Holidays & Leave

Leave Share Program

The Leave Share Program allows certain employees who are experiencing an approved Family Medical Leave (FML) event and have exhausted all their own paid leave to receive sick leave donations from other employees, meaning the employee in leave-without-pay status can still receive their salary. Importantly, only some FML events and employment situations are eligible for the Leave Share Program. Please review the eligibility information below to understand who may be eligible for the Leave Share Program and how they may access it.

​Review the steps below in order to understand who may qualify for the Leave Share Program. Please email ua-benefits@alaska.edu if there are any questions. 

Potentially Eligible: Benefit-eligible employees → Continue to step 1

Not Eligible: Temporary Employees → Stop
Temporary employees are not eligible for the Leave Share Program. However, temporary employees can qualify for FML if they experience a qualifying event and meet the hours worked requirement. Review our FML webpage for more information on qualifying for Family Medical Leave. 

Potentially Eligible: Employees on Approved FML → Continue to Step 2
Before qualifying for the Leave Share Program, an employee must have successfully applied for FML coverage based on a serious health condition for themselves or an immediate family member. 

Continue to Step 2.

Not Eligible: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Adoption/Placement → Stop
Uncomplicated pregnancy, childbirth, and adoption are not eligible FML events for the Leave Share Program. However, an FML-approved pregnancy- or childbirth-related serious health condition may qualify as an eligible event for the Leave Share Program. Please review the Short-Term Disability webpage.

Eligible: Serious Health Condition for a Family Member → Continue to Step 3
If an employee is on FML for a serious health condition of a family member, they are not eligible for Short-term Disability and do not need to apply. Short-term Disability only provides a benefit to an employee based on their own disability, not one of a family member. 

Potentially Eligible: Serious Health Condition for Employee
Employees on approved FML for their own serious health condition must apply for Short-term Disability before they may apply for the Leave Share Program. Employees only become eligible for the Leave Share Program if they have applied for Short-term Disability and are not eligible for Short-term Disability or are denied Short-term Disability.

  • Not Eligible → Stop - Employees who are approved for Short-term Disability.
  • Not Eligible → Stop - Employees who are waiting for a Short-term Disability approval or denial. (Note: Short-term Disability eligibility determinations are typically completed within 8 business days.) 
  • Eligible → Continue to step 3 - Employees who applied for Short-term Disability and were denied Short-term Disability or deemed ineligible for Short-term Disability may continue to Step 3.

Eligible: Staff and Non-Represented Faculty with Exhausted Paid Leave Balances → Continue to Step 4

To be eligible for the Leave Share Program, employees:

  1. Must use all paid leaves (sick leave, annual leave, faculty time off, and personal holiday) 
  2. Must experience 80 hours of leave without pay in a 28-day period as a direct result of their FML event
    • Note: Please claim earnings code 550 (sick leave) on time sheets when out on FML. (Earnings code 550 will automatically pull the correct leave, in the correct order: sick leave, then annual leave and/or faculty time off, then personal holiday, and then leave without pay.)

Potentially Eligible: Represented Faculty Must First Use the Sick Leave Bank → Stop
Represented faculty (F9) have access to a Sick Leave Bank according to article 16.8.a of their Collective Bargaining Agreement. Represented Faculty must use this Sick Leave Bank first prior to using the Leave Share Program. To be eligible for the Sick Leave Bank, a represented faculty member must be on an approved FML (see Step 1 above), and exhaust all their paid leave (sick leave and faculty time off). To apply for the Sick Leave Bank as a represented faculty member, complete this NextGen form. If a represented faculty member has used 720 hours of the Union Sick Leave Bank, are still on approved FML, and are now experiencing leave without pay, please apply for the Leave Share Program. 

Application Process
If an employee is close to exhaustion of paid leaves and know they will be experiencing leave without pay during an FML event, they may complete the HR Benefits - Leave Share Request Form.

