FAMILY & MEDICAL LEAVE (FML) ACT FOR ACADEMIC EMPLOYEES

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Does the Family and Medical Leave Act apply to academic appointments?

            Yes.  The basic requirements and campus guidelines of the Family & Medical Leave (FML) Act apply to all UCR academic employees who meet the eligibility requirements. 

Does this include faculty members (who do not accrue sick leave)?

            Yes.  Family and Medical Leave policy for academic appointees can be found in the Academic Personnel Manual (APM) 715.

Is FML paid or unpaid for academics?

If the academic employee accrues sick and/or vacation leave, accrued paid leave may be substituted for unpaid leave.  (APM 710-38 and APM 715-20-b)  The guidelines outlined on the UCR Human Resources website under “Section H, Paid vs. Unpaid FML”apply.

If the academic employee does not accrue sick and/or vacation leave, the Chancellor (or designee) may approve leave with pay for up to 12 workweeks.  (APM 715-20-b and APM 710-38)

 What is the department’s responsibility?

            Academic policy requires that the department (or other specified unit) must designate the leave as qualifying for FML and provide the appointee with written notice of eligibility and designation (APM 715-30-b).

Why must the department provide this notification?

The departments have the closest contact with their academic employees.  Departments are the first ones to know when a faculty member requests a leave.

What is the first thing the department should do?

            The first thing the department must do is to determine if the leave request might qualify for FML.

These basic requirements and guidelines (including eligibility requirements) are located on the UCR Human Resources website.

Who approves Family and Medical Leaves for academics? 

            The same delegation of authority that applies for academic leaves governs the delegation of authority for family and medical leaves.

            One major difference between academic leave policy and staff leave policy, is that academic leaves are often approved by the Executive Vice Chancellor and staff leaves are often approved at the department level.  This difference in approval authority for the academic employees requires some minor differences in the processing of the FML paperwork.  For this reason, the Academic Personnel Office has prepared an addendum to the UCR Human Resource guidelines for processing FML request for academic employees.  This addendum is located on the Academic Personnel web site.