What are your rights -- and how we fight to extend them
This is an archived page from February, 2008. Since then the PSC has negotiated a contract with family leave provisions.
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CUNY does not provide paid leave to care for an infant (beyond the mother’s own medical needs) or an ill child, spouse or close family member. Here’s a quick summary of current policy:
- A full-time employee who gives birth uses her paid sick leave to cover the time she is medically disabled before and after the birth.
- Under the PSC/CUNY contract, all full-time faculty and staff may take up to one year unpaid leave for the introduction of a child into the household either by birth or adoption. (See 16.8: Special Leaves for Child Care).
- Under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (or FMLA), full-time employees (with more than one year’s employment) may take up to 12 weeks leave annually to care for a newborn or newly adopted child, a seriously ill family member or their own illness.
- In the case of FMLA, the individual must use vacation leave if the reason is to care for a child (including a newborn), an adopted child or sick family member (i.e. not for one’s own illness). After the available vacation leave is used, remaining time is unpaid. As faculty members (except for librarians and faculty counselors) do not accrue vacation leave, all their FMLA care leave is unpaid.
- CUNY continues health insurance for only 12 weeks of FMLA leave – whether the employee’s time is covered by sick leave, vacation leave or is unpaid.
The February '08 Clarion article below provides a much more detailed look at "The law, the contract and CUNY policy on family leave."
Link to CUNY’s FMLA policy: http://www1.cuny.edu/portal_ur
/content/ofsr/fmla_docs.html
Universities across the metro-NY region and nationally are adopting family-friendly policies that support faculty – both women and men – balance the demands of work and career. There’s a great variety of solutions ranging from paid time off for principal care-givers including domestic partners, extended maternity leave benefits, and reduced workload for one or more semesters to childcare benefits and extended health insurance through periods of unpaid family leave. Though few colleges offer all these benefits, CUNY offers none of them.
Here are just a few public sector examples:
For additional information about work and family issues
- University of Massachusetts / Amherst: 1 full semester paid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child.
- University of New Hampshire: 12 weeks paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child that can be used, or shared by either parent if both are university employees.
- Michigan State University: under short-term disability, faculty who give birth receive 6 months paid leave; faculty who adopt receive 6 weeks paid parental leave.
- Rutgers, State University of New Jersey: 6 weeks paid “recuperative leave” for faculty who give birth that can be extended to 14 weeks; new parents can get 8 weeks release time from teaching and committee work.
- Wright State, Dayton, Ohio: 1 quarter with pay and relief from teaching available to either parent on the birth or adoption of a child.
- University of California: six weeks paid maternity leave and one semester’s full or partial relief from teaching to care for an infant or young child.
- AAUP Balancing Family and Academic Work http://www.aaup.org/AAUP
/issues/WF/ - Labor Project for Working Families http://www.working-families
.org/index.html
CUNY does not currently provide paid parental or family leave to its faculty and staff – but the PSC is fighting to change that. CUNY’s current policy on family leave is not only inadequate, it’s also complex. The article below out- lines information you need in order to navigate your way through it.
1) What is the FMLA?
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is federal legislation that entitles employees to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per “leave year” to care for themselves or other family members because of a serious medical condition. At CUNY, the “leave year” is defined as September 1 through August 31. The employee is entitled to continuing health insurance coverage while on FMLA leave and to return to the same or equivalent position at the end of the leave.
2) When can you use it?
Full-time members of the CUNY instructional staff are eligible for FM- LA leave if they have been employed for at least 12 cumulative (but not necessarily consecutive) months by CUNY. Part-time employees must have a minimum of 1,250 hours of CUNY service during the 12 consecutive months immediately before the effective date of the leave, so few CUNY part-timers qualify.
FMLA leave can be used 1) for the birth or care of a newborn or newly adopted child; 2) to care for a spouse, domestic partner, child or parent with a serious health condition; and 3) because of a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his/her job.
3) What form of paid leave is available if I or my spouse give birth to a child or need to care for a sick family member?
Under the PSC contract, full-time employees can use accrued sick leave for the period that their doctors say they should not work during pregnancy or after childbirth. This applies only to the mother, not the father, and sick leave cannot be used to care for a newly adopted child. Except for CLIP teachers, part-timers at CUNY cannot accrue sick leave from one semester to the next.
Sick leave cannot be used for absence from work due to the illness of a family member or if a spouse gives birth. CUNY professional staff, as well as library and counseling faculty, have often used annual leave for this purpose.
4) How is paid sick leave or annual leave used in conjunction with an unpaid FMLA leave?
CUNY’s present policy requires that paid sick leave, or annual leave used for illness of an employee or family member, must run concurrently with any unpaid FMLA leave.
The union has objected to this policy, arguing that unpaid leave under the FMLA should begin only after the employee has used up all applicable paid leave. If this CUNY policy were changed, employees could get the benefit of up to 12 additional weeks of guaranteed leave. Although this time would be unpaid, it would extend the period during which employees have their health insurance paid for and their jobs protected.
5) What happens to my health and pension coverage when I’m on an FMLA leave or sick leave?
During an FMLA leave or paid sick leave, the University is required to maintain an employee’s health coverage on the same terms as before.
