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Policy 6-315: Faculty Parental Benefits - Paid Leaves of Absence with Modified Duties and Review Extensions

Revision 3. Effective Date: July 1, 2021

  1. Purpose and Scope

    1. Purpose. This Policy establishes and governs the faculty parental benefits (paid parental leaves of absence, and extensions of the review timetables) the University provides for the birth or adoption of children by Tenure-line faculty members (including Tenure-line Libraries faculty), and Career-line faculty members (including Career-line Libraries faculty), in all academic units except for faculty of the School of Medicine. It establishes pay rates and lengths of periods for paid parental leaves of absence with modified duties as appropriate for certain categories of faculty employees, including maintaining the University's general preference of providing leaves for faculty members with primary teaching duties, except for brief absences, in increments of an academic term or semester, consistent with the length of most teaching assignments.

    2. Scope. This Policy 6-315 applies for Tenure-line and Career-line faculty members in all academic colleges, the University Libraries, and other academic units, except the School of Medicine. The counterpart Policy 8-002 applies for Tenure-line and Career-line faculty members in the School of Medicine. This Policy is not intended to apply to Adjunct, Visiting or Emeritus faculty members (as those faculty categories are described in Policy 6-300). This Policy is not intended to directly govern parental benefits for University staff employees or other non-faculty employees (see University Rules 5-200A and 5-200B regarding staff employees).

  2. Definitions

    For the limited purposes of this Policy and any associated Regulations, these terms are defined as follows.

    1. The “academic year” of the University, on which University academic activities are generally organized, is a 12-month period beginning July 1 and ending June 30 (identical to the University’s “fiscal year”). Within that 12-month University academic/ fiscal year individual faculty employees may have various [annual “contract employment periods,”] set by their individual employment contracts, most commonly of nine months per year (usually August 16 to May 15), or of 12 months per year (July 1 to June 30). While some other University activities may be described by reference to a “calendar year” (January 1 to December 31), faculty appointments and [annual contract employment periods] for faculty employees are ordinarily set by reference to the University’s academic (and fiscal) year.

      [[User Note: The “annual contract employment period” concept and related concepts explained in Part II-A, and the “annual base salary [or compensation]” and “adjusted base salary[or compensation]” concept and related concepts explained in Part III-B-2, and then used throughout the Policy, are also used and defined in several other University Regulations (including 5-403, 6-301, 6-314, 6-320), and a project is underway to develop a set of more refined definitions of these concepts and terms and to then use those refined definitions consistently across all University Regulations. When appropriate terminology has been selected, these terms will be updated, by approval of the Senate Policy Liaison, chairperson of the Institutional Policy Committee (Chief Human Resources Officer), Senate President, and the Senior Vice Presidents of Academic Affairs and Health Sciences (or designees), and then notice of the revisions will be given through the Academic Senate Information & Recommendations Calendar. At that time this User Note will be deleted.]]

    2. "Adopted child” refers to a child placed for adoption.

    3. Eligible caregiver” is defined differently for purposes of each type of parental benefit. See Section III-B for the definition in context for purposes of a care-giving leave, and Section III-C for the definition for purposes of an extension of the review timetable.

    4. "Eligible faculty member” is defined as a Tenure-line faculty member, or Career-line faculty member meeting the specified eligibility criteria in Section III-A of this Policy.

      1. "Tenure-line faculty” is defined as including Tenured or Tenure-track faculty (including Tenure-line Libraries faculty) as described in Policy 6-300.

      2. "Career-line faculty” and the Career-line sub-categories of “Clinical faculty,” “Lecturer faculty,” and “Research faculty” are defined as those faculty categories are described in Policy 6-300 (including Career-line Libraries faculty).

    5. "Parental benefits” refers to both (a) the leaves of absence benefits and (b) the review timetable extension benefits provided under this Policy.

      1. Parental leaves of absence benefits”/ or “parental leaves benefits” refers to parental leaves of absence with modified duties, including (a) disability leaves for persons who give birth, and (b) care-giving leaves for all eligible caregiver parents, as more fully described in section III-B below.

      2. Parental review timetable extension benefits”/ or “review timetable extension” refers generally to an additional period (ordinarily one year) added to the otherwise applicable period before a required formal review of a faculty member is conducted, as more fully described in Part III-C below.

