Time Away Overview
What you need to know
Sandia offers competitive and generous time away from work benefits.
You can use your benefits to support your own health; care for a seriously ill spouse, child, or parent; bond with a new child; take your child to a doctor’s appointment; and much more.
We also provide you with vacation time and holidays, and several other types of time off benefits to take care of your life and personal needs.
For California-specific benefits, contact a CA Medical Case Manager from the Division 8000 Operations Absent Management Services page.
How the Programs Work Together
Eligible employees can combine our various benefits to take both short and extended periods of paid time away from work.
Sandia’s sickness absence programs may provide up to 26 weeks of paid time off if you become ill or need to recover from an injury. With your manager’s approval, you may be able to use vacation time to extend your time away if needed.
We encourage you to understand how the parts work together. Get started by reviewing the quick guides below, and be sure to review all of the benefits included in this section of our website.
Quick guide to time away from work benefits: California employees
Represented employees: Refer to your collective bargaining agreement for details on your time away from work benefits. If there are any discrepancies between the collective bargaining agreement and the information presented through this website, the collective bargaining agreement governs.
Real-World Leave Guides
Below are examples of how non-represented employees might use their time away from work benefits in different situations.
Use of these benefits is subject to manager approval and compliance with Sandia policies, as well as any collective bargaining agreement in place for represented employee groups.
If you are ill and need to care for yourself
Employee diagnosed with serious illness
Employee takes intermittent time for own illness
Employee faces serious illness, then has to care for spouse as well
If you need to care for a family member
Employee faces serious illness, then has to care for spouse as well
Pregnancy and bonding time with a new child
Mom takes 12 weeks off for recovery and baby bonding
Mom takes a year off from birth and having a C-section
Mom has prenatal visits and a sick week prior to baby’s arrival
Military leave, emergency call-up, and vacation donation
Employee is in the military and being activated for 26 weeks
Funerals, unplanned emergencies, and kids’ medical appointments
Employee’s car is stolen, so police and insurance reports need to be filed
Employee needs to attend funeral and take kids to medical appointments
Requesting and Reporting Time Away
Always start by talking with your manager about taking time away from work.
Depending on your situation, you may also need to complete a Physician’s Certificate of Illness/Injury form, and you will work closely with HR Solutions and a Sandia medical case manager while you are away.
When you return from leave, you will also need to meet all return to work requirements and work with your Sandia medical case manager to coordinate your return.
Search HR Solutions to view the different time reporting codes to use while you are away from work.
HR Solutions is here to help you plan your time for bonding with your new addition.
For California-specific benefits, contact a CA Medical Case Manager from the Division 8000 Operations Absent Management Services page.
Quick Tip
Adding to your family?
Don’t forget to enroll your new child in benefits within 31 days of birth, adoption, or placement with you as a foster child. Check out life events for more details.