Issued February 16, 1998 - Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
(Distributed by IANR Vice Chancellor's Office - February 18, 1998)

      To:   Deans, Directors, Chairs

  From:   Evelyn Jacobsen, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Subject:  Maternity Leave for Faculty

This memo is intended to clarify some questions that have been raised concerning the University's policy on maternity leave for faculty members.

1. Please be informed that the University is subject to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, including its implications for the tenure probationary period, and UNL practice must conform to the requirements of the law. The Act was intended to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, as well as minimize the potential for employment discrimination on the basis of sex. One of the stipulations of the federal act is that. "...on return from FMLA leave, an employee is entitled to be returned to the same position the employee held when the leave commenced, or to an equivalent position with equivalent benefits, pay, and other terms and conditions of employment".

   Specifically with respect to leave associated with the birth of a child, we interpret FMLA as meaning that any untenured but tenure-line female faculty member who has been granted a paid or unpaid leave of absence related to giving birth has the option of requesting an extension of her tenure probationary period and that this request ordinarily must be granted. This FMLA requirement is, in fact, consistent with our current tenure interruption policy which allows for an extension of probationary period in cases where "an individual may be able to meet fully and competently the usual demands of [her] job, but may not have the concentration or creativity required to achieve tenure while experiencing high demands in other aspects of life." In practice, this policy provides any woman with the option of delaying the tenure clock due to the birth of her child. Ordinarily, we would assume that such a request will result in deferral of the required tenure review by one full year, although in every case a specific plan for extension must be formally proposed and officially approved, as per the guidelines already in place. The request for an extension of the probationary period must be made not later than one year after the birth of the child.

2. A second part of the Act guarantees every employee up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave for one of the "qualifying events" identified in the Act. UNL, therefore, also guarantees under the terms of the FMLA that up to twelve weeks of unpaid family/medical leave of absence is available to all regular employees with an FTE of .50 or greater, as well as other employees (including graduate students and temporary employees) who have worked for at least 1,250 hours during the year preceding the start of the requested leave. All relevant provisions of FMLA apply to these employees. Questions on the FMLA policy as it applies to all UNL employees can be answered by individuals in the Benefits Office, 2-2600.

3. In April, 1997 the Chancellor endorsed and forwarded to Central Administration a recommendation from the Academic Senate entitled "Recommendation for Parental Leave for Academic Employees" (see the Academic Affairs home page for the full text of the recommendation). The proposed policy has not yet been acted upon by the Board of Regents and may, of course, not be accepted or may undergo revisions and clarifications. If it were to be implemented, the provisions of this recommendation as they relate to tenured and tenure-line faculty would mean that:
   
   1. a female tenured or tenure-line faculty member could, upon request, take up to eight weeks leave with pay related to the birth of her child;
      
   2. the female faculty member would ordinarily be excused from her instructional duties for the semester during which the eight week leave occurs;
      
   3. fathers or adoptive parents, if they are tenured or tenure-line faculty, could, upon request, take up to two weeks leave with pay related to the birth or adoption of the faculty member's child;
      
   4. for the birth mother, it would be assumed that the paid leave would begin no later than the time of birth and no sooner than two weeks before the expected time of birth;
      
   5. for other paid parental leaves, the leave would begin no later than six weeks after the birth or adoption;
      
   6. no employee would be subject to retaliation for requesting or obtaining a paid leave of absence as provided under this policy.
      

   Under this proposal, the employee could not be required to pay back the University to cover the cost of a substitute during the leave.
   

   While we await action on this proposal, we ask you to proceed in accordance with the spirit of the proposal insofar as current policy permits. We ask you to support and work cooperatively with any faculty member who is pregnant to arrange for appropriate leave. We hope, as well, that you would not find it necessary to invoke the option permitted under the present policy that the employee may be required to pay for a substitute instructor. (Chairs have typically been able to cover instructional costs in various ways that do not place an undue burden on the female employee, among them: using temporary instruction funds, arranging trade-offs with other faculty members, assigning team teaching duties to the faculty member, scheduling shorter more intense courses, or assigning the female faculty member to service tasks such as the preparation of program review and accreditation self study documents.)
   

   Thank you for informing your faculty of these policies.
   

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