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What is the Staff Shared Leave Pool?

The Staff Shared Leave Pool is a pool of donated Vacation Leave (VL) time, which can be used by a staff employee who has exhausted all accrued paid leaves because of illness or injury affecting themselves or their family members. Regular University of Kentucky staff employees with a 0.5 FTE (50 percent assignment) or greater can donate up to ten days of Vacation Leave per year to the pool.

VL issued through this program is subject to available VL balances in the Pool. If the available VL balance in the Staff Shared Leave Pool is zero, VL from the Pool will not be awarded.

Click here for a full description of the Staff Shared Leave Pool Procedures.

Donating to the Staff Shared Leave Pool

UK staff may donate accrued vacation time to the UK Staff Shared Leave Pool. This program was established (through the efforts of the UK Staff Senate and UK Human Resources) as a way of enabling UK employees to help fellow staff members who may have exhausted paid leave due to illness or other adverse circumstances. Please consider donating leave to support this initiative (see details below). You can also help by spreading the word that this program may be available for those who need it, now or in the future. Since this program was introduced in 2007, UK staff have donated more than 26,000 hours of accrued vacation leave!

Donate to the Staff Shared Leave Pool

The Staff Shared Leave Pool consists of paid leave time from UK employees who donate their own accrued vacation time.

Time must be donated in units of half-day of vacation leave, and individuals may donate up to 10 days of vacation leave annually to the pool. Please note donated time does not "expire." Instead, it will remain as part of the pool until used.

You may submit Staff Shared Leave Pool donations during the annual donation period. Staff employees may donate up to ten vacation days per year (in full or half-day increments). Donations of VL to the Staff Shared Leave Pool are irrevocable and cannot be designated for use by a particular person.

Upon approval of a donation, the Pool Administrator will credit the Staff Shared Leave Pool with the VL contributed by a staff employee and deduct the same amount from that staff employee's accrued VL quota. For questions, contact:

Human Resources 
Office of Employee Relations 

107 Scovell Hall
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0064
(859) 257-8758

Donate to the Staff Shared Leave Pool in myUK >

  1. Log into myUK.
  2. Click Working Time and Leave Requests in Employee Self Service.
  3. Click Shared Leave Donation to complete your donation.

Applying for Staff Shared Leave Pool Benefits

Eligibility: An employee is eligible to apply for benefits from the Staff Shared Leave Pool if the employee meets all of the following criteria:

  • Holds a regular staff position of 0.5 FTE or greater with the University of Kentucky,
  • Has successfully completed the new employee orientation period,
  • Has incurred a catastrophic illness or injury to themselves or is caring for a spouse, sponsored-dependent, or child who has incurred a catastrophic illness or injury, and
  • Has exhausted or will be exhausting all accrued paid leaves.

Faculty eligible to receive faculty leave benefits while serving in administrative positions are not eligible to participate in this program.

Applying: To request this benefit, employees must complete an application form. Applications are reviewed by a dedicated Staff Shared Leave Pool committee of staff representatives.

For further information, contact Human Resources Office of Employee Relations: 107 Scovell Hall • University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0064 • (859) 257-8758