Per UC Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 700, Leaves of Absence/General, academic year appointees are expected to be present from the beginning of the Fall Quarter through the end of the Spring Quarter.  Any appointee returning after the beginning of the Fall Quarter or leaving before the end of the Spring Quarter should apply in advance for a leave of absence in accordance with policy.

Under the stipulations of UC San Diego Policy and Procedure Manual (PPM) Section 230-10, Academic Leave Policy, an academic appointee is considered to be on leave of absence any time they take a leave from normal duties during the prescribed periods of service.

Appointees who leave the campus prior to obtaining a formal approval are in violation of UC and UC San Diego policy.

Please refer to the chart below for general types of leaves by category and consult the campus and systemwide leaves policies and MOUs for more detailed information about eligibility. Please note, accommodations that do not involve a leave component are not listed on the chart because they are not considered leaves.  See below for more information on accommodations. 

UC and UC San Diego Leave Policies

• UC Academic Personnel Manual (APM) 700 Series
• UC San Diego Policy and Procedure Manual (PPM) Section 230-10, Academic Leave Policy
• UC San Diego Policy and Procedure Manual (PPM) Section 230-15, Family Accommodation Policy
• HSCP members will consult the APM 670 and the HSCP Local Implementation Guidelines and the Executive Summary of Revisions to HSCP Implementation Guidelines: Faculty Leave Benefits, which are available on the the Faculty Compensation website on Pulse.

Represented Academic Appointee Memorandums of Understanding

Guidance on represented academic appointee leaves can be found by reviewing the applicable memorandum of understanding (MOU).

Please visit UC's Bargaining Units & Contract webpage to access the applicable labor agreement. 

For appointees with Collective Bargaining Agreements, these resources may also help:

• Labor News
• Bargaining Units
• Collective Bargaining FAQ

Additional Programs and Information

For information on systemwide UC Family Friendly Policies, click here.

Though a program rather than an academic leave policy, additionally, appointees in vacation-accruing titles who have passed the requisite vacation usage waiting period may also be eligible to participate as donors or recipients of vacation pay under the UC San Diego's Catastrophic Leave Donation Program.   See program page for details.

January 1, 2025: Academic Personnel Manual (APM) 715, Leaves of Absence/Family and Medical Leave and APM 760, Family Accommodations for Childbearing and Childrearing

• UCOP Issuance Letter
• Policy Link
  • APM 715
  • APM 760

January 1, 2025: Academic Personnel Manual (APM) 759, Leaves of Absence/Other Leaves Without Pay 

• UCOP Issuance Letter
• Policy Link

July 1, 2021: Academic Personnel Manual (APM) 700 Series Policies Related to Leaves 

• UCOP Issuance Letter
• Policy Link
• Implementation Toolkit

Leave accruals are sick time or vacation hours earned, contingent on appointment series and percentage.  Faculty and academic appointees who accrue sick or vacation leave may use it according to policy.  Many types of academic leave allow for the use of earned accruals to provide compensation during leaves that might have otherwise been taken as unpaid. See policy for details.

Academic appointees who do not accrue sick or vacation time may have other paid leave provisions governed by academic policy or their Collective Bargaining Agreements. To view sick and vacation leave accruals by series, please visit Leave Accruals by Series.

An accommodation is any measure put into place by the University of California in order to assist faculty and other academic appointees with balancing essential job duties and personal health.  Some accommodations are leaves, such as childbearing and parental bonding leave. A formal accommodation that involves modified duties is often the result of the interactive process.

An interactive process is often initiated when an academic appointee with a new or existing disability seeks to work out an arrangement for accommodating their disability with the appointee's department.  The DisAbility Counseling and Consulting Office can be contacted with inquiries.  Suitable accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis.   

Departments and schools are discouraged from providing informal accommodations.  Informal accommodations are those accommodations granted without proper documentation and without contacting the DisAbility Counseling and Consulting Office and participating in the interactive process.

Some examples of accommodations that are NOT leaves and the paperwork or actions they require to initiate:

• Any duties modification created by an interactive process with DisAbility Counseling & Consulting (DCC) that does not involve a reduction in percentage of time. Any accommodation negotiated during an interactive-process is initiated with Disability Counseling and Consulting Office guidance and designated paperwork.

• Any duties modification related to pregnancy disability, initiated by a conversation with the department chair, that does not involve a reduction in percentage of time. Internal department paperwork, as appropriate, may be required by the chair. (PPM 230-15)

• An Active Service-Modified Duties accommodation, per policy, that does not result in a reduction in percentage of time. Such requests require FAR form processing. (PPM 230-15)

•  Change in Work Location, as referenced in PPM 230-10, that is a period of 60 days or less in which an academic appointee performs all of his or her normal duties from a remote location to facilitate conference attendance or because research and/or teaching activities require his or her absence from campus during the service period. This accommodation must be taken during a non-teaching quarter, and is most often taken in service to the university. None of an appointee’s duties while on Change in Work Location may be reassigned. Changes in Work Location require an ALAS and a memo from the candidate endorsed by the chair and approved by the dean. (PPM 230-10)

• A Flexible Workload agreement as defined by the Family Accommodations Policy requires a memo from the candidate and an MOU. (PPM 230-15)

• A Family Accommodations policy-related extension of the probationary period or request for deferral of academic review for an Assistant Rank appointee. These require FAR form processing. (PPM 230-15)

Aside from FML and other protected leaves, which frequently arise without substantive notice (though require a minimum of 30 days advance application when possible (PPM 230-15 III.A)), it is generally best practice to apply for leaves of one quarter or more at least one quarter in advance.

