Paid Parental Leave Procedures

1. Application Requirements: An eligible employee who requests parental leave must apply by submitting a New Leave Request in AbsenceTracker. For female employees, the reason for leave is Pregnancy/Maternity. For male employees, the reason for leave is Bonding. AbsenceTracker user guides, including step-by-step instructions and video recordings, are available to view on the HR website. To apply for leave, the employee will be asked to provide appropriate notice and documentation:

For leave that is foreseeable based on the expected care of a newborn child, adoption, or placement of a child for adoption or foster care, the eligible employee must apply in advance and give a 30-day written notice, unless such notice period is not practicable.
For leave that is unforeseeable, the eligible employee must provide such notice as is practical, which means following the department’s usual and customary notice call-in procedures for reporting an absence, unless unusual circumstances exist. If the department does not have call-in procedures, the leave should be reported as soon as possible and practical within two business days, unless unusual circumstances exist.

2. Coordinating Leave Policies: If an eligible employee plans to request Paid Parental Leave and is otherwise eligible to request other leave(s) under an existing applicable policy (e.g., Family and Medical Leave, Pregnancy Recovery Leave, and/or Faculty Maternity Leave), then Human Resources will verify that the employee has requested and been approved for the other corresponding leave prior to parental leave approval:

Family and Medical Leave (FMLA) entitles eligible UA employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of applicable insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible employees are entitled to twelve (12) work weeks of unpaid leave in a rolling 12-month period for certain qualifying reasons, including: recovery from childbirth (e.g., employee’s serious health condition) and bonding with the employee’s newborn child, adopted child, or after placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care.
Regular, full-time and part-time staff employees who are not eligible for leave under FMLA, may still be eligible for up to eight continuous weeks of unpaid Pregnancy Recovery Leave (PRL) from a childbirth, false pregnancy, miscarriage, or other pregnancy-related medical event. Only employees who require leave from work for a medical reason related to recovery from their own pregnancy-related event are eligible.
Faculty employees who are tenured or probationary or who have been in a renewable contract status for at least one year at the time the leave begins are eligible for eight (8) weeks of paid maternity leave to allow for the recovery from pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, childbirth, and from any resulting disabilities. Eligible faculty employees should consult Chapter 4, Section II of the Faculty Handbook for additional information and procedures.

3. Documentation Requirements: For most parental leave requests, the employee should have the relevant healthcare provider, court of legal jurisdiction, placement agency, etc. to supply appropriate documentation to establish the date of the qualifying event (e.g., date of birth, adoption, or placement for adoption or foster care). Since parental leave runs concurrently with FMLA and PRL, and consecutively with other paid leave policies in the Faculty Handbook, the documentation requirements outlined within the relevant policy and/or procedures govern.

The documentation must be returned before the requested leave start date, unless it is not practicable under the circumstances despite your diligent good faith efforts. Documentation may be uploaded directly to AbsenceTracker. Read step-by-step instructions or watch a brief video recording to learn how to attach documentation. The documentation may also be returned directly to the assigned HR Leave Administrator and/or HR Service Center (Box 870174, Human Resources Administration Building, Room 1001). Failure to provide requested documentation may result in a delay in the effective start date of parental leave and/or denial of parental leave.

4. Leave Approval Process: Paid Parental Leave requests in AbsenceTracker will be processed according to the usual and customary timelines dictated by the Family and Medical Leave Act, or other applicable policy if any, unless unusual circumstances exist that cause unforeseen delays. An email confirmation from AbsenceTracker with a final determination will be sent to the employee, supervisor, HR Business Partner and HR Liaison (if applicable).

If approved, the requested amount of parental leave hours, up to a maximum of four weeks (20 days/160 hours) will be added to the employee’s Parental Leave bank in Banner.
The number of parental leave hours will be prorated based on full-time equivalency (FTE) for regular, part-time employees (e.g., 0.5 FTE will receive 10 days/80 hours of parental leave).
Any unused parental leave hours will be removed after 12 months immediately following the child’s date of birth, date of adoption, or date of placement of a child for adoption or foster care.

5. Impact on Short-Term Disability: Any employee with coverage through The Standard’s short-term disability insurance plan may use this benefit for recovery from childbirth. In order to receive disability payments, the employee’s disability must be approved by The Standard and the employee must be off work in an unpaid status (e.g., employee cannot receive on-the-job injury benefits, use accrued sick leave, or use parental leave hours while receiving short-term disability payments; using annual leave and compensatory time is permitted). Employees may use parental leave during the applicable short-term disability plan waiting period before weekly check payments start. Leave requests for bonding with a newborn, adoption or foster care placement will not qualify as an approved disability.

FMLA Example: Pregnant employee is enrolled in short-term disability option 1 with a 14-day waiting period and has been approved for 12 workweeks of leave under FMLA. After delivery, employee may request two (2) weeks parental leave beginning with date of birth, then begin receiving STD payments for remainder of 6–8-week recovery period. Employee may request to use remaining two (2) weeks of parental leave during bonding period, then return to work after 12 workweek FMLA entitlement is exhausted.

6. Group Insurance and Qualifying Life Events: Cases of a birth, adoption and/or placement of a child for adoption or foster care may also require making changes to benefit elections via BenefitFocus. An employee must complete and return the appropriate documentation in the BenefitFocus enrollment management system within 30 days of the event in order for changes to be effective immediately as of the date of the event. Failure to change elections and provide any necessary documentation within the specified timeframe will result in the employee having to wait until the next annual open enrollment period to make changes to his/her benefits. Changes may also be made within 30 days of any subsequent qualifying life event.

Employee Benefits during Paid Parental Leave

While Family and Medical Leave and Pregnancy Recovery Leave are unpaid leaves, employees may elect to use parental leave hours in addition to any available accrued sick, annual, or compensatory time. While the employee is on an approved leave and in a paid status, the University will maintain benefits, including medical insurance, as if the employee continued to be actively employed. As long as the employee remains in a paid status, premiums for insurance will be deducted as usual from the employee’s paycheck(s).

Supervisor’s Responsibilities for Paid Parental Leave

A supervisor may require an employee to maintain communications with the employer throughout their leave. In addition, a supervisor should remain informed of any changes in the circumstance(s) for which leave is being taken; therefore, it is important to establish clear requirements with the employee about how often to contact their supervisor and accurately report parental leave hours used:

For exempt employees, the monthly leave report in Banner should accurately reflect FML-Parental Leave or Parental Leave hours recorded by the 7th day of the following month. If the Paid Parental Leave policy has been approved in AbsenceTracker, then parental leave hours will be automatically reported and feed over to pre-populate an employee’s monthly leave report in myBama once per month on the 1st of each month to the monthly leave report in myBama. Supervisors should verify that AbsenceTracker and the monthly leave report in myBama match.
For non-exempt employees, time records in WorkForce eTime should accurately reflect FML-Parental and Parental Leave hours. If the Paid Parental Leave policy has been approved in AbsenceTracker, then parental leave hours will be automatically reported and feed over to pre-populate an employee’s timesheet in UA e-Time. Leave hours are reported every 24 hours to UA e-Time. Supervisors should verify that AbsenceTracker and UA e-Time reports match.