Leave Program Changes

• 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.

* 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.

Employees stopped accruing vacation, sick and personal days on Dec. 31, 2023. Employees' previous accruals have been treated as outlined below. 

You may review current leave balances in myHR under "My Time" > "Leave/Comp Time." See the Time Reporter Training Guide (PDF, pg. 9) for step-by-step instructions. MU Health Care employees can check their available time balances using Kronos.

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) and HR-403 Personal Days (Prior to 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.

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.

*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 in order to save their accrued vacation for a larger payout. An employee desiring the time off may use accrued vacation before PTO allowing their PTO balance to increase.

Get more detailed information from the HR Policy Manual at HR-402 Vacations (As of Jan. 2024), HR-402 Vacations (Prior to Jan. 2024), as well as the Transitioning Vacation webpage.

Employees on the new leave program began accruing PTO Jan. 1, 2024. PTO accruals can be viewed using myHR (or Kronos for MU Health Care employees). 

Employees can accumulate a maximum of two times their annual PTO accrual at any time and will continue to earn their paid time off in hours each week based on their annual allowance. Hours will be prorated for employees working less than 100% FTE. Once an employee reaches their maximum, no new accruals are earned until the balance is used down below the maximum. PTO may be used in any increment, but accruals must be earned before they can be used.

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. 

*Based on the most recent hire date.
**A “day” is determined based on an employee's FTE. (100% FTE-8 hours; 95% FTE-7.6 hours; 90% FTE-7.2 hours; 85% FTE-6.8 hours; 80% FTE-6.4 hours; 75% FTE-6 hours)

If an employee separates from the University, they may receive a payout of their unused PTO hours not to exceed 10 days (or 80 hours based on 1.0 FTE) provided that their separation is not for willful gross violation of rules, misconduct or similar causes.

Get more detailed information from the HR Policy Manual at HR-421 Paid Time Off (PTO).

How are years of service calculated for determining the number of PTO days earned per year?
All continuous benefit-eligible service from the date of employment is counted when determining years of service including:

• Authorized leaves of absence, with or without pay;
• Authorized absences, with or without pay; and
• Periods of continuous benefit-eligible service in academic positions.

A break in service is not counted when determining years of service.

• Employees who have a break in service do not receive credit for any previous benefit-eligible years of service if they later return to a benefit-eligible position.
• A break in service may include resignation, termination, retirement, or a change from a benefit-eligible position to a variable-hour part-time position.
• Will new employees, who have not yet completed their probationary period, be able to use PTO?
• Yes. All employees may use PTO as outlined in CRR 340.025: Paid Time-Off (PTO). Additional information about the policy and process will be identified in an HR Policy as it is available.

PTO, existing vacation and existing personal days are requested the same way time off has been requested in the past using myHR (Kronos for MU Health Care employees). A new PTO code is available in myHR and Kronos. 

To request the use of sick leave, access the Leave Request eForms tile in myHR (myHR.umsystem.edu). Sick time may be requested up to 30 days in advance. 

Supervisors and timekeepers can request sick time on behalf of someone else by emailing umsickleaverequests@umsystem.edu. 

The MU Health Care PTO Cash-In Program allows eligible employees to request that a portion of the PTO they will accrue be paid as a lump sum, rather than being placed in their bank of available PTO hours.

Benefit-eligible non-exempt (hourly paid) MU Health Care employees will be eligible for the PTO cash-in program. This includes nurses who are non-exempt, but accrue time at the exempt rate. 

Eligible employees will be able to elect between eight and 80 hours (in one hour increments) to cash in each year during annual benefits enrollment in the fall beginning in 2024. Payout will occur the following August at the employee's base rate.

• Employees must be actively employed by MU Health Care (HOSPT business unit) at time of election and payout
• At the time of payout, eligible employees must have worked in a benefit-eligible position within the University system for at least 12 months
• Employees must maintain a minimum balance of 80 hours in PTO bank

• Parental leave informational handout (PDF)
• Welcoming a child presentation (PDF)

Parental leave provides four weeks of paid time off within a rolling 12-month period for employees who are welcoming a new child into their home. Leaves for birth, adoption or foster care must be taken within 12 months of the qualifying event. Qualifying events include the birth of a child or the placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care. Employees may also use their annual PTO allocation if they would like to take additional time off to welcome a child.

Employees may take parental leave for more than one qualifying event within a rolling 12-month period. The maximum amount of paid leave for qualifying events within a rolling 12-month period is 4 weeks regardless of how many events the time off covers.

Parental leave is available at hire. 

To apply for use of parental leave, complete the instructions outlined on the Taking Qualifying or FMLA Leave webpage. 

• Caregiver leave informational handout (PDF)
• Caregiver leave presentation (PDF)

Caregiver leave provides two weeks of paid time off within a rolling 12-month period to care for a family member with a serious health condition as defined by our Family and Medical Leave Act rule. Employees may also use their annual PTO allocation if they need additional time off.

Employees may take caregiver leave for more than one qualifying event within a rolling 12-month period. The maximum amount of paid leave for qualifying events within a rolling 12-month period is 2 weeks for caregiver leave, regardless of how many events the time off covers. 

Caregiver leave is available at hire. 

To apply for use of caregiver leave, complete the instructions outlined on the Taking Qualifying or FMLA Leave webpage. 

Get more detailed information from the HR Policy Manual at HR-422 Caregiver Leave Pay.

• Short-term disability informational handout (PDF)
• Short-term disability presentation (PDF)
• Welcoming a child presentation (PDF)

Short-term disability provides eligible employees a percentage of income replacement for up to 20 weeks (800 hours based on 1.0 FTE) within a rolling 12-month period if they are unable to work due to a serious health condition. 

The short-term disability base plan covers 60% of the employee’s salary. No employee premiums are required to utilize this benefit. Employees may use available leave to supplement their short-term disability to receive income of up to 100%. 

The short-term disability buy-up plan covers the remaining 40% of the employee's salary not covered by the base plan. Premiums are paid for by the employee and elections are made during insurance annual enrollment. 

Short-term disability has an elimination period of seven calendar days (five working days). Employees may use available leave to cover the elimination period. 

To apply for use of Short-term disability leave, complete the instructions outlined on the Taking Qualifying or FMLA Leave webpage. 

Get more detailed information on the Short-Term Disability webpage, as well as from the HR Policy Manual at HR-309 Short-Term Disability Plan and HR-309 Short-Term Disability Q&As.