Family Friendly Leave for Faculty

PURPOSE:
The purpose of this policy is to clarify and codify existing practice for family leave for full-time faculty members, including both parental leave and caregiver leave.

POLICY:
This policy applies only to full-time faculty members and does not apply to sick leave for the employed faculty member.
This policy applies only to the following types of leave:
• Parental leave (e.g.. extended leave for each birth or adoption of a child)
• Caregiver leave (e.g. care for ill or injured family member )

Earning Leave:
Faculty members employed by the College effective May 31, 2007 will receive an immediate balance of one (1) semester of leave.

Following May 31, 2007:
• Full-time faculty members can earn and accumulate, at any one time, a maximum of three (3) semesters leave at 66 2/3% of base salary.
• Leave is earned in increments of one quarter of a semester for each full semester worked in the academic year.
• Leave is accumulated at the end of each worked semester.
• This leave is intended for absences of two weeks or longer.
• The accumulated balance of leave is not payable to the faculty member when employment is terminated.

A faculty member who qualifies for parental or caregiver leave may also take partial leave, working less than 100% for the college in a given year. For the duration of the leave, the faculty member will receive the percentage of his or her pay which he or she works for the college or 50%, whichever is greater. For example, a faculty member working 75% time for the college for the Fall semester and full time in the Spring would receive 87% of his pay (half at 75% and half at 100%). He or she would use his or her accumulated leave at an identical rate.

The faculty member will receive half pay for the duration of the leave. For example, if a faculty member missed 20 working days of a 180-day academic year, he would receive full pay for 160 days and half pay for 20, or 88% of his annual salary. Any leave beyond one semester must qualify under another policy, e.g., personal leave.

Family Leave Approval:
• Leave should be addressed in advance, or as soon as the faculty member is made aware of their need to request the leave.
• Faculty members should inform their department chairs in a timely manner, though leave cannot be denied due to a lack of advance notification alone. The faculty member should begin by making arrangements with his or her department chair. The department chair will consult other faculty in the department and draw up a proposal to meet the college’s needs during the leave.
• The faculty member and department chair will discuss the proposal with the Provost for approval. If the leave is approved, and after consultation with Human Resources, the Provost will forward the proposal to the Faculty Personnel Council (FPC) for approval. The faculty member requesting leave must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Provost and the FPC substantial and sustained responsibility for the family member specified in their proposal for leave.
• If the FPC does not approve the proposal, it can be revised and resubmitted to the FPC. In unusual circumstances, the Provost can approve leave without the FPC’s approval.

Salary and Benefits:
The faculty member is considered to be an employee of the college during this leave.
• Faculty members maintain the same status during leave as immediately prior to the leave, relative to medical, life, short term disability and long term disability. Payroll deductions for employee premiums due by the faculty member remains in effect, where applicable.
• The College will continue its defined retirement contribution of 10% for the faculty member, based on the reduced salary of the faculty member at 66 2/3% during the time of the leave. Payroll deductions for employee contributions due by the faculty member remain in effect, where applicable.
• Faculty members on leave are not eligible for any salary increases which occur during their absence. When they return to work they are eligible for the general increases, if any, that occur during their absence.

Donation of Leave:
Faculty members may donate their leave to other faculty members.

Non-Leave Arrangements:
Other, non-leave arrangements are possible, such as preferential class scheduling (e.g., mornings off to attend to ill relative), or a re-distributed course load (e.g., teaching more courses in the Fall semester in order to have a reduced load in the Spring). In each case, the arrangements must be approved by the Provost and the Chair of the applicable department, with as much notice given in advance as possible, and meet the needs of our students. Arrangements necessitating a replacement would reduce the faculty member’s pay and use accumulated leave time as described above.

Tenure, Promotion, Endowed Chair Review, Post-Tenure Review, and Sabbatical Eligibility:
Initially, a faculty member may choose to stop the tenure, promotion, endowed chair review, or post-tenure review clock. If a person stops any of these clocks, he or she must stop all that apply. If a faculty member chooses to stop the clock, the time on leave will not count towards eligibility for tenure, promotion, or endowed chair review, or post-tenure evaluation, and, when he or she is eligible, the same standards for productivity will apply. Faculty members who choose not to stop the clock will be expected to be as productive as faculty who do not take leave. Unless the Provost and FPC are notified otherwise in writing prior to the end of the leave, the time on leave will not count towards tenure, promotion, and endowed chair review. Faculty members are encouraged to make their intentions clear prior to taking leave. If the faculty member takes two or more semester’s leave in the years between reviews, he or she must stop all applicable clocks. A faculty member cannot be required to take leave.

Academic appointees shall not be arbitrarily disadvantaged in their promotion, tenure, or compensation because they have elected to take family leave or to stop the clock for any reviews. Outside reviewers must be notified of Centenary’s family-friendly policies as they apply to the particular candidate they are evaluating.

The FPC will review faculty for tenure, promotions, endowed chairs, or post-tenure reviews once per year. Anyone ineligible at the time of review must wait until the next review.

Eligibility for sabbatical leave is not affected by time on family leave.

Compensation for Other Employees:
Employees that accept additional duties or are required to go beyond their regular duties for individuals on family leave will be compensated for their time and effort either with release time or overload pay. Typically, an additional course can mean a one course release in the future or overload pay equivalent to the amount paid per class for adjunct professors.

Last updated January 14, 2008.