What is Parental Leave?
Parental Leave is an extended period of time away from work
with benefits (with or without pay) to those employees who become parents
through childbirth, adoption, or foster care placement, provided the employee
has been employed at least one year and has been paid for at least 1,250 hours
during the previous 12-month period.
How do I request a Parental Leave for a pregnancy and/or the birth of a child?
Because pregnancy is a serious health condition, employees
should request parental leave as soon as it is known it will be used.
- Review
the PASSHE
FMLA Notice to Employees and Employee Rights
and Responsibilities under FMLA.
- Complete
the Request for FMLA Leave form.
Please indicate plans for extended leave following the
birth/adoption/foster care placement of the child, including amount of
Annual Leave or Unpaid Leave to be used.
- Have
your healthcare provider complete the FMLA
Employee Serious Health Condition Certification form. Note:
Healthcare providers may charge a fee to complete forms necessary for FMLA
certification.
- Return
both completed forms to the Office of Human Resources c/o Benefits Manager
for review at least 30 days prior to your due date. A designation notice
will be sent to you with approval determination and further instructions
on leave continuation.
- Submit
a Release to Return to Work form from
your healthcare provider to your supervisor and the Office of Human
Resources upon release to return to work by your physician.
- Entry into ESS is not required by the employee.
How do I request a Parental Leave for adoption or foster care?
For adoption or foster care placement, Parental Leave begins
once custody/placement begins, except when required for prior legal
proceedings.
- Review
the PASSHE
FMLA Notice to Employees and Employee Rights
and Responsibilities under FMLA.
- Complete
the Request for FMLA Leave form.
Please indicate plans for extended leave following the
birth/adoption/foster care placement of the child, including amount of
Annual Leave or Unpaid Leave to be used.
- Return
the completed form to the Office of Human Resources c/o Benefits Manager
for review at least 30 days prior to adoption/placement. A designation
notice will be sent to you with approval determination and further
instructions on leave continuation.
- Entry
into ESS is not required by the employee.
Can I take time off work prior to the birth/adoption/foster care placement?
Yes—if approved by your supervisor and HR—Annual Leave can
be used. This will not be covered by FMLA.
However, if your doctor finds it medically necessary for you
to stop working prior to childbirth, this is considered Sick Leave and will be counted against your FMLA entitlement. Medical documentation supporting the request will need provided and should be submitted to the Benefits Services department in the Office of Human Resources.
- Employees with
less than one (1) year of service may only request to use Sick Leave that has been
earned to date.
- Employees with more than one (1) year of service may request to
use Sick Leave that is
expected to be earned in the current leave calendar year.
For adoption or foster care placement, leave begins once
custody/placement begins, except when required for prior legal proceedings.
What do I need to do once my child is born/legally adopted/placed in my care?
- If
adding the child to your healthcare, the employee should complete
the Medical Enrollment Change Form and
bring it to the Office of Human Resources with the original birth
certificate/adoption papers/foster care papers within 60 days of
birth.
- To add
voluntary group life coverage for your new child, complete the VGLI
Enrollment form on the PASSHE VGLIP website.
- For
childbirth, submit updated medical documentation to the Office of Human
Resources regarding your post-partum recovery period and expected release
to return to full-time work date.
Remember: You may want to also update
your beneficiary information for your basic group life insurance policy,
voluntary group life insurance policy, and/or retirement accounts.
Can I take a longer leave than what my doctor ordered after the birth of my child?
Yes—if approved by your supervisor and HR—Annual Leave can
be used. Once all Annual Leave is
exhausted, the remaining time off work will be unpaid leave. Any remaining FMLA entitlement will apply.
Please refer to the FMLA Notice to Non-Represented Managers
section titled “Absences After 12 Weeks of FMLA Absence.”
The
following are the only absence reasons that will be considered for approval
beyond 12 weeks.
Full-Time Absences:
- Employees are entitled up to nine (9)
months of extended leave without pay (LWOP) absence (except for military
exigency and military caregiver absences) when the absence is full-time
and contiguous to the expiration of the FMLA absence or any additional
paid leave elected to be used in excess of the 12 weeks FMLA absence.
- Employees must request the extended
LWOP in writing, and for sick or family care reasons, proof of the need
for continuing absence must be provided on the Serious Health Condition
Certification form. Note: Only one occasion within a rolling year will be
approved.
- Intermittent or Reduced Time Military
Caregiver Absences
Requests for military caregiver absence shall be approved on a full-time,
intermittent, or reduced-time basis when needed to attend to the medical
needs of a servicemember with a serious injury or illness during the
single 12-month period.
Please
refer to the FMLA Notice to Non-Represented Managers
section titled “Benefits Continuation Information.”
- Annual, sick, and personal leave
continue to accrue based on regular hours paid.
- Holidays will be earned provided the
employee is in a paid status the half day before and half day after the
holiday.
- Medical, dental, vision and group life
insurance benefits through the State System will continue during
the 12 weeks of an FMLA absence and the first 14 weeks of
extended leave without pay, as long as the employee continues to pay any
applicable employee share of premiums. Missed premiums will be billed by
the central office of the State System. Employees must contact their
University Human Resource office to add any new dependents to the medical
and/or dental and vision benefits within 60 days of birth or assuming
custody of a child.
- In accordance with the Affordable Care
Act, you may be eligible to enroll in the State System’s ACA health
plan upon the expiration of the 14 week benefit eligible period of
extended leave without pay and during the 13 week LWOP for
employees with less than one year of employment. The ACA health plan is
the Highmark PPO plan, which includes prescription drug coverage. The cost
of the ACA PPO plan is not subsidized by the State System; if you elect
coverage in this plan you will be paying the full plan cost.