The university’s Sick Leave Pool allows employees to combine a portion of their individually accrued sick leave for collective use by eligible members.
Eligibility and Membership
Sick Leave Pool members may request a grant of hours from the pool to cover absences from work due to your own (not family) catastrophic injury or illness. Catastrophic injury or illness is defined as a severe condition or combination of conditions affecting your mental or physical health, resulting in a life-threatening condition and/or a major impact on life functions.
- To be eligible for the Sick Leave Pool, you must be appointed to a sick leave-accruing position (e.g., TEAMS, USPS, or Academic Personnel) and have a minimum of 64 hours of sick leave at the time of application if you are a full-time employee.
- Full-time employees accepted into the pool will initially contribute eight hours of sick leave. Hours will be deducted automatically upon approval of membership.
- All figures associated with the sick leave pool are prorated for part-time employees.
To enroll in the pool, submit an application for membership during the annual October open enrollment period (Oct 1 – Oct 31).
Please note: Participating in the Sick Leave Pool does not limit the university’s rights to proceed with any employment or disciplinary action. If you transfer, retire, resign, or are terminated from University of Florida employment, you will be terminated from the Sick Leave Pool on the date of the personnel action. Any unused hours will be returned to the pool, and you will not receive any payment for those unused hours.
Application Instructions
In order to be considered, your Application to use Sick Leave Pool Credits must include the following:
- All signatures are required.
- Pages 1 and 2 and part of page 3 must be completed by the department and the employee.
- The “Certificate of Medical Condition”, pages 3 and 4, must be completed and signed by your medical practitioner.
An incomplete application will delay the processing of your request.
Completed applications can be submitted at any time via email to central-leave@ufl.edu, via fax at (352)392-5166, or delivered to 903 W. University Avenue, Gainesville, FL, 32601.
Please note: If you retire, resign, or are terminated from University of Florida employment, you are no longer eligible to receive hours from the sick leave pool effective on the date of the separation from UF. This is also applicable when transferring to another state agency or to an OPS appointment.
Application Review Process
- To be considered, all three sections of the applications must be complete, including signatures and certification of medical condition.
- Applications to withdraw hours from the sick leave pool must be for the employee’s own personal (not family) catastrophic injury or illness.
- Catastrophic is defined as a severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of the employee.
- Prior to being granted hours from the sick leave pool, the employee must have exhausted all personally accrued sick, vacation, and compensatory leave.
- Each application may be for up to 160 hours of pool credits. The maximum number of hours granted to an employee in any one fiscal year is 480 hours.
- The sick leave pool committee meets approximately every two weeks to review applications.
- If the committee agrees that the employee’s medical condition meets the pool’s definition of a catastrophic injury or illness, the hours will be added to the employee’s personal sick leave account following the committee’s meeting.
- Unused hours will be recovered if the employee can return to work before exhausting the granted sick leave pool hours.
- For questions regarding the sick leave pool’s policies, procedures, or granted pool hours, contact Leave Administration at (352)392-2477.
Need Help? Please contact UF Central Leave at (352) 392-2477 or email us at central-leave@ufl.edu.