Time and Absence

Military duty time off

Last updated: December 1, 2025

This page applies to all university employees.

Overview

University employees who are members of, or who are in the process of enlisting for, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps reserves of the United States or any organized reserve or armed forces of the United States are entitled to 21 days of paid military duty time off each federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) to report for required military duty, training, or drills, including those in the national guard.

For longer absences related to your military duty in the uniformed services, or the deployment of a spouse or domestic partner, see the Military Duty Leave and Military Family Leave webpage.

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Pay

Employees are charged military duty time off only for the days that they are scheduled to work. If the employee is scheduled to work a shift that begins on one calendar day and ends on the next calendar day,  military training time off is charged only for the first calendar day.

Employees may use any accrued paid time off (except sick time off) they have available for military training lasting longer than 21 days. Review the Military Duty Leave and Military Family Leave webpage if military training time off and all other paid time off (except for sick time off) is exhausted.

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Request process

Qualifying employees must provide their manager with advance notice before they are absent for military duty.

For campus employees:

In Workday, employees should follow the Manage Absence business process and select “Military Training Paid Time Off (hours)” (for staff, students, and time off accruing academic personnel) or “Military Training Paid Time Off (days)” (for faculty). Departments should collect military orders to confirm the validity of the request.

The request will route to the Time and Absence Approver for approval. Academic personnel will be asked to upload supporting documentation for the request..

For medical centers staff:

Complete the Shared leave program and submit it to your supervisor along with a copy of your military orders.

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Impact of military training time off

Absences for military duty are considered time worked for determining FMLA eligibility, layoff seniority, step progression, months of service toward a higher vacation accrual rate, and completion of a probationary or trial service period.

Manager responsibilities

Follow your department’s usual time off approval procedure. Place copies of the employee’s documentation supporting the request for military duty time off in the employee’s departmental file to support entries made in the time off tracking system (Workday or Kronos). Retain these records for 3 years after termination of employment with the department.

Managers must consult with their HR consultants prior to denying a request for military duty time off as any denial must follow the law and University policy.

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Resources

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