Beginning the Leave Share Program
Once the HR Benefits - Leave Share Request Form has been submitted and HR has approved an employee’s leave share request, HR will monitor the employee’s leave without pay, and after the 80 hours of leave without pay in a 28-day period due to the FML event requirement has been satisfied, donations can begin. (See below for further information about soliciting and receiving leave donations.) At that point, if the employee has received sufficient leave donations, 40 of the 80 hours of leave without pay will be donated back to the employee, leaving them in the end with only 40 hours of leave without pay.

Where Donations Come From
Employees who are on the Leave Share Program are required to solicit their own donations. This is a confidential program.  Leave share donations can be specific to a particular employee (i.e., an employee who wishes to donate leave to a specific person may specify to whom they wish to donate it). However, employee FML information is confidential. Therefore, Leave Share Program donations are not solicited by HR and HR will not disclose who is receiving Leave Share Program donations or who has donated leave.

Maximum Hours
Employees can receive a maximum of 520 hours (prorated for part time employees) in a rolling 12 month year. (This means that if an employee begins the Leave Share program on March 17th, then the 520 hours will gradually become available again on March 17th of the following calendar year. Whatever hours were used on March 17th would be available again the following March 17th. Whatever hours were used on March 18th would be available again on the following March 18th, and so on.) 

When Leave Share Ends
Any leave donations will stop being applied to an employee’s account when their FML period expires, their FML entitlement is exhausted, their leave share entitlement is exhausted, or their employment with the university is terminated.

To apply for the Leave Share Program, complete the HR Benefits - Leave Share Request Form.

If interested in donating sick leave hours, please read the following before completing the Leave Share Donation Form.

  • A donor does not need to donate sick leave to a specific person. The form can be used to donate to anyone in need who is approved for the Leave Share Program.

  • A donor needs to be an active employee in order for the donation to be used. When a donor separates from the university, sick leave hours will no longer be available.

  • Donated hours will not be removed from a donor's sick leave bank until the hours are applied to the recipient's time sheet. This means there may be a delay between the attempt to donate and when the hours are actually used by a recipient.

  • There is no limit to the number of hours an employee can donate. However, after a donation is processed, 80 hours must remain in the donor's sick leave balance. If a donor attempts to donate sick leave hours, but by the time the donation is being applied to the recipient's time sheet, there is no longer sufficient sick leave (more than 80 hours remaining after the donation), only the amount of leave in excess of 80 hours will be applied to the Leave Share Program donee’s time sheet.

  • Donations are received and processed confidentially. If a recipient is not designated on a donation form, leave will be granted to any employee in need who is approved to receive donations through the Leave Share Program. The specifics of the donation (e.g., who donated, how much leave they donated, and who received the donation) will remain confidential, even to the donor and the donee.

University employees may use accrued sick leave for different types of bereavement leave:

  • Up to one work day to attend the funeral of a friend or relative not in the immediate family.
  • Up to ten total days of sick leave after the death of an immediate family member for absences
    • within five (5) days after the death of an immediate family member, and/or
    • up to five (5) days to arrange or attend the funeral.

Immediate family members are defined by university regulation R04.06.130.A.2.

To understand how Bereavement Leave and Leave Share may work together in some situations, please review the Bereavement FAQs.

UA has several resources available to employees who need assistance.  When in doubt, please email ua-benefits@alaska.edu and we will be sure to direct the questions appropriately. ​​

UA Benefits Team | ua-benefits@alaska.edu

  • Need help understanding the Leave Share Program?
  • Confused about UA leaves and which one is best for a situation?
  • Want to set up a quick zoom for some basic questions about leave? 

Unum | 1-866-779-1054 

  • Need to apply for Family Medical Leave or Short-term Disability?
  • Have questions about the status of your current leave?

Note - Unum does not manage the Leave Share Program. If you have questions about the Leave Share Program, please reach out to ua-benefits@alaska.edu.