501 Parental Leave Policy
Parental Leave Policy
The College recognizes that staff members may need to be absent from work to care for a newborn child or newly adopted or foster child (referred to as parental leave in this policy). As such, the College provides parental leaves of absences to all eligible employees in accordance with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and any applicable state law.
Eligibility & Guidelines:
1. All full-time employees are eligible to request for parental leave under this policy, as defined below, for the following reasons:
• The birth of a child and in order to care for that child (leave to be completed within one year of the child’s birth).
• The placement of a child for adoption or foster care and in order to care for the newly placed child (leave to be completed within one year of the child’s placement).
2. An eligible employee may take up to 8 weeks of paid parental leave, to run concurrently with FMLA leave, in a 12-month period. Employee must use the Parental leave benefit within 6 months of the birth of the baby.
*Staff may take an additional four weeks beyond the parental leave (for a total of 12 weeks) by using accrued sick time at 100% of pay first followed by accrued PTO time and short-term disability.
If the employee has exhausted the paid options before the 12 weeks are reached, they may be off for this period without pay.
3. Staff who both work for the College and who are both eligible to take parental leave for the birth of a child, adoption or placement of a child in foster care may each take 8 weeks of leave. If one parent is a faculty member and the other is a Centre staff member, the parents are both eligible for the two-course load reduction and 8-week paid leave, as applicable to their roles.
4. If you need to take parental leave for the birth of a child or to care for a newly adopted or foster child, you must provide advance notice in writing to the immediate supervisor and Human Resources. When possible, you should give at least 90 days’ notice of your request for leave to allow sufficient time to review the needs of your department, provide for adequate replacement, etc. Human Resources will respond to all requests for parental leave in writing. Employees requesting parental leave will complete a request form and agreement with the Human Resources Office as part of the process.
5. No staff member will be subject to any adverse employment action based upon the exercise of any rights under this policy or applicable law. The request for or use of parental leave would not
negatively impact or cause any adverse employment actions with regards to promotion or advancement.
6. Because the purpose of parental leave is to provide employees with an opportunity to care for and bond with their children, employees are not allowed to accept other employment or work for another employer while on leave. Such an employee will forfeit parental leave and must repay to the College the value of the compensation received during the portion of the leave in which the employee took other employment. Also, any employee who has worked at the College for less than one year at the time leave would begin, and who, at the conclusion of the leave period, does not return to work at the College must pay back to the College the value of the compensation received during the leave period. If the employee returns to work, but for a period of time shorter than the leave period (for example, the employee only works for two weeks after returning from an eight-week leave), then the employee must repay the proportion of compensation equal to the proportion of time not worked. An example: If the employee only works for two weeks after an eight-week leave, the employee must repay three-fourths of the compensation received during the leave period. The College will have the right to set off that amount from a final paycheck, subject to applicable law. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis with the approval of the employee’s supervisor and the Office of Human Resources.