Understanding the Impact of Unpaid Leave of Absence

When you are on an approved  Leave of Absence, you may be able to choose to take that leave unpaid or you may need to take it unpaid if you do not have available paid time off to use. It is important to understand the following about unpaid leave of absence:

• No Time Off Accrual: During an unpaid LOA, you will not earn any vacation, sick leave, or legal holiday hours. Your paid time off accruals will resume once you return to paid status.  When you take any amount of unpaid time off, you will not earn your full paid leave allocation for that year.

• Benefit Impacts: Taking an unpaid LOA can impact your employee benefits (such as health insurance, retirement contributions, etc.). It's crucial to understand these potential effects before starting an unpaid leave.  Employees are encouraged to contact the Office of Human Resources – Benefits Services (262-5650 or benefits@ohr.wisc.edu) to discuss questions related to their benefits. 

• Overused Time Off: When an employee has used more paid time off (vacation, legal holiday) than they can earn, they have overused time off.  This may occur before or during an unpaid LOA. Please refer to the "Overusing Your Time Off" section below for more information.    

If you are taking an unpaid leave of absence or are leaving your employment with the institution, and you have used paid time off that was not yet earned, you will be required to pay back the institution the overused amount. 

To understand how you earn your time off and to help prevent overuse, please refer to the: 

• Vacation Policy

• Personal and Legal Holidays - UW-Madison Policy Library