    6. Partner” refers to a spouse or, in the case of an unmarried faculty member, to an adult who is certified as an eligible partner through the University’s approved Human Resources
  3. Policy.
    1. General Eligibility for Parental Benefits.

      1. To meet the minimum requirements for eligibility for any benefit under this Policy the requesting individual must, at the time of requesting a benefit, be:

        1. a Tenure-line faculty member (Tenure-track, or Tenured), who has a University faculty appointment and employment contract, regardless of percentage of Full- Time-Equivalent (“FTE”), (i) that began before the expected arrival of a child, and (ii) that are anticipated to continue through the period for which any parental benefit is requested, or

        2. a Career-line faculty member (Clinical, Lecturer, or Research category) who has a current faculty appointment and employment contract for at least .75 FTE (or two or more appointments and employment contracts, involving one or more units of the University, which combined are at least .75 FTE), (i) that began before the expected arrival of a child, and (ii) that are anticipated to continue through the period for which any parental benefit is requested.

      2. An eligible faculty member is guaranteed parental benefits under University Regulations no more than twice. Any subsequent requests for benefits in conjunction with additional instances of birth or adoption will be subject to the approval of the cognizant senior vice president.

      3. For a given instance of childbirth or adoption, the University may, but is not obligated to, provide to more than one eligible faculty member the employee parental benefits that are applicable under this Policy 6-315 (or the counterpart Policy 8-002 for School of Medicine faculty).

      4. This Policy does not apply to birth parents who do not anticipate becoming the legal parent of the child following birth. In such cases, the person who gives birth may be eligible for benefits under other University Regulations regarding sick leave and the Family Medical Leave Act.

      5. The cognizant senior vice president shall make the University’s final decision as to whether a requesting faculty member meets each of the above general eligibility requirements, and other specific requirements described below. And any exceptions to these and other eligibility criteria below must be approved by the cognizant senior vice president. The cognizant senior vice president may assign a designee to carry out these responsibilities and any of the other responsibilities of that position under this Policy and associated Regulations.

      6. An otherwise eligible faculty member may choose to take only a parental leave of absence benefit, or only a review timetable extension benefit, or both.

    2. Parental Leaves of Absence with Modified Duties.

      1. Eligibility for Paid Leave.

        1. Disability leave benefits and the resulting modified duties under this Policy are available to an eligible faculty member who gives birth to a child during the period for which leave is sought or within four weeks before the beginning of that period.

        2. Care-giving leave benefits and the resulting modified duties under this Policy are available to an eligible faculty member who serves as an eligible caregiver (as defined here) of the faculty member’s own newborn child or a partner's newborn child or of a newly adopted child during the period for which leave is sought. “Eligible caregiver” for purposes of a care-giving leave means a faculty member who provides the majority of child contact hours during the faculty member's regular academic working hours (i) for a period of at least 15 weeks if the leave period for which the faculty member is eligible under this Policy is a semester, or (ii) for the full length of the leave period for which the faculty member is eligible if that period is six weeks (or any length less than a semester).

      2. Paid Leave Benefit.

        1. General provisions.

          Upon approval of a request, an eligible faculty member will be granted a paid parental leave of absence with modified duties, with the pay rate, leave period, and modification of duties as described below for the appropriate faculty employee category.

          1. The pay rates are set below as a percentage of the faculty member’s "adjusted base [salary]." For the limited purposes of this Policy and associated Regulations “base [salary]” and “adjusted base [salary]” have the following meanings (intended to exclude from the adjusted version any funds derived from sponsored research grants and contracts, which were anticipated but then become unavailable—not earned-- due to the leave being taken).

            "Base [salary]” (not adjusted), means the total standard compensation approved in advance as the amount payable to a faculty member employee from any funds administered by the University for normal and expected working time and effort, not in excess of 100% of full-time, for all services to be performed under all assignments contemplated under the employment contract during the contract employment period within a given 12-month academic and fiscal year. If the employee’s contract employment period is less than 12 months (e.g., typically nine-months for many faculty employees) the standard compensation is annualized, so that compensation earned only during the [contract employment] period is nevertheless paid out over a full 12-month academic and fiscal year. This term “base [salary]” does not include compensation for separate assignments during nonworking intervals, approved overload assignments in the Division of Continuing Education, or additional compensation for occasional services or payments made pursuant to authorized consulting or professional service contracts. (See Policy 5-403, Additional Compensation and Overload Policy, which also defines “base [salary],” and currently does so slightly differently for the different context of regulating additional compensation.)

