Effective December 3, 2025, UW–Madison’s Sick, Vacation, and Personal and Legal Holidays policies were updated to reflect a change in the administration of paid leave. Moving forward, exchanges to the paid leave types mentioned above will still be allowed but must be completed by the end of the second pay period following the absence, or before the end of the fiscal year, whichever is sooner.

Additionally, changes to leave outside of the deadlines may be permitted if the changes are associated with a Worker’s Compensation or disability claim. As part of this change, Universities of Wisconsin has discontinued the practice of Sick leave swapping for Income Continuation Insurance purposes.

This change has been made at the Universities of Wisconsin level and will be implemented across all campuses. Please review the following policies for additional detail. You can also contact your CALS HR Manager for additional questions.

UW-5050: Personal and Legal Holidays
UW-5051: Sick Leave
UW-5052: Vacation

Employees can request leave exchanges in Workday, which must be approved by Managers. Managers should deny requests for leave exchanges outside the policy parameters.