Parental Leave Guidance

This page provides additional guidance in conjunction with the Parental Leave Policy. 

Eligibility

• All enrolled and matriculated graduate students are eligible for Parental Leave.
• Students must be enrolled and matriculated at the time of request and during the leave period.
• Questions on eligibility can be directed to the student’s program or the Graduate School’s Leave Facilitator.
• Students must have been employed for at least 2 full academic semesters (Fall and/or Spring) before the initiation date of the proposed Parental Leave.

 

Notification

• The Graduate Student shall submit a Parental Leave Application Form at least thirty (30) days before leave, if possible.
  • Only Graduate School approval is required; graduate program or advisor approval is not required. 
  • The Graduate School will notify students of the outcome of their application within one week of receipt of the formal application. Subsequently, if the application is approved, the Graduate School will notify the student’s program.
• Students may consult the Leave Facilitator to plan disclosure to advisors/programs.
  • If you feel uncomfortable disclosing this information to your advisor, you should bring an advocate to the meeting, when possible. The advocate should be someone whom you feel comfortable and who will support you through the process, and may be the Leave Facilitator.
  • Students can work with the Leave Facilitator (details below) to determine the timing of disclosure; however, the home program and advisor will need adequate time to find coverage, as necessary.
  • Students are encouraged to allow sufficient time to coordinate any accommodations (these may include identifying coverage for their scholarly activities and/or their teaching responsibilities).
• The date on which the leave period begins will be determined by the student in consultation with the student’s advisor(s), Graduate Program Director, and/or Leave Facilitator.

 

Accommodations

• If requested, a Leave Facilitator will be available to provide guidance, coordination, and advocacy.
  • • The Leave Facilitator shall be chosen from the senior staff members of the Graduate School (to ensure equity to students amongst programs).
•  Students are entitled to reasonable accommodations (e.g. protect the health and safety of the student and/or the pregnancy, such as maintaining a safe distance from hazardous substances; modification of physical environment; mobility support; excusing medically-necessary absences and providing learning accommodations as appropriate) under Title IX and other Federal discrimination laws. 
  • • Please note that students should inform themselves to the extent possible about any potential hazards that may exist in their working area. These hazards can be evaluated and mitigated reasonably by appropriate offices on campus, like Environmental Health and Safety. 
• If requested, the Leave Facilitator can help establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the student, the faculty advisor, and the Graduate Program that should be placed on file with the Graduate Program and the Graduate School. The MOU should include provisions for if/how the scholarly activities will continue during the leave period, who completes the activity during the leave period, who the work will be attributed to, agreements regarding authorship (and similar), how the work will be anticipated to be reallocated upon the end of the leave period (which may include a transition time back in to the activity, reattribution of work and/or redistribution of work).  
• Breastfeeding students must be granted reasonable time and space to pump breast milk in a location that is private, clean, and reasonably accessible (refer to Student Community Development for more information).
• Students will maintain an active student status throughout the leave period to not impact housing, health insurance, and/or other benefits of enrolled students.
• Students will be given an automatic one-semester extension of the Graduate Program and Graduate School requirements and time-limits 
• When applicable, the Graduate Program Director and/or Leave Facilitator will work with the student, faculty, and relevant staff to ensure that all academic milestones are met and that the academic transcript (e.g. removal of ‘I’ grades) reflects the work completed and submitted.
• The Graduate School can help determine eligibility for students supported on external fellowships, instead of teaching assistant, research assistant, or similar assistantships.
  • Note that some external fellowships have their own policies for parental leave periods, whereas other fellowships do not have policies for parental leave. Students should consult their program officer when necessary. 

 

Employee Leave Period

• Students on leave will be excused from their regular teaching, research, clinical, or other training duties during the leave period.
• Financial support is provided by the Graduate School for eligible students during the leave period.
• The leave period of funding does not count toward any Graduate Program or Graduate School time/degree limits.
  • Automatic one-semester extensions of these limits will be granted.
• Upon return, the Leave Facilitator can help determine continuation of teaching, research, clinical, and/or other scholarly duties affected by the leave period.
  • We suggest that these discussions happen before the leave period (as described above, and documented within an MOU), but in the case when these discussions cannot occur before the leave, discussions should happen as close as possible to the anticipated return to work date.
• Students can request to extend leave periods if deemed medically necessary; an extension of leave will not count towards Graduate Program or Graduate School time limits; in most cases, students requesting leave extensions will follow the Graduate School Leave of Absence Policy.
• If both parents are students, they are both eligible for a leave period, and these leaves can be taken either concurrently or consecutively.
  • It is up to the student(s) to determine how to coordinate the two leave periods, and the individual Leave Facilitator can help each student plan their leave and return to work accordingly.
• Upon return from the leave period, the student will be reinstated at the same status as when the leave began.
• Nobody can make a student work during their granted leave period; however, students can participate in ‘lab group meetings’ or other similar mentoring activities at the student’s discretion.
  • Participation or non-participation in these or any other activities will not be weighed positively or negatively on the student.

 

Leave of Absence or other Leaves 

• Instead of the described Parental Leave, a student may request a leave of absence of up to one year, following the same guidelines as a medical leave of absence.  
• During that time, students will not receive funding from the Graduate School, but may still have access to other benefits (i.e., health insurance) at the cost to the student.
• The student must petition to return before the end of the leave of absence to be reinstated as a student.
• A leave of absence does not count towards Graduate Program or Graduate School time limits.
• Note that students are not eligible to take a leave of absence or other eligible leaves concurrently with the Graduate Student Leave Policy.

 

Return from Leave

• If a student is contemplating part-time enrollment upon returning from leave, they are encouraged to seek additional consultation to ensure that implications for academic progress, visa status, funding and appointments, loan eligibility and deferment, health insurance, etc. are thoroughly understood.
• It is also imperative that the student discusses their plans with all relevant parties and ensures that all accommodations are in place. Open discussions on the needs of the student should occur as early as possible so that there is sufficient time to prepare any accommodations.
  • The Leave Facilitator can also be engaged as necessary during this period.