Eligibility  

All employees who have completed three (3) consecutive months employment are eligible for Parental Leave.  

Reasons for Leave/Length of Leave  

Eligible employees may be entitled to eight (8) weeks of parental leave for the purpose of giving birth or for the placement of a child under the age of eighteen (18), or under the age of twenty-three (23) if the child is mentally or physically disabled, for adoption with the employee who is adopting or intending to adopt the child or for the placement of a child with an employee pursuant to a court order.  An employee who either has multiple births or adopts more than one child at the same time is entitled to eight (8) weeks of leave for each child.  If two University employees seek to take parental leave in connection with the same child, then they are entitled to a total of eight (8) weeks of parental leave in the aggregate for the birth or adoption of that child.  

Requests for Leave  

In order to be eligible for this leave, an employee must give notice of the anticipated date of departure and intention to return to work to their supervisor at least two (2) weeks in advance, or as soon as practicable if the delay is for reasons beyond the employee’s control.  Parental leave will be without pay, except if an employee has accrued unused paid time off, an employee may choose to use such time concurrently with all or part of the leave.  Thus, if an employee is eligible for both FMLA leave and parental leave under this policy, the employee may (but is not required to) use accrued paid time off for the period of leave covered by this policy.   

Return to Work  

At the conclusion of a parental leave, the employee will be reinstated to the employee’s previous position or a similar position with the same rate of pay the employee received at the commencement of the leave.  The University, however, may not reinstate an employee on parental leave to the previous position or a similar position if other employees of equal seniority or status in the same or similar position(s) have been laid off due to economic conditions or have been otherwise affected by changes in employment conditions during the period of leave.  While parental leave may be extended, unless otherwise provided by applicable law, reinstatement may not be guaranteed at the conclusion of a parental leave that was more than eight (8) weeks in duration.    

Other Provisions  

A parental leave will not affect an employee’s ability to receive paid time off, bonuses, advancement, seniority or other benefits for which the employee was eligible on the date leave began, however, the leave period will not be included in the computation of such benefits.  Parental leave runs concurrently with leave provided under any other applicable University Leave policy including leave under the FMLA and/or PFML policy.  Parental leave also runs concurrently with any time period qualifying an employee for receipt of monetary benefits.  The receipt of such monetary benefits or use of paid time off during any period of parental leave does not extend the length of the leave.