Faculty Leaves & Sabbaticals

Types of leave for academic appointees

We recognize the need for many different types of leave for academic appointees in various career stages at Indiana University Bloomington.

If you are a tenure-track faculty member who has not yet received tenure, you should review how different types of leave affect the tenure clock. You will also need to complete the Understanding of Probationary Status form when requesting a leave.

Learn more about leaves and the tenure clock

Sabbatical leaves

Tenured faculty and librarians at IU Bloomington are eligible to apply for sabbatical leaves.

The sabbatical leave program provides time without teaching or service responsibilities so they may pursue scholarly research and allows tenured faculty to stay on top of developments in their fields. Opportunities for scholarly enrichment benefit both the faculty member and the university.

Learn more about sabbatical leaves

Paid family leave

Paid family leave provides eligible academic appointees with up to 12 weeks of fully or partially paid leave for either or both of the following events:

Family formation, which includes the birth or adoption of a child by the academic appointee or the academic appointee’s spouse or domestic partner
Family care, which includes the primary care of an eligible faculty member with a serious health condition

Both 10- and 12-month academic appointees are eligible for family leave after one year of continuous full-time service at IU. Visiting, part-time, postdoctoral, and intermittent appointees are not eligible for family leave.

Requests for paid family leave should be made by completing the form below.

Access the Paid Family Leave Application here

Sick leave

IU Bloomington’s sick leave is available to full-time academic appointees for any major illness. It provides six weeks of sick leave with full pay, and the remainder of the semester at half pay. An extension beyond the end of the semester may be requested if medical need continues in a new semester, for a maximum total of nine weeks at half pay.

Pregnancy

The sick leave plan applies to pregnancy and allows six weeks at full pay and, if medical need continues, the remainder of the semester at half pay. Pregnancy leave may be taken up to two weeks prior to giving birth or immediately after. Pregnancy leave may be combined with paid family leave, providing 18 weeks at full pay if the appointee is eligible.

Requesting sick leave

Upon recommendation from the department chair or dean, the unit submits an eDoc putting the appointee on sick leave. In some cases, medical documentation may be required. Contact VPFAA for questions regarding medical documentation.

Other types of paid leave

Leaves with pay are provided for military tours of duty, jury duty, and appearance as a subpoenaed witness.

Leaves of absence without pay

Academic appointees who want to take a full or partial unpaid leave of absence may request it by writing a memo to their department chair or dean explaining the need for a leave.

Leaves of absence without pay are normally limited to one year. A year or semester leave of absence without pay does not normally count as time toward service to IU (such as years of credit toward sabbatical leave eligibility) unless the leave is requested because of a prestigious fellowship.

Benefits during a leave without pay

IU will continue contributions toward health care benefits for the first six months of a leave of absence without pay if the individual continues his/her own share of the coverage.
IU will continue life insurance in force for three months if an academic appointee takes a leave of absence without pay.
IU does not make retirement plan contributions during a leave of absence without pay.

Alternative accessible formats of the PDF documents on this page can be obtained by contacting VPFAA at vpfaa@indiana.edu.