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).

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