            Adjusted base [salary],” for purposes of determining a pay rate for a paid parental leave of absence with modified duties, means — the employee’s base [salary], adjusted by excluding any funds from sponsored research or grants, which funds are not made available to compensate the employee, because the award requirements are not met by work of the employee, due in part to the employee’s leave of absence.

            And note that if a faculty member chooses to continue with certain activities during a leave period, including sponsored research activities, which results in funds being made available that would otherwise be excluded from the adjusted base [salary] calculation, then that individual faculty member shall be appropriately compensated for the work actually performed during the leave period, in addition to receiving payment at the rate of pay prescribed by this Policy using the adjusted base [salary].

          2. Any portions of the faculty member's compensation during the leave period from grants or contracts must be based on actual effort performed for the award, and all award requirements must be met.

          3. The cognizant senior vice president may provide guidance regarding how adjusted base [salary] is determined for purposes of this Policy, including what sources of funds will or will not be considered as included (e.g., typically including state-appropriated funds, and often excluding funds from certain types of external grants and research contracts).

        2. Tenure-line faculty. For faculty members in this category, the leave benefit is structured based on the principles that the primary duties include teaching, as well as research/ creative activity, and service (see Policies 6-303 and 6-300), and within the University (except the School of Medicine) the teaching activities of Tenure-line faculty are typically scheduled through semester-length courses, so that a leave period any shorter than a full semester would ordinarily be impractical for the department, students, and other course instructors, and therefore not in the bests interests of the University.

          1. Leave period and leave scheduling. For a Tenure-line faculty member, a paid leave of absence under this Policy will be for a period of one semester for a faculty member with a nine-month-per-year [contract employment] period (or an equivalent period for a faculty member with a twelve-month-per-year [contract employment period]).

            1. Disability leave under this Policy shall begin no more than three months prior to the birth of the child and shall be completed at the end of the leave period for which the leave is sought.

            2. Care-giving leave under this Policy shall begin no sooner than the beginning of the semester leave period in which the child arrives and shall be completed no more than 12 months following the arrival.

          2. Modified duties. The faculty member will be released from teaching and other professional duties during this leave period, but may choose to continue some professional activities (e.g., meeting and advising individual students, doing research, participating in faculty appointment or faculty review decisions, or other service activities).

            1. The faculty member who is released from teaching should not be expected to maintain normal research/ creative activity productivity during the period of the leave with modified duties.

            2. The faculty member is encouraged to provide the department chairperson with a written statement of the activities the faculty member intends to continue during the leave period, if any (e.g., advising, committee service, and research).

            3. A faculty member whose [contract employment] period ordinarily encompasses two semesters annually (i.e., a 9-month-per-year contract), and who takes a one semester leave, should generally teach one-half of the normal load, overall for the 9-month period of [employment] during that academic year. When the teaching load cannot be exactly halved, it is permissible to expect the faculty member to teach the larger portion if that best serves the interests of the department. For example, if a faculty member normally teaches three courses per year, the faculty member may be released from one course during the period of leave, and asked to teach two courses in the other semester of the [employment] period within that academic year.

          3. Pay rate.

            Under this Policy, the faculty member will receive pay at the rate of 95% of the faculty member’s adjusted base [salary] (as defined here) during the semester leave period (unless the department or college or equivalent unit chooses to supplement the [salary] above that amount, and any such supplementation must be applied consistently for all faculty members of the same faculty category in that unit who take parental leave).

        3. Career-line instructional faculty with primarily semester-length courses.

          For faculty members in this category, the leave benefit is structured based on the principles that the duties are primarily teaching (i.e., instructional faculty), and the teaching is primarily structured as semester-length courses, so that a leave period of other than a full semester would typically be impractical for the department, students, and other course instructors and therefore not in the bests interests of the University. The paid leave period length of one semester and the rate of pay are designed to serve and balance the University’s interests of supporting parents, supporting academic units in effectively managing faculty workloads, and prudently managing the financial resources of the University and the individual academic units.

          1. Leave period and leave scheduling. For a Career-line instructional faculty member, a paid leave of absence under this Policy will be for a period of one semester for a faculty member with a nine-month-per-year [contract employment] period (or an equivalent period for a faculty member with a twelve-month-per-year [contract employment] period).

