I. Purpose 

This policy is adopted as additive to APS 5062, Parental Leave for Faculty and Staff.

II. Policy

In order to improve the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff, Boulder campus will extend the paid parental leave provided in APS 5062. 

The benefit received will be based on the employee’s employment classification on the date of birth, adoption or placement in foster care.  All parental leave is granted to care for the employee’s child within 12 months of the birth, adoption, foster care placement or guardianship of a child and for multiple foster care or guardian placements can be used once per child.  Eligible employees must use the paid parental leave benefit for the purpose of caring for the child.

A. University Staff 

Eligibility: A regular 12-month faculty member or university staff member is eligible for paid parental leave upon their start-date at the university if the employee is in a 50% or greater regular appointment at the university immediately prior to the date of birth, adoption, foster care placement or guardianship of a child. Parental Leave is to run concurrently with Family Medical Leave (FMLA) when an employee is eligible for both simultaneously.

  1. Concurrently with the six months of unpaid parental leave, the Boulder campus will provide 240 hours of paid parental, prorated for percent of time if appointment is less than 100%, to eligible employees.  Staff may also use short term disability, sick and vacation accruals.
  2. If PPL entitlement has been used but not exhausted prior to PFML eligibility, employees may only use the remainder of their PPL entitlement in combination with PFML entitlement up to a maximum of 240 hours.
  3. If an employee terminates from the university within 30 days of completing parental leave, the university reserves the right to collect the amount provided under the university paid parental leave program.
  4. For employees experiencing a birth, adoption or foster care placement that occurred between January 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022, and was not previously eligible, the employee will be eligible for the paid parental leave benefit.  The amount of paid leave is capped by the six months entitlement within the twelve month deadline.
    1. There will be no retroactive payment for parental leave taken prior to January 1, 2022.
    2. The structure of the leave, block or intermittent, is based on supervisor discretion which may take into consideration the business needs of the unit. 
    3. Section II.A.3 will be removed from policy on July 1, 2023.
  5. All other terms and conditions for eligibility, definitions, and usage of the APS 5019 remain unchanged.
  6. Human Resources manages leave for this population.

B. Classified Staff

Eligibility: A regular classified staff member is eligible for paid parental leave upon their start-date at the university if the employee is in a 50% or greater regular appointment at the university immediately prior to the date of birth, adoption, foster care placement or guardianship of a child. Parental Leave is to run concurrently with Family Medical Leave (FMLA) and Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) when an employee is eligible for any simultaneously.

  1. The first 160 hours of an employee’s parental leave will be designated as Paid Family Medical Leave. PFML hours will be prorated for percent of time if the appointment is less than 100%, to eligible classified employees. If an employee has already used PFML for a different qualifying reason in the previous 12-month period, the employee will only be eligible for the remaining 80 hours of paid parental leave. For more information on PFML, please view the HR Leave website.
  2. Concurrently with the six months of unpaid parental leave, the Boulder campus will provide 80 hours of paid parental, prorated for percent of time if appointment is less than 100%, to eligible classified employees.  Staff may also use short term disability, sick and vacation accruals.
  3. If PPL entitlement has been used but not exhausted prior to PFML eligibility, employees may only use the remainder of their PPL entitlement in combination with PFML entitlement up to a maximum of 240 hours.
  4. If an employee terminates from the university within 30 days of completing parental leave, the university reserves the right to collect the amount provided under the university paid parental leave program.
  5. For employees experiencing a birth, adoption or foster care placement that occurred between January 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022, and was not previously eligible, the employee will be eligible for the paid parental leave benefit.  The amount of paid leave is capped by the six months entitlement within the twelve month deadline.
    1. There will be no retroactive payment for parental leave taken prior to January 1, 2022.
    2. The structure of the leave, block or intermittent, is based on supervisor discretion which may take into consideration the business needs of the unit. 
    3. Section II.A.4 will be removed from policy on July 1, 2023.
  6. All other terms and conditions for eligibility, definitions, and usage of the APS 5019 remain unchanged.
  7. Human Resources manages leave for this population.

C. Twelve Month Non-Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty (Research Professors, Research Associates, PRA’s and Post-Doctoral Associates)

Eligibility: A regular 12-month faculty member, university staff or classified staff member is eligible for paid parental leave upon their start-date at the university if the employee is in a 50% or greater regular appointment at the university immediately prior to the date of birth, adoption, foster care placement or guardianship of a child. Parental Leave is to run concurrently with Family Medical Leave (FMLA) when an employee is eligible for both simultaneously. Concurrently with the six months of unpaid leave, the Boulder campus will provide 240 hours of paid parental leave, prorated for percent of time if appointment is less than 100%, to eligible employees. Twelve month faculty may also use short term disability, sick and vacation leave accruals.

