Leave, Paid and Unpaid

University of Illinois
College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign
Internal Medicine Residency Program

PURPOSE: To outline the Program’s policy on various types of leave and the American Board of Internal Medicine requirements for completion of residency and board eligibility.

POLICY: Residents are allowed 25 days of paid leave for vacation, interviews, and illness each contract year. The American Board of Internal Medicine has stipulated that board-eligibility requires a resident’s training must be extended beyond 36 months if the total time away from the resident program for any reason, i.e. vacation, sickness, leave of absence, parental leave, etc. exceeds 3 months out of the 36 total or an average of one month per year.

Leave may be granted in half-day or one-day blocks. Leave will be charged according to the actual number of days a resident would have been expected to work.

Residents should personally notify any attending or clinic that will be impacted by a leave as soon as possible after approval.

Program Administration will review all requests submitted by Tuesday at 5:00 pm and notification of approval/denial will be emailed by that Friday at noon. If the request is received any later in the week, you will not be notified of your leave request status until the following week on Friday.

I. VACATION GUIDELINES:

II. INTERVIEWS: Interview days should be requested as soon as scheduled and written documentation verifying the interview is required, e.g. an email from the program coordinator verifying date and location of interview. Without documentation the leave request will be denied. A maximum of 2 days will be granted depending on the travel requirements. Interview leave will not be granted if the needs of the program do not allow, and is strongly discouraged during leave-restricted rotations. The Program may require time taken for interviews from restricted rotations to be made up at a later time.

III. ILLNESS: Sick leave may be used for illness of, injury to, or need to obtain medical or dental consultation for the resident and/or the resident's spouse, children, parent, or members of the household. A letter from the resident’s physician may be required. When a resident is unable to perform usual duties due to illness, the resident must communicate verbally with the Chief Resident at the appropriate site before 0700. The Chief Resident will notify the supervising attending, training site and program office of the resident’s absence. The back-up policy will be followed accordingly. The Program may require sick leave taken from restricted rotations to be made up at a later time.

When taking leave for medical or dental appointments, such leave should not be taken on afternoons the resident has clinic scheduled, and notification should be given to the Chief Resident and Residency office at the earliest date possible. Up to two hours of coverage should be negotiated with the Chief Resident. If more than two hours of the day are missed, a half-day of leave will be charged to the resident.

IV. PARENTAL/LONGTERM LEAVE: The American Board of Internal Medicine includes pregnancy-related disabilities under the umbrella of longterm leave, and therefore, allows only up to one month of leave during a twelve-month training period. However, the Program feels that more time off is appropriate and desirable and offers mothers taking maternity leave during training the option of an additional two weeks of paid leave. Beyond that, requested time off will be granted per Family Medicine Leave Act requirements, but it will be unpaid, and benefit payments will be the responsibility of the resident.

Leave for birth, adoption or foster care must be taken all at once, unless the Program approves other arrangements. Leave for adoption or foster care may begin before actual placement or adoption of the child, if an absence from work is required for the placement to proceed.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 entitles eligible employees up to 12 weeks of upaid or paid leave for illness or certain family reasons. Employees are eligible for 12 weeks of FMLA each academic year. Employees may use paid sick leave or vacation, as appropriate, during FMLA leave or may use leave without pay if necessary. FMLA leave is available for the following purposes: birth or adoption of a child and in order to care for such a child; care of a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition; or for an employee's serious health condition.

The Program is concerned about the well-being not only of the mother and child, but also the impact longterm leaves have upon the training experience of other residents. Therefore, every effort will be made to make schedule changes as early as possible and to distribute them as fairly as possible. Changes in the schedule may or may not follow the back-up policy for this purpose.

It is requested that notification of pregnancy be made to the Program no later than the fourth month of pregnancy. This is due to the schedule changes that are almost always required. Once the Program is notified, a meeting will be scheduled with the Program Director or designee to discuss maternity leave options and a leave plan developed. Once the plan is agreed upon, the online leave request form should be completed with estimated leave dates.

Paternity leave should be requested as early as possible, and no later than 12 weeks prior to the estimated due date.

V. BEREAVEMENT LEAVE: Residents are granted three days of paid bereavement/funeral leave for immediate family members, which include:

Residents are granted one day of paid leave for a relative other than the above who is not a member of the employee's household (Aunt, Uncle, Niece, Nephew, or Cousin of the employee). Relationships existing due to marriage will terminate upon the death or divorce of the relative through whom the marriage relationship exists. Current marital status will be defined in accordance with Illinois State law.

A designated supervisor may grant a leave to an resident who cannot, because of special circumstances, return to work at the completion of the allowable funeral leave days. Such leave will be taken without pay or accrued vacation time may be used.

VI. MEETINGS: Residents are allowed up to 5 medical conference days per year. Conferences are considered residency related and days will not be charged against the 25 day paid leave allotment. The leave request must be submitted a minimum of 6 weeks prior to departure, and should be submitted prior to meeting registration to avoid complications if the leave is denied. Verification of registration must be submitted once completed at least 6 weeks prior to the meeting. The Program maintains the right to determine the suitability of conference topics and to retract the leave approval if proof of registration is not submitted.

VII. LEAVES OF ABSENCE: A leave of absence without pay may be granted with approval of the Program Director. This will generally delay advancement to the next post graduate year level and/or completion of the residency training.

Time off without pay is only available with the Program Director’s approval after all accrued paid time off benefits have been exhausted. Benefit costs will also be the responsibility of the resident once removed from University payroll.

VIII. BACK-UP: If a resident will be gone for less than 3 days at a time, call shifts will be covered according to the following policy. If a resident will be gone for 3 or more days at a time, the entire leave will be covered according to the same policy.