Contact FAUW
Main office: Temporarily closed.
Email: fauw@uwaterloo.ca
More: Staff directory
Mailing address
Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Regular faculty are entitled to a number of leaves—and you really can take them!
Your benefits continue during your leave.
You get an extension on your tenure clock for one year with parental leaves (just request this from your dean). Extensions are also possible for other leaves.
FAUW can help you navigate any kind of leave from the start (or decide if a leave is right for you); don't wait until you run into problems.
This is a quick overview. Get more detail at the links provided here and in the "where to find information" section.
Sick leave: 180 calendar days. Periods longer than 5 days may require supporting medical documentation. We recommend working with an Occupational Health Nurse on your documentation.
Long-term disability: Up to 2 years. To be eligible, you must be unable to perform your job and "totally disabled" as per an objective medial opinion.
For more informaton, see the Employee Benefits Program booklet and the Disability Management Guide (PDF).
Waterloo supplements Employment Insurance for eligible pregnancy and parental leaves. The following information applies to employees who began one of these leaves before April 6. If your leave began after April 6, please see our new page on pregnancy and parental leaves.
UW provides 6 weeks of birth leave at 100% salary plus 17 weeks at 95% of your salary (a mix of pregnancy/parental covered by Employment Insurance plus UW top-up).
You can take up to 78 weeks of job-protected leave.
10 days of paid leave OR 17 weeks of parental leave at 95% of your salary (EI + UW top-up)
Parental leave and EI can continue after your top-up runs out, up to 69 weeks shared between parents (35 weeks of EI).
EI is split between parents.
For more information, see Policy 14 – Pregnancy and Parental Leaves (including adoption), and the Return to Work, the Canadian government's page on Employment Insurance maternity and parental benefits, and Ontario's guide to the Employment Standards Act.
Unpaid leave: Faculty can take up to 12 months of unpaid leave. See Policy 3, section 4.
Self-funded leave: From 6 to 12 months; funded through deferred salary. You have to request this three years in advance. See types of absences and leaves on the HR website for more information.
Bereavement leave: The UW bereavement leave guideline provides 1–4 paid days. The Employment Standards Act provides 2 days, unpaid.
Family Responsibility leave: The UW emergency leave guideline provides 3 paid days. The Employment Standards Act provides 3 days, unpaid.
UW has no compassionate care leaves. These are unpaid, job-protected leaves under the Employment Standards Act.
Family caregiver leave: 8 weeks per calendar year per specified family member.
Family medical leave: 28 weeks unpaid; employment insurance (EI) covers up to 26 weeks.
Critical illness leave: 37 weeks in relation to a critically ill minor child, or 17 weeks in relation to a critically ill adult.
These maximums are per 52-week period. You might be eligible for employment insurance for family medical and critical illness leaves. There are also organ donor, child death, and domestic violence leaves available under the Employment Standards Act.
It's not quite a leave, but Policy 59 allows employees to reduce their workload as low as 50% of full-time, with salary adjusted proportionately. Depending on your circumstances, this might be a better option for you than a leave.
While your workload is reduced, your sabbatical credit accrues proportionately. Your pension and pension contributions remain based on your full-time salary.
For more information, see Policy 59 – Reduced Workload to Retirement.
For more information, see the Memorandum of Agreement, Section 11.2.
Policy 14 – Pregnancy and Parental Leaves (including adoption)
Policy 59 – Reduced Workload to Retirement (includes temporary reduced workload)
Human Resources, for official documentation, forms, and checklists: Faculty leaves, Types of absences and leaves (includes some leaves not listed on the Faculty leaves page, for which faculty are nonetheless eligible)
The Employee Benefits Program booklet, particularly for sick leave and long-term disability information (download from the HR Benefits page)
Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, particularly for details on compassionate care leaves and pregnancy/parental leaves
The Canadian government's page on Employment Insurance maternity and parental benefits
The Sabbatical Application or Request for Leave of Absence form (DOC) on the Provost's website
Occupational Health, to discuss sick leave or adjustments to your work requirements or environment. (Get to know OH nurse Linda Brogden on our blog.)
Your chair or director, for discussions about scheduling.
Take your leaves when you need them, and don’t worry about how they affect your department or the University. The financial impact of your leaves is covered by the central administration (e.g. your department still receives your full salary while you're on parental leave), and changes to teaching or service commitments are your chair's responsibility. It's not your job to replace yourself.
Make sure that you check in with your chair or departmental administrator about how to handle:
Extending research grants
Accommodations in your performance review (note that, depending on the type of leave and how long it is, you might not need to fill your performance review form out at all).
Delegating signing authority to a colleague on campus
Student supervision
You can have a temporarily reduced workload immediately following a parental leave.
Offered a new position somewhere else? Take an unpaid leave rather than resigning right away while you test it out.
Main office: Temporarily closed.
Email: fauw@uwaterloo.ca
More: Staff directory
Faculty Association of the University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1