Faculty Personnel Policies

B18 Family or Medical Leave of Absence

1. Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993

   Eligibility

   Employees eligible to take a family medical leave of absence are those with at least twelve months of service who have worked at least 1,250 hours during the twelve months immediately preceding the commencement of the leave. Eligible employees are entitled to up to a total of 12 work weeks of family and medical leave during the rolling 12-month period measured backward from the date an employee uses any family or medical leave. Up to 26 weeks of leave is available for situations involving a covered family member's service in the Armed Forces.

    

   Reasons for Leave

   Family or medical leave will be granted to an employee only for one or more of the following reasons: the birth of a son or daughter, and to care for the newborn child; the placement of a son or daughter with an employee for adoption or foster care, and to care for the newly placed child; to care for a spouse, son, daughter, or parent who has a serious health condition; or a serious health condition that makes an employee unable to perform the functions of his or her position. If both spouses work for Hope College, combined leave time for new child leave or leave to care for a parent with a serious health condition is twelve weeks.

   Eligible employees may also take leave for a covered family member's service in the Armed Forces ("Servicemember FMLA"). Servicemember FMLA provides eligible employees unpaid leave for any one, or for a combination, of the following reasons: a "qualifying exigency" arising out of the fact that the employee's spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on active duty, or has been notified that he or she will be called to active duty, in the Armed Forces in support of a contingency operation. An eligible employee may take up to 12 workweeks of leave during any rolling 12-month period measured backward from the date an employee uses any family or medical leave. Leave for this reason, when combined with other FMLA-qualifying leave, may not exceed 12 workweeks in the rolling 12-month period: to care for a servicemember who is the employee's spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin who has incurred an injury or illness in the line of duty while on active duty in the Armed Forces, provided that such injury or illness may render the servicemember medically unfit to perform duties of the member's office, grade, rank or rating. An eligible employee may take up to 26 workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for the servicemember. Leave to care for an injured or ill servicemember, when combined with other FMLA-qualifying leave, may not exceed 26 weeks in a single 12-month period.

   Notice of Leave

   In cases involving the birth or adoption of a child, planned medical treatment, or other circumstances where the need for leave is foreseeable, employees must give the College at least 30 days' prior notice of the need for a family or medical leave. In extenuating circumstances where 30 days' notice is not possible, the employee must give as much advance notice as is practicable. Employees must make a reasonable effort to schedule any medical treatment for a serious health condition so as not to unduly disrupt or interfere their duties and/or the operation of the College. Employees must also follow the College's process for reporting absences even though the absence may be FMLA-covered.

   Additional Information and Questions

   MLA has many facets and is complex, please review the complete policy at http://www.hope.edu/admin/hr/benefits/forms/fmla_policy.pdf and/or if you have any questions about FMLA leave or would like to confidentially discuss if a particular situation is eligible for FMLA, please contact the Human Resources Department. This policy replaces any prior College FMLA policies.



2. Paid Leave of Absence

   
   

   The College will provide a paid leave of absence to eligible faculty members for absences due to major personal illness, pregnancy, surgery, or other medical conditions which render the faculty member unable to teach or provide other contracted services.  The length of absence will depend upon the individual circumstances and will normally require a written statement from the physician as well as regular progress reports.  The College reserves the right to secure a second opinion from a medical doctor.



3. Parental Leave of Absence

   
   

   The College recognizes the importance of the family, which the Parental Leave policy is designed to support.  Therefore, the College not only complies with the requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, but also provides additional support to the parents of a newborn or newly-adopted child.  The College will provide paid leave of absence to eligible faculty members for the purpose of caring for their newborn or newly-adopted child or children on the following basis:

   
   
   1. For the birth of a child, the mother of the child is entitled to paid leave at full pay for up to six (6) weeks, as is true also for any other major personal illness or surgery.  If her medical doctor certifies that additional time is required by her medical condition, the Provost has the authority to grant additional leave with pay.  For longer-term disability, however, the provisions of the Long-Term Disability Insurance policy will come into effect.
   
   
   2. For the adoption of a child, the parent who is the primary caregiver of the child is entitled to paid leave at full pay for up to four (4) weeks without question.  For the College's Adoption Benefit Plan see B17.b13.
   
   
   3. For the purposes of caregiving, the designated caregiver may request additional leave, without pay, subject to the limit of twelve (12) weeks within each twelve-month period for any of the purposes specified in the first paragraph of B18.a.
   
   
   4. The caregiver may also request one of the following options:
      
      
      1. Substitution of other professional responsibilities to allow for a one-course reduction in teaching responsibilities, without reduction in pay, either during the semester in which the birth or adoption occurs, or during the semester immediately following the birth or adoption.  A further reduction in teaching responsibilities in either of these semesters would require a pro rata reduction in salary.
      
      
      2. A one-semester leave of absence during the semester in which the birth or adoption is expected to occur or the semester immediately following the birth or adoption.  If certain professional responsibilities will be covered during this leave, partial payment of salary will be granted by the Provost, normally not to exceed one-sixth of the faculty member's annual salary.  Any payment during this leave of absence will also be subject to the conditions specified in c1 and c2, above.  Full medical and life insurance benefits will be continued during this leave of absence.  The College's contribution to the INVEST retirement benefit plan will be governed by the conditions set forth in B20h and B21c.
      
      
   5. The College administration will normally provide a paid replacement for the faculty on parental leave.
   
   
   6. Parental leaves of absence will count as time in service toward salary increments and sabbatical leaves.  At the request of the faculty member on parental leave, the academic year in which the leave occurs may be excluded from time toward tenure consideration.