Applies to:	Original Policy Date:	Date of Last Review:	Approved By:
Florida Tech Faculty & Staff	01/07/2024	10/18/2023	Dr. John Nicklow

Policy Owner: Office of Human Resources

Policy Purpose

Florida Tech will provide up to 4 weeks of paid parental leave to employees following the birth of an employee’s child or the legal permanent placement of a child with an employee in connection with adoption or foster care. The purpose of paid parental leave is to enable the employee to care for and bond with a newborn or a newly adopted or newly placed child. This policy will run concurrently with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, as applicable. This policy will be in effect for births, adoptions or legal permanent placements of foster children.

Policy Scope

This policy applies to staff and faculty.

Procedures/Guidelines

Eligible employees must meet the following criteria:

• Have been employed with the company for at least 12 months (the 12 months do not need to be consecutive).
• Have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the date the leave would begin.
• Be a full or part-time, regular employee (temporary employees, student workers and adjuncts are not eligible for this benefit).

Employees must be taking leave for one of the reasons listed below:

• To bond with the newborn child within one year of birth.
• The legal permanent placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement.

Amount, Time Frame and Duration:

• Eligible employees will receive a maximum of 4 weeks of paid parental leave per bonding, adoption or legal permanent placement of a child/children. The fact that a multiple birth, adoption or placement occurs (e.g., the birth of twins or adoption of siblings) does not increase the 4-week total amount of paid parental leave granted for that event. In addition, in no case will an employee receive more than 4 weeks of paid parental leave in a rolling 12-month period, regardless of whether more than one birth, adoption or foster care placement event occurs within that 12-month time frame.
• Each week of paid parental leave is compensated at 100 percent of the employee’s regular, straight-time weekly pay. Paid parental leave will be paid on a biweekly basis on regularly scheduled pay dates.
• Approved paid parental leave may be taken at any time during the 12-month period immediately following the birth, adoption or legal permanent placement of a child with the employee. Paid parental leave may not be used or extended beyond this 12-month time frame.
• In the event of a female employee who herself has given birth, the 4 weeks of paid parental leave will commence at the conclusion of any short-term disability leave/benefit provided to the employee for the employee’s own medical recovery following childbirth.
• Employees must take paid parental leave in one continuous period of leave and must use all paid parental leave during the 12-month time frame indicated above. Any unused paid parental leave will be forfeited at the end of the 12-month time frame.
• Upon termination of the individual’s employment at the company, he or she will not be paid for any unused paid parental leave for which he or she was eligible.

Definitions (if applicable)

Parent: The eligible employee’s biological, adoptive, and foster parent.

Child: For the purpose of this policy, the child includes the eligible employee’s biological child, adopted child, or foster child under the age of 17 years. The adoption of a new spouse’s child is excluded from this policy.

Responsibilities

• Paid parental leave taken under this policy will run concurrently with leave under the FMLA; thus, any leave taken under this policy that falls under the definition of circumstances qualifying for leave due to the birth or placement of a child due to adoption or foster care, the leave will be counted toward the 12 weeks of available FMLA leave per a 12-month period. All other requirements and provisions under the FMLA will apply. In no case will the total amount of leave—whether paid or unpaid—granted to the employee under the FMLA exceed 12 weeks during the 12-month FMLA period. Please refer to the Family and Medical Leave Policy for further guidance on the FMLA.
• After the paid parental leave (and any short-term disability leave for employees giving birth) is exhausted, the balance of FMLA leave (if applicable) will be compensated through the employees’ accrued sick, vacation and personal time. Upon exhaustion of accrued sick, vacation and personal time, any remaining leave will be unpaid leave. Please refer to the Family and Medical Leave Policy for further guidance on the FMLA.
• The company will maintain all benefits for employees during the paid parental leave period just as if they were taking any other company paid leave such as paid vacation leave or paid sick leave.
• Consistent with Florida Tech’s FMLA and Leave of Absence Policies, employees on leave will not accrue vacation or sick leave and will not be entitled to holiday pay.

Requests for Paid Parental Leave

• The employee will provide his or her supervisor and the Office of Human Resources with notice of the request for leave at least 30 days prior to the proposed date of the leave (or if the leave was not foreseeable, as soon as possible).

Return to Work Commitment

• A faculty member must return to the University following a paid parental leave for at least one academic year. Upon separation from the University prior to one year, repayment shall be made using the employee’s vacation balance first.
• Staff employees must return to the University following a parental paid leave for 6 months and physically work a minimum of 600 hours (prorated for part-time employees). An employee will be responsible for repayment if the commitment is not fulfilled. The repayment will be deducted from the employee’s vacation time balance.

Enforcement (if applicable)

The Office of Human Resources will maintain compliance regarding this benefit, as requests for leave are managed within the Office of Human Resources.