Military Leave

The University of Kansas offers paid military leave to eligible employees who are called upon to serve in the United States Armed Forces.

Eligibility

Employees who hold regular positions with 48% or greater appointments and are active members of a reserve component of the United States Military are eligible to receive paid military leave.

Benefits

Eligible employees are granted a maximum of 30 days of paid military leave per year (October 1 to September 30) for required military duty. Required military leave is any period of active duty, inactive duty, or full-time National Guard duty, or any other appropriate duty status as determined by Human Resources. Your paid military leave hours are calculated based on your regular work day hours indicated in the Human Resources/Payroll System (HR/Pay).

Leave Process (1-30 days)

If you are called to military service and only need to request paid military leave for 30 days or less, you should take the following actions immediately after receiving your orders:

1. Provide a copy of your orders to your department's personnel related staff member (PRS) or directly to HR.
   • Your department's PRS should submit a copy of your orders to Human Resources by emailing them to hrdept@ku.edu or by faxing them to 785-864-5790.
   • Human Resources will provide its determination to you via hard copy letter; HR will also send a copy of the letter to your department's contact.
2. Submit your Military Leave of absence through HR/Pay:
   • Navigate to Self Service > Time Reporting > Report Time > Absence Request.
   • Select “Military Leave” in the absence name field.
   • Select either “Training”  or “Deployment” in the reason name field.
3. Your supervisor will be responsible for reviewing and approving your absence request.
4. As soon as you return to work, you or your department's PRS should immediately notify Human Resources of your return, whether you are on paid or unpaid status, by emailing the department at hrdept@ku.edu.

Leave Process (More than 30 days) 

If you are called to military service and you need to request more than 30 days of military leave, you should take the following actions immediately after receiving your orders:

1. You should follow the same process outlined above to request military leave, however If you have exhausted your 30 days of military leave with pay and require more days of absence, you should immediately contact your department's PRS representative.
2. Your department's PRS representative will submit a Personnel Action Form (PAF) to Human Resources and place you on leave without pay. Please note the following:
   • The PAF (when used for military leave) does not require your signature.
   • You will be placed on military leave without pay beginning on the first day without military pay and ending the last day of your orders. For example, if you request military leave from October 1, through November 15, you will be placed on military leave with pay from October 1, through October 31, and you will be placed on military leave without pay from November 1, through November 15.
   • If you have requested to use accrued leave (to include all leave balances with the exception of sick leave) before exercising your Military Leave Without Pay benefit, the action to place you on a leave without pay will be delayed until all other leave balances (with the exception of sick leave) have been exhausted. Additionally, if you request to use your leave balances in lieu of being placed in a leave without pay status, you are responsible for submitting an absence request in the HR/Pay system for the leave balances you wish to use. If you are not able to submit the absence request yourself, you should ask your supervisor to enter an absence request on your behalf.
3. When the PAF is received by HR, you will be placed in leave without pay status in HR/Pay.

Additional Information

• The time you spend on military leave and the allowable time to return to work counts towards time worked for length of service. For University Support Staff (USS), this time also counts toward eligibility for longevity pay.
• If you are a USS member on military leave and you are due a longevity bonus, it will be paid on the payroll period in which it is scheduled, regardless of whether you are on paid or unpaid military leave.
• Employees returning from military leave who satisfy the criteria established by law and regulation are entitled to a comparable job upon their return.​
• When returning from required military duty or upon completion of induction, entrance, or examination for entrance into a reserve component, you are to report for work as specified below.
• To learn more about veteran employee eligibility and job entitlements, employer obligations and benefits, please visit Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
• For details on military leave clarifications, and employees reporting for military duty, please refer to Military Bulletins No. 04-02 and No. 06-01.
• For more information on Kansas personnel policies, please refer to Military Leave Kansas Administration Regulations (K.A.R.) (K.A.R. 1-5-11, K.A.R 1-5-30, K.A.R 1-9-7a, K.A.R 1-9-7b, K.A.R 1-9-7c).