Leave

This policy applies to IRTAs, CRTAs, or visiting fellows appointed as postbacs, predocs, or postdocs. It does not apply to clinical or research fellows who follow leave guidelines for NIH FTE staff. The policy also does not apply to summer interns or part-time student IRTAs/CRTAs in the academic internship program.

There are two types of excused absences recognized:

Excused Absence With Stipend (AWS) is time away from the research group to tend to personal needs, illness, or other activities without deductions from monthly stipends. This will be referred to as “leave.”

Excused Absence Without Stipend (AWOS) is time away from the research group to tend to personal needs, illness, or other activities with deductions taken from monthly stipends.

Designated Agency Official (DAO) is the individual in your research group responsible for working with you to establish your fellowship schedule. They will also be responsible for approving professional development time and leave. This will be your Principal Investigator (PI) or a staff scientist, lab manager or administrative officer they designate.

• You are excused from fellowship activities on all Federal holidays and any time the government is closed.
  • If a critical research need prevents you from observing a designated federal holiday, you may select another date to be excused from fellowship activities in lieu of the holiday. The agreement between you and your PI (or other DAO) must be documented in an email in advance of the holiday. However, these days must be substituted within a reasonable time after the federal holiday and cannot be 'banked' for future use.
• You are provided with up to thirty days of leave per award year for a full-year appointment. The balance is set on your initial award start date, and resets annually on the renewal date.
  • Leave balances do not accrue or rollover year-to-year and unused leave has no monetary value.
  • If an award renewal is for a period less than one year, the leave balances will be prorated based on the duration of the renewal. The prorated leave balance is provided in full at the start of the short-term renewal.
• You are expected to use leave for vacations, medical needs, emergencies, illness, care of a family member, bereavement, and immigration matters. Leave may also be used for graduate/professional exam study time, shadowing, volunteer opportunities, and interviews, when professional development time has been exhausted or is denied.
  • Visiting Fellows must request approval from the Division of International Services (DIS) when they plan to take extended personal leave for more than five weeks. This includes vacation and medical needs.
• You remain in AWS status for jury duty, six weeks of military duty, and parental leave (see below). These absences are not deducted from your 30-day balance.
• You are not required to take leave while on official government travel but any vacation or personal days taken before or at the end of the official travel will be deducted from your leave balance.
• You may use leave to observe culturally or religiously significant holidays. Alternatively, you may request to modify your fellowship schedule, with approval of your PI (or daily supervisor), to allow time to observe these days.
• Non-FTE fellows are not covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) because they are not federal employees. If you experience a personal or family medical emergency and need more leave than you have available, reach out to us at [email protected] to discuss potential options.

You are expected to submit requests for non-emergency leave to your PI (or other DAO) as far in advance as possible, but generally no later than twenty-four hours in advance. All requests should be directed to the DAO via email.

• The request must include the date(s) and amount of time requested. You are not required or encouraged to disclose the reason for your absence and supervisors may not request proof of illness as part of the leave approval process.
• Leave can only be used in full or half-day increments.
• Unless explicitly stated otherwise, a DAO’s acknowledgment of the leave request will constitute approval, as long as you have days remaining in your leave balance.

You are required to use the FAST spreadsheet to maintain accurate records regarding leave and fellowship time.

• The FAST spreadsheet should be stored in a shared network location (e.g. Microsoft Teams, OneNote, or SharePoint) where you and your PI or DAO have continuous access so that all parties can be accountable for the accuracy of the record.
• A new spreadsheet should be started each year upon renewal of your fellowship. If you transfer groups mid-way through a fellowship year, you may continue to use the same spreadsheet.
• The FAST spreadsheet has three sections:
  • A weekly certification that you tended to fellowship responsibilities for ~40 hours unless you were on approved leave as discussed here.
  • Attendance at professional development activities, including the duration of the activity as discussed here.
  • Approved absences with stipend (leave).
• When there are differences of opinion regarding leave you may be requested to share your FAST spreadsheet with your IC Training Office staff and/or OITE staff to assist in resolving the issue(s).

Non-FTE fellows are provided up to twelve weeks of excused absence with stipend (AWS) for the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child(ren).

• You must be an NIH fellow on an active award on the date of the birth, adoption, or foster placement to be eligible for parental leave. If both parents are non-FTE fellows at the time of the event, both are eligible for parental leave under this policy.
• The time may be used in a flexible or intermittent manner over the course of one year starting on the date of the birth, adoption, or foster care placement event.
• You are not required to exhaust your regular leave balance before taking parental leave. Additionally, parental leave is still available to use after a renewal and does not reset on your renewal date like regular leave.

Parental leave must be requested in advance by sending an email directly to your PI or daily supervisor, outlining the anticipated start and end dates of your leave. These dates can be modified at a later date as needed. Any changes to leave dates should also be documented via email with the PI or daily supervisor.

There are no forms or other documentation required for parental leave. Visiting Fellows must request approval from the Division of International Services (DIS) when they plan to take extended personal leave for more than five weeks. This includes vacation and medical needs.

Should you need or wish to take leave beyond the twelve weeks provided as parental leave, you may use any unused regular leave. Once that is exhausted, you may request absence without stipend (AWOS) by emailing [email protected].

If you exhaust your leave balance for a fellowship year, or need more leave than is available, you may request placement in absence without stipend (AWOS) status. Inquiries and requests should be directed to [email protected] to discuss options and procedures.

• OITE will discuss important information and potential implications to your fellowship for you to consider before finalizing a decision.
• OITE will also coordinate with your PI before making a final decision. OITE will not share any personal or medical details with the PI.
• If approved, AWOS will be processed in no less than 5-day increments.

If you are absent from your fellowship for greater than 10 days without notifying your PI, another DAO, or Agency official, and you fail to respond to inquiries from us, you will be placed in AWOS status and your appointment may be terminated.