Updated 5/2016
1. Responsible Office: Geisel School of Medicine Dean’s Office (Dean of the Faculty at Geisel) and The Geisel Fiscal Office (Director of Finance; or their designee).
2. Applicability: All benefits-eligible (>0.5 FTE) Geisel faculty and Nonfaculty Academics (NFAs: Distinguished Fellows, Research Scientists/Analysts/Engineers, and Research Associates) who are paid by Dartmouth College and do not qualify for staff benefits related to parental leave provided by Dartmouth College.
3. Policy and Procedure:
a. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 provides eligible faculty a total of twelve work weeks of paid and/or unpaid leave during any twelve month period for specific reasons. Dartmouth College FMLA policy stipulates:
- that covered individuals are eligible for twelve work weeks of unpaid leave during any rolling twelve month period (which period is measured backward from the date an employee uses any FMLA leave) for certain medical and family reasons.
- While FMLA is unpaid leave, it must be taken concurrently with other paid leaves such as Medical Leave, Maternity Leave, or Parental Leave, where eligible. FMLA may be taken for the following reasons:
- the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
- the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
- to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
- a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of their job;
- any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or
An eligible faculty member or NFA may also take up to twenty-six (26) work weeks of leave during a “single 12-month period” to care for a covered service member with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the service member’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).
To be eligible for FMLA, the faculty member/NFA must have worked at least 12 months (which do not have to be consecutive) for Dartmouth College; and must must have worked at a 0.625 FTE or greater during the entire 12-month period preceding the start of the leave.
Faculty and NFAs who are employees of Dartmouth College should contact the Human Resources Benefits Office at Disability@dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-6825 for information on how to apply for FMLA.
b. Geisel Faculty and NFAs who meet applicability criteria above are entitled to twelve (12) weeks of flexible time at 100% pay (for the given fractional FTE of employment) for one parent at the time of arrival of the new infant. This time is available beginning four (4) weeks before the due date and up to and through twentysix (26) weeks after the birth or adoption. Flexible time means that the leave could be 12 weeks at 0% effort or, as another example, 10 weeks at 0% effort plus 4 weeks at 50% effort in a time period contiguous with those 10 weeks.
To apply for parental leave benefits, the faculty member or NFA must notify the Principal Investigator or person responsible for their usual source of support, the Departmental Chairperson, and the Geisel Dean's Office (Dean of the Faculty at Geisel and the Senior Director of Finance or their designee). This must be done no later than the 26th week of pregnancy, or two weeks prior to a scheduled adoption date.
For faculty members and NFAs who have salary support and fringe benefits provided by the NIH, parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child is an allowable cost for a period of 12 weeks. Such costs to NIH research grants should be allocated to the project on the basis of relative effort and duration on the project. In cases of Principal Investigator absence from the project for 60 days or longer, additional actions may be necessary to assure adequate oversight and management of the project. Please consult OSP and your NIH Program Official and NIH Grant Management Officer.
Parental leave is also available to individuals who hold NRSAs and K awards. Recipients should discuss parental leave with their program directors, as well as notifying the Dean of the Faculty at Geisel and the Geisel Director of Finance. Individuals who wish to extend their leave for a period greater than 12 weeks should contact their Grants Management Officer. Faculty members, Distinguished Fellows, Research Scientists/Analysts/Engineers, and Research Associates supported by other mechanisms (e.g., American Cancer Society, NSF and other federal or private organizations) should contact the funding agency for their policies on support during parental leave.
Financial support for family leave for faculty members who provide contracted services for third-party entities should be provided by those third-party entities or, failing that, by the Geisel department to which they belong.
If an individual faculty member does not have support through these mechanisms that will allow 100% coverage for the 12 week period, any shortfall in support for salary and fringe benefits for one parent, when approved, shall be covered from Geisel departmental subvention. In extraordinary cases involving extended disability and requiring a physician's note, 60% pay would be available from the 12th through 26th week.
Any individual who takes parental leave is entitled to reinstatement to the position held prior to going on leave or one substantially similar thereto with no loss of seniority benefits or other privileges of employment.