Donor Leave

The donor leave program provides approved recovery time away from work for faculty and staff who choose to donate organs, tissue, bone marrow, blood, or blood products. Eligible faculty and staff may receive paid leave in accordance with the criteria below:

  • Up to 30 working days of paid leave for recovery from an organ or tissue donation procedure.
  • Up to 7 working days of paid leave following the donation of bone marrow.
  • 1.5 hours of paid leave every 4 months for the donation of blood (see reporting below).
  • 3 hours of paid leave every 4 months for the donation of blood platelets or other approved blood products.

Eligibility

Donor leave is available to faculty and staff with active appointments of 48% or more to a “regular” position, including university support staff on probation. Donor leave cannot be used to care for family members who are donors.

Requesting Leave

You must request donor leave in advance from your supervisor or manager, using normal leave request procedures. You do not have to exhaust any accrued leave before being eligible to receive donor leave.

Reporting

  • You should report your leave usage biweekly through HR/Pay.
  • Leave for both exempt and non-exempt may be reported in 0.25 hour increments.

Additional Information

  • Donation of blood to a KU sponsored blood drive will be considered work time as approved by a supervisor and does not require a request for donor leave or time reporting as donor leave. This time will not count against the 1.5 hours allowed every 4 months under the Donor Leave program.
  • Donor Leave will be paid at the regular rate.
  • Donor Leave will only be paid for leave taken during regularly scheduled work hours. For full-time faculty, regularly scheduled work hours are considered 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
  • Individuals on sabbatical, summer leave without pay with benefits, leave without pay, or on suspension are not considered to have "active" appointments for purposes of Donor Leave.
  • Approved Donor Leave will count toward leave accrual for eligible faculty and staff.
  • Donor Leave will not be counted against a faculty or staff members’ FMLA entitlement.
  • Donor leave does not count as time worked for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) purposes for non-exempt staff, except as noted above for blood donation.