Leaves & Teaching Relief

Faculty Leaves and Time Off

Policies regarding faculty leaves of absence and teaching relief for all Yale schools are located in the Faculty Handbook, section XX.

The general procedures below apply to all types of leaves and time off.  However, specific instructions for medical leave, teaching relief for child rearing, parental leave, and caregivers leave are online at https://facultyadmin.yale.edu/medical-parental-cargivers-leaves-time-off.

Note: For policies and procedures in the School of Medicine, please consult the Office of Academic & Professional Development at the Yale School of Medicine (https://medicine.yale.edu/oapd/academicaffairs/leaves/leaves/). 

General procedures:

Department administrators may view leave requests at any time by following these instructions:  Instructions for viewing leave request forms in Hyland OnBase | Faculty Administrative Services (yale.edu).

  1. The faculty member submits the request in the new online leave request system:  Link and instructions for submitting leave requests.  
  2. All requests are routed in the OnBase system through the necessary approvals.  
                   Instructions for reviewing leaves in OnBase are available here. 
  3. Leave decisions will be communicated as follows:
    • In FAS and SEAS, the deans send approvals directly to the faculty members with copies to the department chair and administrators.
    • In the professional schools, approvals are sent via OnBase to the school dean to communicate to the faculty members.  Template approval letters are provided upon request.
  4. Upon approval, the leave submitted through OnBase will be automatically uploaded to the faculty member’s record in Workday. 
    • Note:  All academic research leaves begin on either July 1 or January 1 and end on either June 30 or December 31.  Exceptions are made for faculty taking unpaid leaves who need to receive summer compensation.  
    • If applicable, a task will be launched in Workday to add the costing treatment, FacSabbatical.  It should cover the same period as the leave.
    • A delayed task will be scheduled to return the faculty member from leave 30 days in advance of the end date.

For detailed procedures:

FAS:  Refer to the FAS Dean’s Office site for non-tenured ladder faculty leaves.

SEAS: Refer to https://seas.yale.edu/faculty-research/faculty-resources/faculty-leaves.

Cancellations:

  • To cancel a leave, send email to faculty.admin@yale.edu, as well as the Dean’s Office, if not yet communicated. 
  • OFAS will rescind the leave in Workday. 

Changes: 

  • Requests for changes must be resubmitted using the new leave system.
  • If the leave has already been entered in Workday, OFAS will make the necessary changes.

NOTE:  Costing changes will need to be updated manually in Workday if changes are made to research leaves.  Corrections to leave dates do not trigger a costing task.

Additional procedures for requesting certain leaves

Junior Faculty Fellowships, Initial Appointment Leaves, Reappointment Leaves, and Associate Professor Leaves - These are paid research leaves for tenure-track faculty (Assistant Professors and Associate Professors on term).  The procedures for applying for these leaves are established and communicated by each school’s dean’s office. 

Professional Development Leave (FAS and SEAS only) - This leave is offered to instructional (non-ladder teaching) faculty in FAS and SEAS.  For a description of eligibility and the procedures for applying, please refer to the respective websites for each school.

Special Triennial Leave - Requires proof of funding from an external fellowship.  The funding must cover a minimum of one term, therefore, along with the leave request form, the faculty member must provide documentation that includes the dates covered by the funding.

Notes regarding unpaid leaves:

  • While on unpaid leave, the system will prevent the faculty member from receiving any compensation from Yale, including summer compensation.  Therefore, if the faculty member needs to receive summer compensation, please send an email to faculty.admin@yale.edu to make the necessary adjustments.
  • Health Coverage: Health coverage for faculty members on unpaid leave will continue without interruption. The premiums will be covered by Yale and will go into arrears. When the faculty member’s compensation resumes after the leave, the amount owed will be deducted from the faculty member’s pay one month at a time until fully repaid.
  • Disability Insurance: The University will continue to provide, at no cost to the individual, insurance as partial protection against loss of income and retirement benefits resulting from long-term disability.
  • Retirement Annuities: Both faculty and University contributions to retirement accounts are suspended during an unpaid leave of absence.
  • Scholarship Plan for Sons and Daughters of the Faculty and Staff: During an unpaid leave, a faculty member’s children are not eligible to receive scholarship awards under the University’s Scholarship Plan for Sons and Daughters. An unpaid leave does not count as a disruption of continuous University employment, but time spent on unpaid leave with outside employment does not count toward the six years of continuous full-time service that are required for eligibility in the Scholarship Plan.
  • Payroll Deductions to Third Parties: Faculty on unpaid leave should arrange with the appropriate office to maintain or discontinue, as desired, payments normally made by payroll deductions to third parties, such as the Yale Credit Union, the Yale Parking Service, and banks participating in the University Mortgage Program.
  • Tuition Benefit: Faculty on unpaid leave and their spouses will continue to be eligible for tuition benefits on the same terms as those for faculty not on leave.