If you take an unpaid Special Childcare Leave after your 12 weeks of FMLA leave are finished (see #7 below), CUNY will not pay to continue your health insurance coverage. To continue it yourself, you must pay the monthly premium through CO- BRA, covering the cost of the employer’s contribution to the City health plan, until you return to work.
Pension contributions are made only while you are on paid leave.
6) What change in family leave policy does the PSC want in this round of contract negotiations?
The union is demanding that CUNY provide a semester-long leave at full pay for the introduction of a new child into the household (by birth or adoption) or for the medical care of a family member.
7) What other forms of leave are currently available to PSC members, for full-time faculty, part-time faculty and other staff?
Full-timers earn sick leave under Article 16 of the contract, which provides for “temporary disability leave”; this can be used during pregnancy or after childbirth if a doctor determines that the employee is unable to work. (Federal law requires that any leave available for temporary disability be available for pregnancy.) Other kinds of leave include:
Special Leaves for Child Care: Unpaid leave for a new child for any full- time member of the instructional staff for the care/support of the child for up to one semester. Can be used to care for a newborn infant by an individual member who has legal responsibility for the care and/or support of the child. Extensions granted for up to one year from end of the original leave. Child-care leave affects annual leave accruals but does not affect salary increments if leave is less than one calendar year. (For details see Article 16.8 of the PSC-CUNY contract)
Leaves for Special Purposes: The college president may grant full-time members of the instructional staff paid leave for personal emergencies of not more than 10 working days. (For details see Bylaws of the City University of New York, Section 13.5.a.)
Leaves for Teaching and Non-teaching Adjuncts: Limited time, but not limited to illness. For up to 1/15 of the total number of clock hours in a particular session or semester, paid time off due to personal illness or personal emergencies including religious observance, death in the immediate family or similar personal needs that cannot be postponed. Reason must be satisfactory to the department chairperson or supervisor. (For details see Article 14.8 of the PSC-CUNY contract.)
8) Faculty librarians accumulate annual leave differently than other full-time faculty; the same is true for HEOs and CLTs. How do full-timers in these positions use annual or sick leave to attend to a family need as outlined by FMLA?
Faculty librarians, HEOs and CLTs accumulate annual leave and may take it at any time subject to supervisory approval. Thus, for their own medical conditions - including recovery from childbirth – faculty librarians, HEOs and CLTs first use all available sick leave, followed by accrued annual leave. However, paid sick leave cannot be used to care for a family member, including to care for a newborn or adopted infant – so in this case only accrued annual leave can be charged. FMLA leave runs concurrently with any accrued paid leave – and lasts for up to 12 weeks, even if paid leave is exhausted sooner.
Other full-time faculty must take annual leave during the summer – except for faculty counselors, who may be assigned to take annual leave at certain other times at the discretion of the college. (See Articles 14.1 and 14.3 of the contract for details.)
For full-time faculty who do not accumulate annual leave, time off to care for a family member can be re- quested either under Section 13.5.a of the Bylaws (paid – see #7above) or under FMLA (unpaid).
9) If I need to take any unpaid FMLA leave before achieving tenure, does the tenure clock stop or pause? What about service credit for other kinds of job security (CCE or 13.3b)?
Regardless of length, the unpaid leave period serves as a “bridge in service” between the employment periods before and after it. The leave is not considered a break in service but “bridges” the period of creditable service (service that counts toward tenure, CCE or 13.3b) immediately preceding the leave with the creditable service achieved after the leave. The “bridge in ser- vice” itself does not count as creditable service.
For those who have already achieved tenure, CCE or 13.3b, the period of the FMLA leave is not considered a break in service.
10) Does CUNY provide financial assistance with child care expenses?
No, but the NYC Employee Benefits Program (which administers health insurance) permits payment for eligible dependent care expenses from a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account. Employees may choose to enroll and contribute pre- tax payroll deductions which reduce taxable gross income.
A great university provides parental leave: Why not CUNY? How family leave is an equity issue, Click the image to see contract brochure on parental leave.
"STOP BREAKING OUR HEARTS!"
On Valentine’s Day PSC members on 13 campuses protested the university’s failure to provide any paid parental or family leave. They gathered more than 3,0000 thousands of signatures on postcards to CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein. The postcards say “CUNY, stop breaking our hearts! Give us time with our families!” and call on the university to agree to the union’s bargaining demand for paid leave. Click here to see the full text of then postcard.
Click here for photos of activities gathering signatures on February 14th.
NBC HIGHLIGHTS PAID PARENTAL LEAVE ISSUE IN CONTRACT TALKS. "Today in New York" did a feature story on November 13th on the lack of of paid parental leave at CUNY. Click image to see video of the feature and click here for detailed coverage of the parental leave issue in the February '08 Clarion.
Questionnaire on CUNY’s Family Leave Policy
Increasingly, universities—including public universities—are providing paid family leave benefits to their faculty and staff. The PSC is gathering information about the needs of our members at CUNY, as we campaign for the inclusion of paid family leave and support for childcare in the contract. The union has demanded paid leave to support both mothers and fathers, both biological and adopted children, and the care of other immediate family members who are aging or seriously ill.
Please help by taking a moment to complete our questionnaire. by clicking here.
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