Parental Leave Procedures for Faculty

Grand Valley State University aims to support employees’ careers and families by making the birth, adoption, or new fostering of a child a positive and less stressful experience. Paid leave allows new parents and their children a period of bonding time that helps create stronger family relationships. The University is pleased to offer Parental Leave to faculty and to provide help and consultation during the planning of the leave. 

The stipulations of the University’s Parental Leave Policy apply to faculty (See SLT 4.7). This section details procedures for eligible faculty who teach semester-long classes, which make planning a leave more complicated. 

Eligibility

  • Paid Medical Leave is available to all full-time affiliates, and regular faculty.
  • Paid Parental Leave (bonding leave) is available to all full-time, benefit-eligible affiliate and regular faculty.
  • Unpaid Family and Medical Leave is available to all eligible full or part-time faculty who have worked for the University for at least one year and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months preceding the leave. FMLA Leave runs concurrently with Medical and Parental Leaves, so generally, there will be no additional unpaid FMLA Leave available to birth parents, but there could be six weeks of unpaid FMLA Leave available to non-birth parents. Contact Human Resources for more details.
  • Visiting and adjunct faculty members are not eligible for paid Medical or Family Leave and should contact Human Resources about their options. 

Birth Parent

Medical and Parental Leaves Available to Birth Parent:

  • The standard medical disability leave for childbirth is six weeks for a regular birth and eight weeks for a Caesarean with full pay. Any scheduled time off during the medical leave counts as part of the leave. 
  • GVSU also provides a birth parent with six paid weeks of Parental Leave (bonding leave). This leave must be taken within a year of birth and will normally immediately follow the medical leave. Therefore, most birth parents will take a continuous 12-14 week paid leave. If a birth parent wishes to separate the medical and bonding leaves, such arrangement will be subject to approval of the unit and Human Resources. If a faculty member on a nine-month contract gives birth during the summer, any remaining medical leave and the complete bonding leave will normally take place during the following fall semester. 
  • The birth parent on Medical and Parental Leave will not be responsible for any duties related to work at GVSU during these weeks. The Unit and/or College is responsible for finding substitute instructors and any other people necessary to cover service or administrative duties while the birth parent is on leave. 

Non-Birth Parent

Parental Leave Available to Non-Birth Parent:

  • Non-birth parents are eligible for a six-week paid Parental Leave (bonding leave) to be taken within the year following the birth, adoption, or fostering of a child. A non-birth parent is also eligible for up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the FMLA, which runs concurrently with the bonding leave. 
  • The non-birth parent on Parental Leave will not be responsible for any duties related to work at GVSU during these weeks. The Unit and/or College is responsible for finding substitute instructors and any other people necessary to cover service or administrative duties while the non-birth parent is on leave. 

Scheduling a Leave

Modified duties consist of full-time work the faculty member will perform during the semester weeks before and after the Medical and/or Parental Leave. Such work can consist of scholarship/creative activities, teaching, and/or service. Modified duties should not include work that would not normally be performed by a faculty member. It is the role of the Provost’s Designee and the HR Representative to help assure that modified duties are equitable across units and colleges. 

If a faculty member’s leave is six weeks or more in a semester, units are encouraged to relieve the faculty member of teaching duties for that semester whenever possible.

For the birth parent, the leave begins when the medical leave commences. If that is part way through a semester, the faculty member and the unit, with the assistance of the Provost’s Designee and the HR Representative, will negotiate modified duties for the weeks of the semester before the leave begins. The leave ends when the bonding leave is completed. If that is partway through a semester, the unit and faculty member will again negotiate modified duties for the remaining semester weeks. A faculty member’s salary will continue at 100% while performing approved modified duties. 

For a non-birth parent, the six-week leave must be taken within the year following the birth. It is expected that the bonding leave will normally occur within one semester. The faculty member and the unit, with the assistance of the Provost’s Designee and the HR Representative, will negotiate modified duties for the period before and/or after the leave’s starting and ending dates for the duration of the semester. A faculty member’s salary will continue at 100% while performing approved modified duties. 

  1. If the Parental Leave extends into the spring/summer semester when a nine-month faculty member would ordinarily not be working, no additional time is owed. 
  2. If the Parental Leave extends over any scheduled break (e.g., Christmas break, spring break) when a faculty member would already be paid, this would not extend the leave. No additional time is owed. 

