Shared Leave for Employees

All benefit-eligible employees (0.5 full-time equivalency (FTE) or greater position as faculty, unclassified professional or university support staff) who meet the following requirements, as determined by Human Resources (HR), are eligible to request Shared Leave:

• You have, or are caring for a family member who has, a serious, extreme, or life-threatening illness, injury, impairment or physical or mental condition, which makes you unable to perform your regular work duties;
• The condition for which you are requesting Shared Leave has caused, or is likely to cause, you to take leave without pay or prevents regular employment (because you have exhausted or will exhaust all accrued leave benefits);
• You have worked for the University or in other state service for at least six (6) continuous months of regular (not temporary) service leading up to the leave request;
• You have notified your supervisor in writing of your intent to request leave and apply for Shared Leave.

To request Shared Leave related to your own or a family member’s serious, extreme or life-threatening medical condition, please carefully review and complete the following guidelines:

1) Read University Policy 3.53 / Shared Leave Program for Employees.

2) Submit the applicable two (2) forms to HR via email at LeaveAdmin@wichita.edu or fax to 316-978-3274, Attn: Leave Administrator:

• Shared Leave Request Form  – to be completed by the employee, and
• Certification of Health Care Provider Form for Employee if the request is related to your own health condition – to be completed by a licensed medical provider           OR
• Certification of Health Care Provider Form for Family Member  if the request is related to the health condition of a family member – to be completed by a licensed medical provider.

3) Employees eligible for Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) must also complete, as applicable, the process to request FMLA as outlined on the FMLA website.

Shared leave requests received by HR are pre-screened to ensure the request meets the administrative eligibility requirements and includes all required documentation.

• If documentation is not complete, it is returned to the requester for amendment and resubmission.
• If the request meets all administrative eligibility requirements and includes all necessary documentation, it is submitted to the on-campus Shared Leave Committee (SLC). All requests are sent to the SLC without reference to the requesting employee to ensure an impartial review.
  • SLC meets weekly* to review requests and makes determinations to approve or deny requests for shared leave based on program criteria.
  • SLC may return the request to the requester for additional information or clarification, when necessary.

*NOTE: Complete requests received in HR by 5:00 pm on Thursday are generally reviewed by the SLC within seven (7) business days. Complete requests received by HR after 5:00 pm on Thursday are generally reviewed by the SLC the following week.

Any request for an extension to shared leave up to the six (6) month maximum shared leave benefit period must be accompanied by an updated health care provider certification.

• At minimum, extension requests with an updated certification should be submitted to HR by no later than the last day of the current approval period. (For example, if an employee is currently approved through April 20 and they need to request an extension to April 30, they should submit all extension documentation by no later than April 20.)
• As with any previous request, SLC reviews all extension requests at the weekly meeting. Accordingly, all documentation must be submitted by 5pm on Tuesday to be reviewed the same week.
• Prior approval for shared leave does not guarantee continued benefit approval. Extension requests are reviewed based on whether the condition for which the additional leave is requested continues to meet program criteria.

After SLC review, a determination letter is sent to the requester as soon as possible (generally within 48 hours of the determination) to confirm the status of the request.

• If the request is approved, the letter explains the amount of shared leave approved and indicates the steps involved in requesting an extension as applicable.
• If the request is denied, the letter explains why the request did not meet shared leave criteria.
• If the SLC is requesting additional information prior to making a determination, the letter indicates the additional information that is needed in order to make a fully informed decision.

All SLC decisions are final. There is no appeal process. Additionally, all requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis independent of any past requests.

Per Kansas Administrative Regulation (K.A.R) 1-9-23 (Shared Leave), employees who meet the eligibility requirements to request shared leave may also donate a specified number of hours of accrued paid leave to the program. However, employees are not able to transfer hours to a specific employee. Funding for an approved shared leave request is provided by the department/unit budget of the requesting employee. Therefore, requests for shared leave shall not be approved or denied based on the availability of employee-donated hours.

Any donations of leave that are made must be made in full-hour increments using the Shared Leave Donation Form.

• Employees who wish to donate must have a vacation leave balance of at least 80 hours or a sick leave balance of 480 hours after the donation is made.
• The donating employee’s leave balance is reduced by the amount of donated hours they specify on the donation form.
• The leave balance requirements are not applicable if the employee is separating employment with the University.*

*NOTE: Per K.A.R. 1-9-5 (Sick Leave), an employee who resigns from state service who had unused sick leave at the time of separation, and who subsequently returns to state service in a regular position within a year shall have the unused sick leave returned to their balance. This reinstatement will not occur for any hours donated to the shared leave program. Employees who have retired from state service and subsequently return are not eligible for reinstatement of previous accrued sick leave unused at the time of their retirement.