Leaves that require Executive Vice Chancellor or Chancellor's approval due to duration, Category I Prior Approval requirements, or exception to policy requests may take longer to process and must be submitted, at a minimum, one quarter previous to the date the leave is projected to take place. 

For research-related leaves or leaves that can be anticipated and planned in advance, best practices would be to ensure department chairs or academic divisions receive between one quarter and one academic year's advance consultation.

Contact your department chair or your unit's Academic Personnel contact for preferred department protocols.

A "Protected Leave" usually refers to a type of leave that protects designated employee benefits and rights. 

Federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides eligible employees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave a year, and requires group health benefits to be maintained during the leave as if employees continued to work instead of taking leave. Employees are also entitled to return to their same or an equivalent job at the end of their FMLA leave.

Please see the Department of Labor FMLA Guidance pages for more detailed information on eligible leave types and terms and the University of California FMLA fact sheet for additional resources and employer-paid benefits coverage details.  Please also see academic policies detailed below for more guidelines regarding the implementation of FMLA for academic appointees.

California Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL)

PDL provides employees disabled by pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition an entitlement of up to four (4) months of disability leave per pregnancy.

Please see the California Civil Rights Department PDL Fact Sheet for additional information on employee' rights and obligations related to Pregnancy Disability Leave. 

California Family Rights Act (CFRA)

CFRA provides eligible employees with up to twelve (12) weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to care for their own serious health condition or a family member with a serious health condition, or to bond with a new child. 

Please see the California Civil Rights Department CFRA Fact Sheet for additional information.

When eligible and taking leave for a reason covered by both policies, FMLA and CFRA will run concurrently.

In cases where a childbearing candidate is on PDL and eligible for FMLA, both PDL and FMLA will run concurrently for the first twelve (12) weeks of leave and an appointee's eligibility under CFRA may entail additional weeks of benefits coverage.

In instances where CFRA guidelines are more expansive than FMLA guidelines (e.g. eligible caretaking for children of any age not covered by FMLA, grandchildren, grandparents, or siblings) and CFRA is taken independently, more FMLA leave time may be available for employee leave use for FMLA eligible circumstances.

For information regarding terms and benefits of these state and federal laws, please visit the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing's  Family Care and Medical Leave: Quick Reference Guide and the Leave for Pregnancy Disability and Child Bonding: Quick Reference Guide.

Protected Leaves - FML/FMLA/CFRA/PDL

Research Related Leaves  

Other Leaves

UC San Diego Family Accommodation Reporting (FAR) Form

Family accommodation leaves require the completion and submission of a Family Accommodation Reporting (FAR) Form.

Family accommodations include the following: 

• Childbearing Leave
• Parental Bonding Leave
• Family Leave (Without Pay)
• Active Service Modified Duties (ASMD)*
• Stand Alone Probationary Period Extensions/Academic Review Deferrals related to a Family Accommodation

*ASMD requests should be accompanied by a memo indicating plans for who will teach the course(s) for which replacement funding has been requested.

UC San Diego Academic Leave of Absence/Sabbatical (ALAS) Form 

• Personal illness leaves (Paid Medical Leave, for example) need an ALAS form and supporting documentation indicating length of leave necessary from a doctor or medical practitioner.
• Research leaves beyond chair’s approval (Sabbatical, Leave in Lieu of Sabbatical, Leaves to Attend a Professional Meeting, Extended Leave, etc.) require an ALAS form and supporting documentation.

Any leaves involving FMLA/CFRA require the completion of UC FMLA/CFRA paperwork which can be found here.

FMLA/CFRA documentation is maintained at the departmental level.

Short sick leaves of less than three days, which do not qualify for FMLA, still require chair's approval and sick leave forfeiture where accrued.

 All leaves with medical components that require absence or reduction in percent time for disability-related reasons will require a readiness to return to work certification.

Fact Sheets (Online Brochures): 

Disability Benefits for Faculty Fact Sheet

Family Changes Fact Sheet

Pregnancy, Newborn Child, and Adopted Child Fact Sheet

Family and Medical Leave Fact Sheet

Leave without Pay Fact Sheet

UCRP Service Credit Purchase Guide (service credit buyback)

Road Maps (Benefits, Policy, and Timing Guidance):  

Applying for Disability

Going on Military Leave

Taking a Furlough

Taking a Leave of Absence

Taking Paid Leave

Taking a Sabbatical | UC Net

Disability benefits through Lincoln Financial or other sources provide income to replace lost wages. In general, disability benefits are applied for either when academic leave and accommodations policies do not provide more generous paid terms, when an employee has inadequate accruals or wishes to preserve as many of them as possible, or when paid leave policy provisions have been used to their maximum availability/duration. For information about the University's select enrollment disability programs, please visit Your Disability Benefits on Blink, which is a full resource page with links to all relevant documentation and programs.

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR ACADEMIC APPOINTEES:

• Filing for disability benefits cannot be done when there is no loss in pay (e.g there is a paid leave provision or selected use of accruals that does not result in loss of pay).

• Disability payments cannot be augmented by accrued leave usage except when claims are connected to Worker's Comp.

• The paperwork filed for requesting paid disability benefits does not take the place of approved academic leave paperwork (e.g. ALAS/FAR, etc).

• A disabled appointee's request/s for job accommodations to remain in active service is done via the Interactive Process at Disability Counseling and Consulting and is separate from the process of requesting wage replacement.

• It is advised that those appointees who expect their disability may span more than a year consult with Disability Counseling and Consulting.

• FMLA documentation must be completed and submitted to an appointee's department or unit for any leave request that falls under the criteria for Family and Medical Leave.