  1. Concurrently with the six months of unpaid leave, the Boulder campus will provide 240 hours of paid parental leave, prorated for percent of time if appointment is less than 100%, to eligible employees. Twelve month faculty may also use short term disability, sick and vacation leave accruals.
  2. If PPL entitlement has been used but not exhausted prior to PFML eligibility, employees may only use the remainder of their PPL entitlement in combination with PFML entitlement up to a maximum of 240 hours.
  3. If an employee terminates from the university within 30 days of completing parental leave, the university reserves the right to collect the amount provided under the university paid parental leave program.
  4. This policy does not apply to post-doctoral fellows on externally funded fellowships.
  5. For employees experiencing a birth, adoption or foster care placement that occurred between January 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022, and was not previously eligible, the employee will be eligible for the paid parental leave benefit.  The amount of paid leave is capped by the six months entitlement within the twelve month deadline.
    1. There will be no retroactive payment for parental leave taken prior to January 1, 2022.
    2. The structure of the leave, block or intermittent, is based on supervisor discretion which may take into consideration the business needs of the unit. 
    3. Section II.A.4 will be removed from policy on July 1, 2023.
  6. All other terms and conditions for eligibility, definitions, and usage of the APS 5019 remain unchanged.  The State Personnel Board Rules also govern leave usage for classified employees.
  7. Human Resources manages leave for this population

D. Other Nine-Month Faculty (Instructors, Senior Instructors, Teaching Professors, Scholars in Residence, Artists in Residence and Clinical Faculty)

Eligibility: Other 9-month faculty member is eligible for paid parental leave upon their start-date at the university is in a 50% or greater regular appointment at the university immediately prior to the date of birth, adoption, foster care placement or guardianship of a child. Parental Leave is to run concurrently with Family Medical Leave (FMLA) when an employee is eligible for both simultaneously.

  1. Non-Tenure Track Nine-Month Faculty receive 18 weeks of parental leave.
    1. The Boulder campus will provide the first six weeks of paid parental leave to eligible employees. If an employee is less than 100%, the employee is still eligible for six weeks of leave, paid at their prorated percent of time and pay.
    2. Employee will use accrued sick leave following paid parental leave.
    3. 12-month Libraries faculty (including Law Library faculty) may choose to use some or all of their accrued annual leave following the exhaustion of their sick leave accruals, prior to entering a 50% pay status.
    4. If the faculty member exhausts all paid parental leave and sick leave before the end of an eighteen-week period, the faculty member may continue the leave for the remainder of the period at 50% pay with full benefits.
  2. If PPL entitlement has been used but not exhausted prior to PFML eligibility, employees may only use the remainder of their PPL entitlement in combination with PFML entitlement up to a maximum of 240 hours.
  3. This policy does not apply to Lecturers or any other job classification not listed above.
  4. For employees experiencing a birth, adoption or foster care placement that occurred between January 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022, and was not previously eligible, the employee will be eligible for the paid parental leave benefit.  The amount of paid leave is capped by the six months entitlement within the twelve month deadline.
    1. There will be no retroactive payment for parental leave taken prior to January 1, 2022.
    2. The structure of the leave, block or intermittent, is based on supervisor discretion which may take into consideration the business needs of the unit. 
    3. Section II.A.3 will be removed from policy on July 1, 2023.
  5. All other terms and conditions for eligibility, definitions, and usage of the APS 5019 remain unchanged.
  6. The Deans offices, working with Office of Faculty Affairs, manage leave and teaching replacement for other nine-month faculty members.

E. Tenured/Tenure Track Faculty

Eligibility: A regular tenured/tenure track 9-month faculty member is eligible for paid parental leave upon their start-date at the university. Parental Leave is to run concurrently with Family Medical Leave (FMLA) when eligible for both simultaneously.

  1. Tenured and Tenure Track Faculty receive 18 weeks of parental leave at full pay, without using accrued sick leave. (12-month Libraries faculty receive six months of parental leave at full pay).
  2. Parental Leave: Any tenured or tenure track faculty member who is the primary care giver for a child may request within twelve months of the birth or adoption of a child up to a maximum of one semester leave at full pay; this one semester maximum includes all leave associated with the birth or adoption of the child. Primary caregiver is defined as follows: a faculty member who assumes significant and sustained responsibility for a newborn or newly-adopted child, as a single parent, or where there are two parents, in at least equal proportion to their spouse/partner/co-parent. All requests for tenure-clock stoppage under the policy must be contingent upon the faculty member affirming that they will conform to this definition. 1
  3. Such faculty members should keep in mind the System policy on such leaves: One purpose of this policy is to minimize the disruption of students’ education that occurs when faculty leave their classes in mid-semester and must be replaced by another instructor. Thus, it is the intention of this policy that nine-month faculty selecting the standard parental leave or the negotiated parental leave will employ the provisions of this policy to minimize the disruption of student learning by arranging parental leaves, when possible, to coincide with the semester calendar (or appropriate teaching module).
  4. Stoppage of Tenure Clock: Any tenure-track faculty member who informs the Office of Faculty Affairs that they will be the primary care giver for a child within twelve months of birth or adoption of a child will have their tenure clock stopped for one year. This stoppage is automatic and will always be granted upon OFA’s receipt of notification. Faculty who wish to come up in their normal tenure review year will be able to do under the campus’s new Early Tenure Policy; however, if the tenure stoppage occurs prior to Comprehensive Review, that review will be delayed. According to the System APS, “Absent extraordinary circumstances, a maximum of two “stops” on the tenure clock for parental leave is allowed”.
  5. The Office of Faculty Affairs manages leave requests and the Office of the Provost manages teaching replacement funds.

The Office of Faculty Affairs encourages chairs and deans to allow tenure-track faculty members who assume exceptional caregiving responsibilities to apply for modification in workload for up to one semester in the term immediately preceding or following parental leave.

Effective Date

Origional Effective Date: July 1, 2018

Revised Date: October 1, 2022

Approved By

Philip P. DiStefano, Chancellor

Owner(s)

The Office of Human Resources & The Office of Faculty Affairs