            1. Disability leave under this Policy shall begin no more than three months prior to the birth of the child and shall be completed at the end of the leave period for which the leave is sought.

            2. Care-giving leave under this Policy shall begin no sooner than the beginning of the semester leave period in which the child arrives and shall be completed no more than 12 months following the arrival.

          2. Modified duties. The faculty member will be released from teaching and other professional duties during this leave period, but may choose to continue some professional activities (e.g., meeting and advising individual students, preparing for future courses, doing research/ creative activity (if relevant), participating in faculty appointment or faculty review proceedings consistent with applicable policies, or preparing for the faculty member’s own upcoming review process).

            1. The faculty member who is released from teaching should not be expected to maintain normal service activities, or normal research/ creative activities (if relevant) during the period of the leave with modified duties.

            2. The faculty member is encouraged to provide the department chairperson with a written statement of the activities the faculty member intends to continue during the leave period, if any.

            3. A faculty member whose [contract employment] period ordinarily encompasses two semesters annually (i.e., a 9-month-per-year contract), and who takes a one semester leave released from teaching, should generally teach one-half of the normal load, overall for the 9-month [period of employment] during that academic year. When the teaching load cannot be exactly halved, it is permissible to expect the faculty member to teach the larger portion if that best serves the interests of the department. For example, if a faculty member normally teaches five courses per year, the faculty member may be released from two courses during the period of leave, and asked to teach three courses in the other semester of the [employment period] within that academic year.

          3. Pay rate.

            Under this Policy, the faculty member will receive pay at the rate of 95 % of the faculty member’s adjusted base [salary] (as defined here) during that leave period (unless the department or college or equivalent unit chooses to supplement the [salary] above that amount, and any such supplementation must be applied consistently for all faculty members of the same faculty category in that unit who take parental leave).

        4. Career-line faculty members whose duties are not primarily teaching of semester- length courses.

          For faculty members in this category, the leave benefit is structured based on the principles that the paid leave period length [(six-weeks)] and the rate of pay are designed to serve and balance the University’s interests of supporting parents, supporting academic units in effectively managing faculty workloads, and prudently managing the financial resources of the University and the individual academic units.

          Note that in the event of any uncertainty about whether section III-B-2-c above (primary duty semester-length courses), or this section III-B-2-d applies for a particular Career-line faculty member, the cognizant senior vice president shall make the University’s final decision on that issue after consultation with the applicant and academic unit administrators. The vice president may provide guidance on this topic.

          1. Leave period and leave scheduling. For a Career-line faculty member whose duties are not primarily teaching semester-length courses, a paid leave of absence under this Policy will be for a period of six weeks.

            1. Disability leave under this Policy shall begin no more than three months prior to the birth of the child and shall be completed at the end of the leave period for which the leave is sought.

            2. Care-giving leave under this Policy shall ordinarily begin no earlier than two weeks prior to the arrival of the child, and shall be completed no more than 12 months following the arrival.

          2. Modified duties.

            1. The faculty member will be released from professional duties during this leave period (including any teaching duties), and should not be expected to maintain normal service activities. but may choose to continue some professional activities. E.g., a faculty member whose duties ordinarily include sponsored research may choose to continue some activities of research supervision and participating in meetings, writing required research reports, and maintaining communication with funding agencies and stakeholders. The member may also choose to participate in faculty appointment or faculty review proceedings consistent with applicable policies, or preparing for the faculty member’s own upcoming review process.

            2. The faculty member is encouraged to provide the academic unit administrators with a written statement of the activities the faculty member intends to continue during the leave period, if any.

            3. If the faculty member ordinarily would have sponsored research duties during the period leave is taken, the written statement should clearly describe which research-related activities the faculty member expects to carry on during the leave period, or to delay, or to have assigned to other persons. The faculty member and unit administrators should discuss and describe in writing what [compensation] will be paid to the faculty member as a result of any such work performed during the leave, in addition to the payment of [salary] under this Policy that is based on the adjusted base [salary].

          3. Pay rate.

            1. Under this Policy, the faculty member will receive pay at the rate of [95] % of the faculty member’s adjusted base [salary] (as defined here) during that leave period (unless the department or college or equivalent unit chooses to supplement the [salary] above that amount, and any such supplementation must be applied consistently for all faculty members of the same faculty category in that unit who take parental leave). Provided however, that the individual faculty member may also be appropriately [compensated] for work actually performed during the leave period, e.g., sponsored research activities which result in funds being made available for [compensation].

