Faculty Leaves of Absence (LOA) and Reductions in Load (RIL)

Policies and Timeline

College policies regarding full-time faculty LOAs and RILs are stated in the Policy Manual sections 4.8, 3.9.14, and 3.9.15.

Timeline:

  • Applications for Fall semester leaves/reductions should be submitted to the Provost’s office by the preceding February,
  • Applications for Spring semester leaves/reductions should be submitted to the Provost by the preceding September.

[Naturally circumstances prompting the application may not always be foreseeable on this timeframe, particularly in the case of medical leaves/reductions.]

Process

  • Faculty considering applying for an LOA/RIL for medical and/or family reasons should first make an appointment with the HR Employee Benefits team. The Benefits team will review the details of your request and follow up with you about eligibility. If you proceed with the application, you will then download the LOA/RIL application form and submit electronically to the next signatory. If the requested leave/reduction would be for professional/personal reasons, the HR Business Partner for faculty can explain the impact on benefits. You would use the same form linked above to submit your application.
  • The LOA/RIL application form will ask you to state how many workload credits you would have for the academic year in question if the leave/reduction were approved. In entering this information, note that in the absence of an LOA/RIL, a 9-month full-time faculty member’s annual workload is defined as 24 credits. [For 12-month full-time appointments, annual workload is defined as 30 credits.] For positions that explicitly require scholarship/creative activity, 3 credits per year are standardly allocated to those activities, and the balance of workload credits constitute teaching load. The form asks you to itemize your workload credits if the LOA/RIL were approved, inclusive of teaching load, scholarship/creative workload, and any reassigned time if applicable. Please indicate each workload-credited activity and the number of load credits assigned to the extent that can be identified, but if for instance course assignments can't yet be anticipated, listing “8 credits teaching in Spring 20xx” would suffice. The sum of the credits you note divided by 24 [or 30 where applicable] will be the basis for calculating the resulting fraction of full-time equivalency.
  • The Chair and Dean will discuss how many credits of overload and/or part-time per-credit the department needs to cover for the LOA/RIL. Those requests should be itemized and listed on page 2 before the application comes to the Provost's office.
  • If the LOA/RIL has an impact on the faculty member’s salary, HR and the Provost’s Office will collaborate on that calculation, and the Dean’s office will subsequently issue a revised salary notification letter.
  • Once all parties have approved the LOA/RIL application, each signatory will receive a copy of the executed application.
LOA/RIL Application Form