Staff Council and other shared governance bodies have been working on ways to assist UI staff and faculty who face catastrophic illness. Do you know a co-worker or a friend of a co-worker who has been diagnosed with a significant health issue? How long will they be out of work? How do they support themselves and their family? For most people, these illnesses are devastating, both emotionally and financially. The University of Iowa has a catastrophic leave policy that helps many employees in these circumstances, but not all employees qualify for this type of leave.

To meet this need, the Staff Council Human Resources Committee and the other shared governance partners worked with UI Human Resources to propose revisions to the current catastrophic leave policy. The primary objective of the proposal is to expand the eligibility requirements to include more university employees. This proposal was considered by the Iowa Board of Regents at its November 2019 meeting; look for information regarding specific policy changes in the near future. As a university community, we want to support all employees who suffer catastrophic illnesses – we’re confident this effort will result in tangible and effective support and we’re grateful to the Board of Regents for acting on the proposal.