      3. Right of Return, Obligation to Return, and Effect of Employment Termination.

        1. At the conclusion of a paid parental leave of absence taken under this Policy (as disability or care-giving leave), a faculty member has the following rights, and obligations, to return to their faculty position and resume their employment with the rate of pay and employee benefits as would have been applicable if the paid leave had not been taken.

          1. A Tenure-line faculty member has the right to continue in the same [faculty position] held before beginning the leave, with the rate of pay and employee benefits ordinarily applicable to that position, unless a modification has been made to their faculty appointment or employment contract in accord with applicable University Regulations.

          2. A Career-line faculty member has the right to return to a faculty position, with the rate of pay and employee benefits applicable for that position, in accord with the faculty appointment and employment contract that are applicable at the time of return from the leave, consistent with other applicable University Regulations regarding duration of appointment and employment.

          3. The obligation to return to University service following the paid leave, applicable to other leaves under Policy 6-314, [Section 9.B], applies to disability and caregiving leaves under this Policy as well.

        2. If, at any time during the period of a paid leave of absence taken under this Policy, a faculty member’s employment is terminated in accord with applicable University Regulations and the applicable faculty appointment and employment contract, the University’s obligations under this Policy for further payment of [salary and employee benefits] will cease as of the date the termination is effective.

      4. Parental Leave and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

        1. A paid parental leave of absence with modified duties taken under this Policy is substituted for unpaid care-giving leave the faculty member would be eligible for under University Regulations implementing the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

        2. An eligible faculty member may in addition qualify for unpaid leave under the FMLA during the same twelve (12) month period, but only in connection with a serious health condition either before or after the child's birth or adoption or to the extent the faculty member has not received twelve (12) full weeks of care-giving leave.

        3. Such FMLA leave is normally unpaid except that any accrued sick leave must be used. See Policy 5-200 for more information.

    3. Review Timetable Extensions.

      1. General provisions.

        1. The review timetable extension benefits under this Policy are available for eligible faculty members whose work performance is required to be periodically extensively reviewed through formal processes, under University Regulations (e.g., Tenure-line Retention, Promotion, Tenure/ or Tenured-faculty reviews) or by the terms of a specific faculty appointment or employment contract (e.g., Career-line reappointment reviews). For convenience, for the limited purposes of this Policy, all such extensive reviews are here referred to as “formal reviews” (terminology used in Policy 6-303 for Tenure-line faculty RPT proceedings). The purposes of providing review timetable extensions include allowing faculty members to focus attention on caregiving and recovery from childbirth health effects, and taking into account the delaying effects such parental activities typically have on preparation for a formal review process.

        2. Because the University generally conducts such formal review processes only once per year, review timetable extensions will ordinarily be for one year, except that for good cause shown, the cognizant senior vice president may approve use of a shorter extension period for a particular academic unit or particular faculty member(s).

        3. In general, a review timetable extension is available to an otherwise eligible faculty member who either (i) gives birth to a child, or (ii) serves as an eligible caregiver (as defined here) of the faculty member’s own newborn child or a partner's newborn child or of a newly adopted child.

          Eligible caregiver” for purposes of an extension of the review timetable means a faculty member who provides the majority of child contact hours during time that the faculty member would normally spend on productive academic work (i) for a period of at least 15 weeks if the caregiving leave period for which the faculty member is eligible under this Policy (III-B) is a semester, or (ii) for the full length of the available leave period if that period for which the faculty member is eligible is six weeks (or any length less than a semester). This definition takes into account typical summertime scholarly activities.

          The review timetable extension is available regardless of whether the eligible faculty member chooses to use the available paid leave of absence benefit.

      2. Tenure-line faculty.

        1. For a Tenure-line faculty member, an extension may be requested to postpone a formal review that would otherwise be required during a certain year for purposes of (i) retention, promotion, or tenure decisions under Policy 6-303 (RPT), or (ii) tenured faculty review proceedings under Policy 6-321 (TFR).