Required Documentation

The faculty member will notify their unit head of their upcoming Medical and/or Parental Leave as soon as possible. The modified duties shall be discussed and agreed upon by the faculty member and unit head. Faculty members are encouraged to contact the Provost’s Designee and their Human Resources Representative early in the process for help and clarification. 

The faculty member must submit a “University Medical and FMLA Leave Application - Faculty/Salaried Staff” to Human Resources. This form is located on the Time Off/Leaves webpage. The application should be submitted as soon as possible, and no later than 30 days before the birth parent's Medical Leave begins. 

A written parental leave plan should be developed prior to the semester the leave will begin and should be signed by the faculty member, the unit head, and the dean. This plan will note the approximate leave starting date and the anticipated date of complete return. It will also describe the modified duties agreed upon and the anticipated outcomes from these duties. The plan can be amended if unanticipated medical issues occur. Contact the Office of the Provost for examples of plans.

  1. The written parental leave plan will be submitted to the Dean’s office for review.
  2. With the Dean’s approval, the plan will be submitted to Human Resources for review.
  3. With Human Resource’s approval, the plan will be submitted to the Provost’s Designee for final review and approval.

Note: The written parental leave plan should be created and approved by all parties prior to the semester that the leave will take place. 

Modified Duties

Examples of Reassigned Duties in Lieu of Teaching for Parental Leave

Modified duties should be relevant to the particular skills and knowledge of the faculty member and needs of the unit. Modified duties are not guaranteed to be working exclusively from home. These modified duties are meant to serve as examples and is not an exhaustive list. Different combinations of these may be appropriate to different faculty members.

  • Serving on a departmental Strategic Planning Committee.
  • Assisting with candidate searches.
  • Staffing Spanish Writing Center on-campus and during online hours.
  • Organizing student participation in a professional conference: arranging transportation, accommodations, scheduling, registration, submission of paperwork for students and faculty.
  • Advising student organizations.
  • Preparing curriculum guidelines for majors and minors who are rising sophomores, juniors and seniors to register for the upcoming academic year.
  • Organizing XXX Concert: Arranging tech schedules, confirming lighting and stage management details, creating a poster and program template.
  • Creating and managing an event calendar for the program, including scheduling for events during Parental Leave.
  • Organizing and adjudicating departmental admission auditions.
  • Selecting scholarship recipients for the upcoming academic year.
  • Organizing XXX Day: Updating website, sending out performance agreements to guest artists, scheduling master classes and performances, contacting volunteers to usher, finalizing guest artist itineraries, and creating program booklet.
  • Pre-Parental Leave: Coordinating department student essay contest; advertising and planning in the early part of the term.
  • Conducting surveys and preparing reports on department’s common classes to compare texts, assignments, and tests. This is part of an overall survey of our largest, multi-section courses to help us prepare for curriculum review and strategic planning. Report should be completed by [insert specific dates].
  • Research and report on program course offerings at other schools in preparation for department consideration. A report should be completed for consideration of the department by [insert specific dates].
  • Post-Parental Leave: Continue to manage department student essay contest, final judging and competition conclusion in [insert specific dates].
  • Assessment collection. Assist in developing new collection and storage methods for department assessment. Design of the system on [insert specific dates]. Use of the system/begin collection [insert specific dates].
  • Create and distribute faculty achievement/activity newsletter. First distribution planned for [insert specific date]. Collection of information for summer newsletter will continue through [insert specific dates].
  • Department webpage revision and maintenance. This project will include a survey of other GVSU department sites and sites of XXX departments at other universities. A report with. recommendations and alternatives should be completed by [insert specific dates].
  • Coordinate joint GVSU/Calvin undergraduate XXX conference on [insert specific dates].
  • Course registration publicity and advertising [insert specific dates].

Communication Template

Download the template for communicating "Reassigned Duties in Lieu of Teaching for Parental Leave (Paid/Unpaid)".

Important Notes

  1. If there are any conflicts between the University policy and provisions of the Federal Acts, the provisions of the Federal Acts will supersede, with the exception of situations where the University policy, handbooks, or bargaining agreements provide benefits greater than the Acts. The Federal Acts and the Federal Regulations will be used to resolve issues that arise. 
  2. Any exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Provost’s Office.
  3. Any proposed changes to the information on this webpage should be submitted to ECS for consideration by the Faculty Personnel Policy Committee.

Questions

If you have any questions about parental leave procedures for faculty, please contact your HR Business Partner or the Human Resources front desk at (616) 331-2215 or [email protected].


Page last modified September 24, 2024
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