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The following policies and documents address faculty leave policies.

The following summarizes annual leave, sick leave, and holiday leave guidelines for faculty employees. For information on payout or transfer of faculty leave in the event of termination, change of position or transfer to/from another State agency or UNC campus, see Guidelines on Faculty Leave Transfer or Payout.

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Bonus leave is provided on occasion by the N.C. General Assembly. Please see below for details.

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The University recognizes the importance of community involvement and encourages employees to participate in volunteer activities by providing flexibility in work schedules and paid leave opportunities. Community service leave (CSL) is a paid time off program to participate in the educational process of children through the high school level and to support other community service volunteer activities for non-profit organizations.

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The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) of 1994 and North Carolina General Statute 127A-116 specify the employment and reinstatement rights of employees called to involuntary active duty in the Uniformed Services. This policy implements those statutes for faculty of the University of North Carolina. Each constituent institution shall adopt policies and regulations in accordance with federal and state law and consistent with this policy.

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All permanent Fixed Term and Tenured/Tenure Track faculty upon initial appointment who are eligible to participate in the N.C. Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System or the UNC Optional Retirement Program [i.e., permanent faculty who are employed at least 75% of full-time].

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The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a federal law that provides eligible employees of covered employers with unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. Eligible employees may take up to 12 work weeks of leave in a 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

  • The birth of a son or daughter or placement of a son or daughter with the employee for adoption or foster care, and to bond with the newborn or newly-placed child;
  • To care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent who has a serious health condition, including incapacity due to pregnancy and for prenatal medical care;
  • For a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job, including incapacity due to pregnancy and for prenatal medical care; or
  • For any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that a spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a military member on covered active duty or call to covered active duty status.

An eligible employee may also take up to 26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness when the employee is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of the service member. An eligible employee is limited to a combined total of 26 work weeks of leave for any FMLA-qualifying reasons during the single 12-month period. For more information on the FMLA provisions for military families, please see the FMLA Military Caregiver/Qualifying Exigency Leave policy.

Administrative supplements are not removed if a faculty member goes on leave for an FMLA-qualifying reason. Administrative supplements will be removed if a faculty member goes on leave for a non-FMLA qualifying reason with some exceptions including Distinguished Term Professorships. Please contact the Office of Academic Personnel if you have any questions.

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The Federal government expanded the eligible events under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to include two provisions applicable to military families. The following is a brief summary of these provisions. Additional eligibility requirements may apply.

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Family Illness Leave is provided for an employee to care for the employee’s child, parent or spouse where that child, spouse or parent has a serious health condition. It is not provided for the employee’s illness.

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The following policy summarizes guidelines for annual and bonus leave payout and transfer eligibility for faculty members.

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The following Research and Study Leaves policy provides guidelines for tenured and untenured faculty.

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Voluntary shared leave allows one employee to assist another employee in the case of a prolonged medical condition that exhausts the employee’s available leave and would otherwise force the employee to be placed in leave without pay status, resulting in a loss of income and benefits.

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