          1. For RPT-- Because departments conduct such formal RPT reviews primarily in the fall semester of each academic year, with substantial departmental preparation occurring during the preceding summer, the following deadlines refer to June 30 of the calendar year in which a review would otherwise be conducted, beginning in the summer and continuing into the fall. Upon approval of a request, a formal RPT review otherwise required in the current year will be postponed (A) if by no later than June 30 of the calendar year in which the review sought to be extended is scheduled, the faculty member (1) is due to and/or does give birth to a child, or (2) is planning to and/or begins to serve as an eligible caregiver to the faculty member’s own newborn child or a partner's newborn child or of a newly adopted child and (B) if the faculty member gives the department notice of the birth or adoption before the formal review is initiated.

            Births or adoptions after June 30 may be the basis for postponing a subsequent formal review, but not the review scheduled in the current calendar year. An extension taken at any time in a pre-tenure probationary period will extend the date for the final tenure review.

          2. For TFR. The dean, with notification to the cognizant senior vice president, may grant a request of a Tenured faculty member to postpone an otherwise scheduled Tenured Faculty Review upon determining that (A) such postponement is reasonably necessary as a result of the faculty member being due to or giving birth, or serving as a caregiver for the faculty member’s or partner’s newborn or newly adopted child, during the period the faculty member would otherwise prepare for the scheduled formal review, and (B) provided that the faculty member gives notice of the birth or adoption to the department before the formal review is initiated.

      3. Career-line faculty.

        1. For a Career-line faculty member, an extension may be requested to postpone a formal review that would otherwise be scheduled during a certain year for purposes of the periodic review process required by University Regulations (see Policy 6-310—Reviews of Career-line Faculty, or Rule 6-310 QIDTP, and the academic unit’s approved Statement of Rules adopted pursuant to either that Policy or Rule), which typically must occur every five years, but may occur at shorter intervals for purposes of a reappointment, or under the specific terms of an individual faculty appointment or employment contract.

          Note however that taking a review timetable extension under this Policy cannot, alone, extend the duration of a limited term faculty appointment or the duration of an existing employment contract. Because each appointment of a Career-line faculty member automatically ends as of the end of the limited term specified when the appointment was made, continuing as a faculty member after that term ends can only occur through a separate process of reappointment to an additional term (see Policies 6-300 and 6-302).

          Likewise, extending or otherwise modifying an existing employment contract also would require a process separate from the granting of an extension under this Policy. To serve the purposes of this Policy the University encourages reasonable such modifications of employment contracts. The cognizant senior vice president may provide guidance for conducting a reappointment or modifying an employment contract in conjunction with the taking of a review timetable extension by a Career-line faculty member.

      4. Named Positions,

        1. With advance written approval of the cognizant senior vice president (after consultation with Vice President for Institutional Advancement), an extension with specified terms may be taken under this Policy to postpone a formal review that is otherwise required because the faculty member holds a special “named position” as governed by Policy 9-003—Endowed Chairs.

      5. Revocation of request.

        1. A previously submitted request for a timetable extension for any formal review may be revoked by written notice from the faculty member, submitted before the date on which action would ordinarily be taken to begin a formal review in that year's review cycle.

    4. Procedures: Request for Benefit, Notification of Administrators, Timing.

      1. A faculty member requesting a benefit under this Policy shall

        1. complete the appropriate approved University form (Faculty Parental Benefit Request form), indicating whether the request is for a parental leave of absence with modified duties benefit, or a review timetable extension benefit, or both,

        2. submit the completed form to the cognizant senior vice president, and

        3. notify the pertinent department chairperson and dean (or equivalent administrators) of the request as soon as possible when the request form is submitted.

      2. A request for a parental leave of absence with modified duties should normally be made no fewer than three months prior to the expected arrival of the child.

      3. A request for a review timetable extension must be made no later than six months after the arrival of the child, or before action is taken to begin a formal review (e.g., soliciting external reviewers for Tenure-line formal reviews), whichever is earlier. This request may be made at the same time as, or separately from, any request for parental leave of absence with modified duties.

    5. Unanticipated Events.

      Not all events surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, adoption, and the health of a young child can be fully anticipated for purposes of this Policy. Requests for exceptions to this Policy should be directed to the cognizant senior vice president.

    6. Relationship to Other Policies.

      1. Nothing in this Policy precludes an academic unit from providing similar benefits to faculty members other than faculty eligible under this Policy or providing to any faculty members more extensive benefits for parental or other family responsibilities or personal disability, so long as similarly- situated faculty members in the same unit are treated consistently and any more extensive benefits are not in violation of another University Regulation.

