Parental Leave Benefit Expansion
We are excited to announce an enhancement of the shared leave pool benefit, specially designed to support employees welcoming a new family member through birth, foster care, or adoption!
The Shared Leave Pool enables employees to support co-workers during leaves, ensuring uninterrupted income through donated vacation time, subject to eligibility and committee approval.
New Parental Leave Benefit:
- Eligible employees are entitled to 80 hours of paid parental leave following the birth, foster care placement, or adoption of a child within the home, using funds from the shared leave pool.
- Leave must be taken consecutively within the first 12 weeks following the birth, placement, or adoption.
- Limited to 80 hours per 12-month rolling period.
- Vacation, sick, and compensatory time do not need to be exhausted before requesting shared leave funds when related to the Parental leave benefit.
- Utilizing parental leave does not prevent further use of the shared leave pool for other qualified events.
Changes Made Last Fiscal Year to the Shared Leave Pool:
- Employees may donate hours in single-hour increments, with a maximum donation of 48 hours.
- To be eligible to receive funds, employees must donate 8 hours (previously 16 hours).
- Employees with less than one year of employment may qualify upon completing their probationary period.
- Approved time maybe pro-rated by the committee.
See Shared Leave Policy (7.19) for details and qualifications.
Other Ways to Protect Your Income During Medically Necessary Leave:
Short-term Disability Insurance: Provides weekly income for qualified leaves, even if receiving pay through vacation, sick leave, or shared leave. Coverage includes medically necessary time for birth.
Long-term Disability Insurance: Provides a monthly payment of 60% of income (up to $10,000 monthly) for leaves longer than 180 days.
Critical Illness Insurance: Offers a lump sum payment if diagnosed with a covered medical condition.
Accident Insurance: Offers a lump sum payment for treatment related to an accidental injury.
Short-term Disability, Critical Illness, and Accident insurance policies can only be enrolled in within 31 days of a qualifying event or annually during open enrollment (Nov 1 – Dec 1).