Beginning Aug. 7, active employees who need to request leave for one of the following family and/or medical-related reasons will need to complete the online Leave Request Form through ConnectCarolina Self Service:
- Employee’s own serious health condition.
- To care for a child, spouse or parent with a serious health condition.
- Birth of a child and to bond with a newborn within 12 months.
- Placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care and to bond with a newly placed child within 12 months.
- A qualifying exigency arising out of the foreign deployment of the employee’s spouse, child or parent.
- Military caregiver leave to care for a family member who is a current service member or a covered veteran with a serious injury or illness.
With this new process, physical leave request forms will no longer be accepted. If you submitted a physical leave request form to the HR Leave Team prior to Aug. 7, 2023, and are awaiting approval, the HR Leave Team will contact you.
The new online Leave Request Form applies to requests for leave under the following policies:
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- Faculty Serious Illness Leave (FSIL)
- Faculty Parental Leave (FPL)
- Paid Parental Leave (PPL)
- Family Illness Leave (FIL)
- Voluntary Shared Leave (VSL)
If you need to request time off for medical or dental appointments or for a minor illness (i.e., cold or flu) that does not require continuing treatment, you do not need to submit a leave request online. Discuss these types of Sick Leave requests, along with requests to use Vacation Leave, with your supervisor, then enter the leave type and hours directly into your timecard (TIM) in ConnectCarolina Self Service.
If you need to request some other type of leave, for example, Community Service Leave, Military Leave or Faculty Professional Leave, please reach out to your departmental HR Representative. If you do not know who your HR Rep is, you can contact your school/division’s HR Officer using the directory on the School/Division HR Offices page.
About the new online Leave Request Form
You will be able to submit one single request online instead of having to fill out several different physical request forms.
To access the new online Leave Request Form:
- Log in to ConnectCarolina Self Service.
- Click on the My Benefits
- Click on Leave in the left menu.
- Click Submit a Leave Request from the dropdown menu on the left.
After you submit a leave request form online, you will receive an email to letting you know that the request was received and routed to the HR Leave Team for review. Your supervisor and departmental HR Representative will be copied on the email and will have access to view your leave request online in ConnectCarolina.
Please note that you cannot make changes to the leave request form after you submit it. If you need to modify or cancel an existing leave request, please contact your assigned Leave Consultant or email leave@unc.edu. If anything changes (like the anticipated start date for your leave), the assigned Leave Consultant will be able to update the submitted form.
About the process change
By moving the request process online, the HR Leave Team will be able to manage cases more efficiently from beginning to end and copy the employee’s HR Representative, TIM Administrator and supervisor on email communications related to the employee’s request for leave.
Other improvements include:
- Streamlining the leave request process for improved productivity.
- Better organized and secure communications between all parties.
- Central repository containing all communications and documents related to the request.
- Automated return-to-work notifications.
- Enhanced reporting capabilities.
Resources
An Employee User Guide and training video demonstrate how to submit and view a leave request form online in ConnectCarolina. View these resources and learn more about the new online Leave Request Form on the How to Request Leave page of the HR at UNC website.
If you have questions, please email leave@unc.edu.