Sabbatical Travel - L&S

L&S recognizes that sabbatical leave is an important time for faculty development and research.  Faculty on sabbatical may be paid for certain non-salary related expenses.  The sabbatical leave request/approval documentation must outline all non-salary related expenses and how they will be funded.

L&S Non-Salary Sabbatical Guidelines

As of July 2025, the above L&S Non-Salary Sabbatical Guidelines are in place.  Campus has no written guidance on specific expense allowability, but the L&S guidelines have been approved by UW-Madison Campus HR and Finance areas. Campus guidelines on the OHR Faculty Sabbatical Leave Program page require pre-approval of any expenses that will processed through the UW.  For questions or the required pre-approval, please complete a Business Services Request ticket with the following information: 

• Location
• Expected date range or number of days
• Expenses expected to be claimed 
• Funding source(s)

A special reminder that as of July 2025, the accountable plan 90 rule has changed to no longer default to 90 days from the last date of travel for the calculation.  It remains at 90 days for the last date of travel for registration fees, airfare and lodging.  All other travel expenses are 90 days from the date of the expense.  If you have expenses at the beginning of a longer trip, you will want to submit the intake form earlier to avoid being taxed on the expenses.

If a faculty member has an existing grant/award that would allow travel/living expenses, we'll seek RSP's approval to make sure we are in compliance with the granting agency (again, prior to incurring these expenses).