Catastrophic Leave Program

Staff must meet the following criteria in order to participate in the catastrophic leave program:

• Accrue vacation and/or earn compensatory time (if applicable).
• Qualify for coverage by UNI's long term disability (LTD) insurance.
• Have a medical condition that meets the definition of catastrophic illness or injury.
• Are within the 90 working day waiting period for long term disability (LTD) benefits.

In addition, employees experiencing pregnancy-related disability that prevents them from being able to work and/or who require medical recovery following the birth of a child are eligible to request donated time off.

Employees on medical leave for a work-related injury are also eligible if they have elected to supplement their weekly workers' compensation payments and meet the above mentioned criteria.

Employees may not utilize the catastrophic leave program to request donations related to the care of an ill or injured family member.

1. Eligible employees who wish to request donated time off should complete the online catastrophic leave request.
2. HRS will contact the employee if additional medical documentation is needed before the request is posted for contributions.
3. After verifying the employee’s eligibility, a campus-wide email will be sent to Staff with instructions regarding how to voluntarily contribute vacation or compensatory time.
4. Donated time off will be accepted during a two week period that will be identified in the email notification to staff.
5. Total hours donated are calculated using the donor and recipient’s base rate of pay.
6. Catastrophic donations are applied to the recipient’s absence as needed until the employee returns to work, the health condition is resolved, the 90 working day waiting period for LTD benefits has been met, or the donated hours are exhausted.

Vacation or compensatory time earned must be donated in full hour increments. 

• Accrued sick time off cannot be donated through the catastrophic leave program.
• You should not donate more vacation or compensatory time earned than you have available.

Donated time off is not deducted from your absence balance in UNI Works until the hours are transferred to the recipient and will be applied in the order it was received.

You might not see a reduction in your accruals balance if the recipient no longer needs the donated time or if you end your employment before your donation is utilized.

All earned accruals must be exhausted before donated time off may be applied to your absence. This includes situations where you are approved for a temporary schedule reduction or intermittent absences due to your catastrophic illness or injury.

• Donated hours are not applied retroactively to unpaid absences that occurred prior to the catastrophic leave request.

If you are on continuous medical leave and are not released to return to work before or when your donated time off is exhausted, you will be placed on medical leave without pay, which may impact your UNI benefits. See I Need to Take a Leave for details.

Total hours received or used cannot exceed the 90 working day LTD waiting period and must be used within one year from when your need for leave began.

• This means it's possible you may not need to utilize all of the time off donated to you.

You may only request donated time off through this program one time per 12 month period for the same injury or illness.

You cannot utilize donated time off to exceed your regularly scheduled work hours during a pay period

Employees who request donated time off for the birth of a child may only use donated time off for the medically necessary recovery period after childbirth. 

• This means you might not be able to utilize the total amount of time off donated to you.
• Donated time off may not be used for bonding with a new baby during FMLA approved leave. 

Pregnant employees unable to work due to temporary pregnancy-related disability may request donated time off for this period of incapacity in addition to the postpartum recovery period, if needed.

Questions regarding catastrophic leave may be directed to catleave@uni.edu.

1Q: I need to be off work for two weeks because of an illness or injury and I don’t have any vacation or sick time available. Can I apply to the catastrophic leave program?

1A: In this situation, you would not be eligible to apply. To qualify for the catastrophic leave program your healthcare provider must certify that you will miss 30 or more work days due to your illness or injury.

2Q: I donated vacation time to an employee yet the hours were not deducted from my vacation balance, why is that?

2A: Donated time off is applied to a recipient’s absence in the order received, which could take up to one year. If that period of time has passed, the recipient may have reached the maximum number of hours needed for their leave situation or they may have returned to work before your donation was applied.

3Q: If I’m pregnant, may I request donations toward my maternity leave?

3A: Yes, you may request donations to be used toward your maternity leave if you will exhaust all of your own accrued time off before you are released back to work by your healthcare provider. You may only receive donations to cover the medically necessary recovery period after childbirth. If you are unable to work before you deliver your baby due to temporary pregnancy-related disability, you may be eligible to request catastrophic leave donations for that time period.

4Q: I missed the two week window for donating time off. Can I still donate hours to the employee in need?

4A: Unfortunately, no. Once the two week period has ended, no additional donations will be accepted.