Going On Leave

While going on leave is uncommon, students are allowed to go on leave if need be with the permission of their mentor and the faculty graduate program co-directors, Dr. Kelley Harris and Dr. Doug Fowler.

1. Student submits the on-leave request via MyGrad-Student View.

2. Please contact Brian Giebel so that he may approve the request.

3. For international students, the request is then sent to the International Student Services Office (ISS) for approval

4. Student is notified by email to submit an online credit card payment for the quarterly nonrefundable fee. On-Leave status is not finalized until payment has been submitted, and must be completed by the last day of instruction for the quarter of leave requested .

Please see the graduate student union contract for more information on your right to go on leave. You may receive up to 12 weeks of insurance coverage while on leave. Please see the GAIP website for details on how to make this happen.

Regarding Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML):

RAs: Please first check with Genome Sciences HR Manager Serena Newhall, but if you have been paid as a Research Assistant for at least 4 of the last 5 quarters, you should be eligible for state PFML.

Fellowships and Training Grants: If you are on a stipend position (training grant or fellowship), you are ineligible for state PFML. This is because stipends are not considered wages by the IRS and thus are considered payment to support “training” and not “work.” PFML uses the IRS definitions and only covers positions that pay a salary or hourly rate as wages.

You may, however, be eligible for paid leave from the fellowship or training grant.  Please check with the grants manager for your specific training grant or individual fellowship for more information.

Unpaid leave: If you would like to request an additional quarter of unpaid time-off from graduate school there are a few steps:
1) Confer with Brian Giebel, as the timing may affect tuition and benefits.
2) Request leave from the graduate school
3) Inform Genome Sciences HR Manager Serena Newhall to either take you off payroll or (if using PFML) record unpaid leave for RAs.
4) Sign up for the GAIP health insurance self-pay option if Fall-Winter quarters. (Summer is usually covered.)