      2. Other leave that has been taken or is scheduled to be taken by a faculty member shall not preclude eligibility for parental leave benefits under this Policy. Correspondingly, parental leave taken or scheduled under this Policy shall have no bearing on decisions regarding other leave for a faculty member, except to the extent that a faculty member with a twelve-month [employment contract] is subject to a department Policy regarding proration of sick leave, vacation leave or professional development leave.

      3. If any other University Policy is inconsistent with the provisions herein, this Policy shall govern.

    7. Supplemental Rules.

      An academic unit (college, department, or equivalent) may supplement the terms of this Policy by adopting a Supplemental Rule of that academic unit (see Policy and Rule 1- 001), addressing additional pay or additional length for a parental leave of absence, unit-specific procedures for review timetable extensions, providing other benefits for other faculty members or academic personnel, or other matters. A Supplemental Rule shall not be inconsistent with this Policy or other University Regulations, must be submitted for the written approval of the cognizant senior vice president, and upon approval shall be appended to the appropriate Statement of Rules for that unit (see RPT Policy 6-303 or TFR Policy 6-321 for Tenure-line, or Policy 6-310 or Rule 6-310 (QDTP) for Career-line faculty).

    8. Policy Review.

      The implementation and the fiscal impact of Revision 3 of this parental leave Policy (newly establishing benefits eligibility for Career-line faculty) will be reviewed in three years from the effective date for Revision 3, which was [July 1, 2021. The report will be given to the Academic Senate. Concerns should be reported to the cognizant Associate Vice President for Faculty or for Health Sciences.


      ## Regulations Resource Information (Parts IV-VII) ##


      [Note: Parts IV-VII of this Regulation (and all other University Regulations) are Regulations Resource Information – the contents of which are not approved by the Academic Senate or Board of Trustees, and are to be updated from time to time as determined appropriate by the cognizant Policy Officer and the Institutional Policy Committee, as per Policy 1-001 and Rule 1-001.

  4. Rules, Procedures, Guidelines, Forms and other Related Resources

    1. Rules (reserved).

    2. Procedures (reserved).

    3. Guidelines.

      Examples of application of University Policy 6-315. (Examples are provided for illustrative purposes only. They do not constitute any part of this Policy.)

    4. Forms.

      Parental Benefits application form

    5. Other related resource materials.

      Parental Leave Policy Evaluation-Utah Educational Policy Center 2010. 

                Executive Summary & Update

                Full Evaluation Report

  5. References

    Policy 5-200, Leaves of Absence (Health-Related).

    Policy 5-201, Leaves of Absence (Non Health-Related).

    Policy 6-311, Faculty Retention and Tenure of Regular Faculty (extension of pre- tenure probationary period for disability).

    Policy 6-314, Leaves of Absence.

    Policy 6-320, Part-time Faculty.

    Policy 8-002, School of Medicine (SOM) Faculty Parental Leaves of Absence.

    29 Code of Federal Regulations 825.100 et seq., Family and Medical Leave Act Regulations.

  6. Contacts

    The designated contact officials for this Policy are:

    1. Policy Owners (primary contact person for questions and advice): Associate Vice President for Faculty and the Associate Vice President for Health Sciences.

    2. Policy Officers: Sr. Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Sr. Vice President for Health Sciences.

      See University Rule 1-001 for information about the roles and authority of policy owners and policy officers.

  7. History

Renumbering: Renumbered as Policy 6-315 effective 9/15/2008, formerly known as PPM 8-8.1.

Revision history:

Current version: Revision 3

Approved by Academic Senate: January 11, 2021

Approved by Board of Trustees: February 9, 2021, with effective date of July 1, 2021.

Legislative History for Revision 3.

Earlier revisions:

Revision 2: Effective dates June 30, 2011 to July 1, 2021.

Legislative History for Revision 2.

Revision 1: Effective dates March 12, 2007 to June 30, 2011

Legislative History for Revision 1: (Proposal to amend parental leave and related Policies, 6-311 & 6-315)

Revision 0: Effective dates July 1, 2006 to March 11, 2007

 Legislative History Part 1 for Revision 0 .

Legislative History Part 2 for Revision 0 .

Last Updated: 7/18/23