Taking a Leave of Absence
The following summarizes how your benefits are affected when you take a leave of absence.
For details on the process for taking a leave of absence including Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML), please refer to Leaves of Absence.
Benefit |
How Coverage is Affected |
| Health and Dental Plans and Personal & Family Accident Insurance |
If you are on a leave of absence with pay (including a sabbatical), your coverage will continue, provided your usual payroll deductions continue.
If you are on a leave of absence without pay, your coverage will continue, provided you pay the employee portion of the cost of coverage. If you choose not to continue this insurance, coverage will automatically end on the last day of the month in which you are granted a leave of absence. |
| Long Term Disability | Contact Human Resources to ask how your absence may affect your participation in the LTD Plan. |
| Basic Life Insurance | Your coverage will continue during the leave. |
| Supplemental Life Insurance | If you are on a leave of absence with pay, your coverage will continue, provided your usual payroll deductions continue.
If you are on a leave of absence without pay, your coverage will continue, provided you pay the employee portion of the cost of coverage. |
| Travel Accident Insurance | Coverage stops while you are not actively at work. |
| Flexible Spending Accounts | If you are on a leave of absence with pay (including a sabbatical), your participation will continue, provided your usual payroll deductions continue.
If you are on a leave of absence without pay, your contributions will stop. They will, however, resume automatically with the first paycheck you receive when you return, if you return within the same calendar year (unless you make a change). You may continue to submit eligible claims in accordance with the plan’s provisions while you are on a leave of absence. |
| BU Retirement Plan and Supplemental Retirement & Savings Plan |
If you are on a leave of absence with pay, your normal contributions and the University’s normal contributions will continue.
If you are on a leave of absence without pay, the University’s contributions and your contributions will stop. They will, however, resume automatically with the first paycheck you receive when you return. |
| Tuition Remission | If you are on a leave of absence with pay (including a sabbatical), your benefit will continue.
If you are on a leave of absence without pay, your benefit will continue if your approved leave of absence is taken for research purposes, instruction, government or other service deemed by the University to be in the public interest, or other activities that may be approved by the University. If you are on a temporary disability leave, benefits will continue for your dependent children until the end of the semester in which you complete six months of such leave without pay. |
Certain benefit plans may continue during an unpaid leave, as described above. If you wish to discontinue or suspend your participation in any of these plans, you will need to complete the necessary forms, available from Human Resources. Re-enrollment in these plans is possible when you return from a leave of absence, as long as you request the change through Employee Self Service at BUworks Central by selecting the option “Manage my Benefits – Life or Career Events” within 30 days from the date you return.