to all impacted faculty members in a timely and supportive manner.

Relevant to these guidelines is the concept of Modified Duties. “Modified Duties” is not considered leave. It is a short-term adjustment of a faculty member’s responsibilities from less flexible duties to more flexible ones.

1. Leave without Pay (LWOP)

Leave without pay may be taken for a number of reasons, including taking time off for outside work for compensation (form 1460 required) or for personal time off not covered under sick leave policies. Based on UW policy, faculty cannot be on leave without pay for more than two (2) consecutive years unless granted an exception from the Chair, Dean, and VP of Academic Human Resources. In general, merit review must still be conducted while faculty members are on leave. If on leave, the faculty member must include in their narrative supplement the percentage of leave taken and the percentage breakdown of duties.

Faculty may not take leave from only one portion of their duties (e.g., take leave at 50% and designate it as 10% service and 40% research) unless their salary is fully covered by other funds (e.g., a research grant buyout). In general, breakdowns on responsibilities while on partial leave should be approximately proportional to the breakdowns of their full-time positions. As an example, teaching faculty who have an 70% teaching / 20% service / 10% scholarship split will have a 35% teaching / 10% service / 5% scholarship split if they are on 50% leave, and tenure track faculty members who have a 40% teaching / 40% research / 20% service split would have 20% teaching / 20% service / 10% service while on a 50% leave.

The quarter system does not always align neatly with the desired percentage of leave and the limited number of reduced load classes (e.g., 1 or 2-credit seminars and Directed Research Groups), however, any percentage leave that is 50% or less for the duration of at least 2 quarters will include full course assignments, even if the workload in that given quarter is above the stated amount, with the assumption that the workload distribution will be made up for in other quarters.

Examples of how this could translate to workload, based on common examples of percentages of leave, are as follows:
 

 

1.1 Submission and approval process: If the faculty member is considering a leave, they should schedule a meeting with the Department Chair to discuss the terms of the leave and workload breakdown in accordance with these guidelines. While the conversation is hypothetical, the Department Chair will maintain confidentiality. 

To request LWOP, submit the LWOP form and form 1460 (if needed) to the Department Chair and Assistant to the Chair (ATC) at least 30 calendar days before leave begins. Once the Department Chair approves LWOP, the ATC submits in Workday for Office of Academic Personnel approval. For LWOP with Outside Work, once the Department Chair approves, LWOP is submitted to Workday and the form 1460 is sent to College of Engineering (CoE) HR for approval. Once CoE approves, the form 1460 is sent to the Office of Research for final review and approval. 

2. Family & Medical Leave

2.1 Intermittent Leave
In general, some faculty may need to go on intermittent leave as covered under state or federal law. Intermittent leave is unpredictable by nature, and thus the assumption will be made that a full workload will be assigned according to the breakdown of the faculty member’s role, with the ability to modify and/or provide coverage as needed. 

Unless there are specific accommodations made through the Disability Services Office, faculty on intermittent leaves will be assigned as Instructor of Record of a course according to their 100% time breakdown but will be assigned a course with an additional co-instructor who can cover for the faculty member during periods where the faculty member needs to be absent. (The co-instructor in this case may be compensated through the university’s excess compensation policy). Additional instructional support (e.g., teaching assistants, etc.) may be added to the course depending on the predicted maximum of the intermittent leave.

2.2 FMLA - Between 1 and 4 Days Off Per Week
If FMLA leave is approved for partial time off, a similar proportional distribution will be applied as described in Section 1, where the number of days off will count as 20% of the faculty member’s time and adjusted accordingly. If time off is needed mid-quarter for longer than 2 weeks, then the department will work to identify additional instructional support for any ongoing courses to allow the time off needed.

If the faculty member believes that they need a different distribution of their typical teaching, service, and scholarship, then Modification of Duties may be considered. If the Modification of Duties is related to a disability or medical condition, the faculty member should submit an accommodation request to the Disability Services Office. 

2.3 FMLA - Full Leave Off
If a faculty member requires taking off full leave, then the faculty member will be released from all teaching and service assignments and scholarship expectations for the duration of the approved leave period. The Department Chair will work with the program chairs to identify a replacement instructor for any assigned courses.

3. Parental Leave

HCDE strongly supports our faculty during the birth, adoption, or fostering of children through the following policies. For the purposes of these guidelines, a “child” refers to a dependent minor (under 18 years old) and “parent” refers to a faculty member in a new, primary caring role for a child.

3.1 Tenure Clock Extension Support
HCDE enthusiastically supports the UW tenure clock extension policy that all parents who request a tenure clock extension should be granted one. Faculty must be able to use this UW policy without discomfort, penalty, and/or fear. This policy is especially significant as it affects junior faculty whose recruitment, mentoring, and retention are very important to the future excellence of the department. We will work with our faculty to facilitate the submission of the departmental memo and details to approve extension.

3.2 Modified Duties
Upon returning from medical or family leave taken under federal or state law, we offer faculty a period of modified duties to be planned on a case-by-case basis with the Chair. The primary focus of modified duties is a temporary release from formal classroom teaching. The faculty member will be expected to exercise these modified duties within one calendar year after returning from leave and they will not be required or expected to “make up” the course release at any time.

1. A gestational parent receives a two (2) course reduction in teaching load.
2. A non-birth parent (spouse, partner, adoptive or foster parent) receives a one (1) course reduction in teaching load.

While the teaching release addresses teaching responsibilities, it is recognized that faculty have other responsibilities that are less easily addressed: other professional responsibilities such as preparing research proposals, papers, and future course materials; academic service that does not require extensive on-campus attendance; advising and mentoring graduate students; and managing student employees under their supervision. The departmental chair will be available to discuss how to manage these duties and whether additional modified duties might be possible in this realm. 

3.3 Summer Salary Planning
A faculty member who becomes a parent in the summer, and would have otherwise been supported on research grants, may face a reduction in yearly income as a result of when a child is born, adopted, or placed. We will help facilitate the use of that faculty member’s startup funds and other appropriate resources to help minimize any unintended, negative salary implications.

4. Additional leaves not otherwise covered

For any other additional leave needed that is not otherwise covered by FMLA, such as for bereavement or personal emergencies, the faculty member should reach out to the Department Chair as soon as possible to discuss options for Modified Duties and/or coverage of essential activities during the anticipated timeline of the leave needed. If the anticipated leave is greater than 2 weeks and Modified Duties are not sufficient, then options for LWOP (covered in Section 1) and FMLA (covered in Section 2) will be discussed. 

In the event that a leave of absence needs to end early, the faculty member can reach out to the department chair to discuss updated workload assignments.