Co-workers can have your back in times of need.

CU System employees have access to CU Boulder’s Leave Sharing program, a procedure managing a pool of donated vacation hours for qualified employees in need. Leave sharing hours may only be used once the employee has exhausted all accured sick and vacation leave, and/or all compensatory time.

Employees can either donate their vacation leave or apply to receive additional leave during their time in need.

Donate Leave

Any CU System employee can donate their annual/vacation hours to the Leave Sharing Pool. Donations are entirely voluntary and can include hours that would be forfeited during annual Leave Sweeps.

Donors may designate a specific, qualified employee for donated hours. If for any reason the designated employee does not use the donated hours, the hours will be returned to the pool for another employee to use.

Employees and department HR liaisons should note that donation forms must be submitted for payroll processing before the June monthly payroll deadline each year. This will ensure the donations are processed accurately after the fiscal year’s end.

To make a donation, donors must complete the Leave Sharing Donation Form.

Apply for Shared Leave

Employees wishing to apply for leave sharing hours may fill out an application form. Applications must be completed and signed by the employee, appointing authority and HCM community member. You must have a minimum of one year of state service or CU employment to be eligible to apply.

Qualified employees must experience one of the following events:

  • The employee, or the employee’s immediate family member, is experiencing a physical or mental illness or injury that either poses a direct threat to life or is catastrophic – meaning the illness or injury requires inpatient, outpatient, hospice or residential care and results in a period of incapacity (or anticipated incapacity) for a period of 30 consecutive calendar days or more.
    • Employee must have their physician or the family member’s physician fill out the relevant portions of the application.
  • The employee has experienced a catastrophic event or emergency affecting their residence, such as a wildfire, flood, tornado or other natural disaster, or accidental event such as a fire or natural gas explosion that results in a loss of life or substantial loss or complete destruction of the employee’s residence.
  • The employee is serving as a first responder (e.g. fire fighter, paramedic, National Guard volunteer, etc.) called to respond to such catastrophic events or emergencies.
  • The employee is on active military service or other military operations and is experiencing a serious financial hardship during the initial call up. In this case, the hours granted are used to make up the difference between the employee’s base salary (excluding premiums) and the total gross military pay and allowances.
    • Employee must provide documentation of the catastrophic event or military service for which they are seeking leave sharing hours.

 Along with the application form, the employee must submit a personal statement explaining the reason for the employee’s request for leave sharing.