Vacation, Leave, and Other Time Away

Holidays

The University observes the following holidays and all Adult ID Fellows will be released on these days, regardless of rotation. As not all sites observe the same holidays, fellows should communicate with their inpatient rotation faculty on service and clinic sites well in advance that these are days fellows are off. The Minneapolis VA has other holidays that are observed and those on rotation there should coordinate their schedules accordingly.

AY24

Thursday, July 4, 2024                     Independence Day

Monday, September 2                      Labor Day

Thursday, November 28                   Thanksgiving Day

Friday, November 29                        Floating holiday

Tuesday, December 24                    Floating holiday

Wednesday, December 25               Christmas Day

Thursday, December 26                   Floating holiday

Wednesday, January 1, 2025           New Year's Day

Monday, January 20                         Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Monday, May 26                              Memorial Day

    Thursday, June 19    Juneteenth  

Holidays and Religious Observances

The Office of Equity and Diversity maintains a list of major Christian, Hindu, Islamic, and Jewish holidays and religious observances, and U.S. public (Federal) holidays. Fellows who have important observances in their lives and want to be sure they have time away to celebrate them are encouraged to touch base with program leadership to be sure that schedules can be adjusted as needed.

Paid Time Off (PTO)

(see also Policy of Effect of Leave for Satisfying Completion of Program) In accordance with the ABIM policy, all fellows will be given one month of leave (which is interpreted to be four weeks or 20 week days), to be used for both vacation and sick leave. Any leave that exceeds one month will be unpaid and must be made up at the end of the training. There is no carryover of vacation or sick time from one year to the next. For details, please refer to the ABIM policy located on the web. These days off are full days only. If a fellow works part of a day, it is not counted as part of the 20 days. If a fellow needs to leave on a clinic day to attend a sick child, medical, mental health or dental care appointment, the fellow is responsible for communicating this to the site and to ascertain that patient care is not compromised. Full days off must be reported to the program coordinator for proper tallying. Sick leave will be approved for any legitimate illness.

Regarding planned time off, fellows are responsible for notifying the fellowship coordinator at least 8 weeks/60 days in advance (per institutional policy) and must complete a Fellow Time Off Request Form. This electronic-fillable form is available on the Fellowship (Shared) Google Site. Once the form is completed, it should be returned to the coordinator for processing which includes notification to rotation sites and continuity clinics as needed. For any request less than 60 days out, the fellow must directly obtain permission from their clinic preceptor or site director and notify the program coordinator accordingly.

Fellows who are graduating from the fellowship program may take vacation during one of the last two weeks of their fellowship. Please plan accordingly and save a week of vacation if you wish to use it at the end of your academic year.

Professional and Academic Time Away, including Travel

It is the policy of the Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program to encourage fellows to attend one national conference (usually the Infectious Diseases Society of America annual meeting) per academic year. When conference attendance is expected, this excused time is counted as academic leave, not as PTO. Time away for academic leave and conferences other than those that are part of the curriculum may be granted in addition to regular vacation time.  Requests must be received in writing by the fellowship office, and approved by the fellowship director at least 60 days in advance of the planned absence. No more than 10 days per academic year will be allowed; time beyond this limit must be taken as regular vacation time.

In addition, fellows may wish to attend other out-of-town conferences, for educational or research purposes. The specific policies and processes regarding fellowship-related travel and reimbursement are detailed below.

Policy: 

Medical fellows in the IDIM Division are reimbursed for appropriate travel during their fellowship per these guidelines.

Fellows on a training grant: an annual allowance for attendance at conferences directly related to research is provided. The amount depends on the training grant. Availability of travel funds should be discussed in advance with the training grant's Principal Investigator. If available, training grant travel funds will be used to support travel to the IDSA annual meeting (see next).

All other fellows: reimbursement will be provided for attendance at the IDSA meeting (as available). Such reimbursement may be capped with a certain amount. Fellows are encouraged to apply for travel awards.

All fellows: Fellows may arrange full reimbursement for conference fees directly from their research mentor, if related to their research. For travel grants obtained through the fellowship program to attend other conferences, fellows may apply any unspent balance the program has designated toward additional conferences within the same academic year, with the program director's permission.

Process:

Contact the program coordinator for information regarding the Travel Reimbursement Policy and Procedures before travel.

• Fellows will request reimbursement for conferences prior to making conference registration by contacting the program director and program coordinator.

• The program director will document approval by email provided to both the requesting fellow and the program coordinator. The program coordinator will verify the amount of money available to the fellow by checking the budgets available. If insufficient funds remain available to the fellow, the coordinator will notify the fellow before travel arrangements are made.

• Each fellow is responsible for submitting receipts for their travel expenses; these are emailed to the program coordinator with an explanation of what it was used for and any special circumstances needing to be documented. The University uses Chrome River for reimbursements; fellows will set the program coordinator as a delegate.

• The program coordinator will draft the request for reimbursement through Chrome River. It is the responsibility of the fellow to review the request and submit it. All financial reimbursements are submitted to the Program Director for approval.  Once approval is obtained, the accounting office will process the payment. Fellows will receive an email that funds will be deposited into their banking account the same way electronic deposits are handled for fellow stipends. 

• Travel-related funding cannot be carried over to the next academic year and may not be used for other educational needs.

• All academic travel shall be approved by the program director before making any travel arrangements.

Policy: International Travel

All fellows must register before they embark on international travel. Details are available on the University of Minnesota International Travel Registry website. 

Parental Leave Policy

Fellows are provided with 6 weeks of paid paternity leave.  (Note that any leave, when added to vacation time and any other personal time away, that results in more than one month away from the program in a PGY year, could extend training.) Fellows should notify the program director as far in advance as possible of the request for paternity leave to discuss the implications. 

Other Personal Leave 

Other leave can include Bereavement, Extended Absence, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Military, Court Civic Duty, Parental, Personal, Professional. Please contact the program director/coordinator for support. The GME policy for these types of leave is available here. Such leave should be requested at least 3 months in advance of the planned leave, except in the case of a personal crisis, emergency or external factors, for which appropriate notifications should be made as soon as possible (to the program director/coordinator, clinic director, research mentor, consult attending, etc.).  Fellows are responsible for arranging schedule changes for all other personal leave and should make arrangements as far in advance as possible, in consideration of patient care, their colleagues and the program.

When requesting a Leave of Absence, please consider the Policy of Effect of Leave for Satisfying Completion of Program.

Unexcused, unsupportable, or unauthorized absences/leaves and/or significant tardiness from any mandatory clinical or educational activity constitutes unprofessional conduct. Under your signed employment contract, unprofessional conduct is behavior that will subject the fellow to discipline for non-academic reasons. Such discipline may be in the form of a written warning, probation, suspension, or termination 

Unauthorized Leave

Unexcused, unsupportable, or unauthorized absences/leaves and/or significant tardiness from any mandatory clinical or educational activity constitutes unprofessional conduct. Under a fellow's signed program agreement (employment contract), unprofessional conduct is behavior that will subject the fellow to discipline for non-academic reasons. Such discipline may be in the form of a written warning, probation, suspension, or termination.