Requesting Sick Leave Pool Hours

The university’s Sick Leave Pool is a way for employees to combine a portion of their individually accrued sick leave for collective use.

Application Review Process

• Applications to withdraw hours from the sick leave pool must be for the employee’s own personal (not family) catastrophic injury or illness.

• Applications to withdraw hours from the sick leave pool must be submitted by 5 p.m. the Friday prior to the Sick Leave Pool Committee meeting in order to prevent delay in reviewing the application. To verify the meeting schedule, please call Central Leave Administration at 392-2477.

• Catastrophic is defined as a severe condition or combination of conditions affecting the mental or physical health of the employee which has resulted in a life-threatening condition and/or has had a major impact on life-functions. Such life-functions shall include, but not be limited to, the loss of physical senses, the loss of physiological processes, or the loss of limb.

• Prior to being granted hours from the sick leave pool, the employee must have exhausted all of his/her own personally accrued sick, vacation, and compensatory leave including the employee’s personal holiday (if applicable). Applications to withdraw hours from the pool may be submitted prior to the employee’s having exhausted all of his/her own personal leave provided the employee will continue to first use his/her own personally accrued leave prior to using any sick leave pool hours granted.

• Each application to withdraw hours from the sick leave pool may be for up to 160 hours of pool credits. Regardless of the number of applications submitted by the employee, the maximum number of hours that may be granted to an employee in any one fiscal year (July 1 through June 30) is 480 hours. An employee may only use hours of the last available grant intermittently.

• The sick leave pool committee meets approximately every two weeks to review applications. The committee is composed of a chair and an alternate chair, both physicians, as well as representatives from each of the pay plans (Academic Personnel, TEAMS, and USPS).

• If the committee agrees that the employee’s medical condition meets the pool’s definition of a catastrophic injury or illness and grants the employee sick leave pool hours, the hours will be entered into the affected employee’s personal sick leave balance shortly following the committee’s meeting.

• Should the employee be able to return to work prior to exhausting the hours granted by the sick leave pool, all unused hours will be recovered to meet the needs of other sick leave pool members.

• Should questions arise regarding any of the sick leave pool’s policies/procedures or whether an employee was granted pool hours, Leave Administration should be contacted at 392-2477.

Application Instructions

Before turning in your application to use sick leave pool credits, be sure:

• Your application includes all needed signatures.
• Both pages of the application are completed.
• After you sign the statement at the top of page two, the “Certificate of Medical Condition,” your medical practitioner must complete the form.
• When complete, the application packet can be faxed to Leave Administration at (352) 392-5166.

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 personnel action. This is also applicable when transferring to another state agency or to an OPS appointment.

An incomplete application will delay the processing of your request.