Requests for special leave (with, without pay or on half pay) require a two- level approval, first by the manager and secondly by the HR Partner. The process for successfully processing and approving a special leave request includes these procedures and roles:

The Umoja workflow will handle the time request exclusively and any requests for outside employment associated with the special leave request will continue to be processed offline (see below).

In the event that the staff member has made a request for outside employment in connection with the special leave request, the HR Partner must review and follow the relevant procedure as per Section 6 of ST/AI/2000/13.

Exceptional Record Entries in ECC

Exceptionally, when neither the Staff Member, Time Administrator/Time Senior Administrator nor Manager have access to ESS, the HR Partner can view, create, or modify absence records, including special leave requests, directly in ECC provided all the relevant approval by the manager and the supporting documentation has been provided.
Time Senior Administrators should never create or modify special leave requests in ECC unless they are instructed to do so by HR Partners as any modification or creation of special leave requests has other HR implications.

Insurance

HR Partners should be aware that the processing of SLWOP PAs will impact insurance contributions as follows:

At the time of approving a SLWOP Grant that spans over one full calendar month or more, Umoja dynamically delimits insurance. Unless the staff member makes the necessary contributions, their insurance will be discontinued. If the staff member decides to pay for health insurance while on SLWOP, the insurance section can make an adjustment reason (in IT378) so the staff member can enroll upon receipt of payment.

Please note that the period of SLWOP must include one full calendar month for insurance to be delimited. Periods of Special leave without pay for less than one month do not impact insurance coverage.

Examples:

• 2 May to 1 June inclusive: Insurance not delimited. Note that if the 1st or 2nd of May is a weekend or a holiday, there will not be a payroll deduction. However, when the staff member returns, the full premium will be collected from the staff member’s salary.
• 1 May to 31 May: Insurance will be delimited
• 1 May to 15 May: No impact on insurance coverage.
  

If the period of SLWOP has delimited insurance, once the Return from SLWOP PA is processed, Umoja will create an adjustment reason and the staff member will need to reapply for insurance in ESS.

Staff members must be advised of the possible impact on insurance participation at the time of approving a special leave request by the HR Partner.

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