18. Policies for Harvard Paid Faculty

Faculty may request up to 6 months of paid medical leave, which would run concurrent with leave taken through the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Requests for medical leave should be brought to the attention of the Department Head and Department Administrator. Faculty and administrators should consult with the Office for Faculty Affairs (OFA) and Human Resources to request paid medical leave and to provide the necessary documentation.

Full-time ladder faculty members who are birth mothers may take eight weeks of paid medical leave out of their allotted medical benefit. The paid medical leave will not extend beyond the faculty member’s appointment. These medical leaves count toward the fulfillment of the FMLA 12-week or Massachusetts Parental Leave Act (MPLA) eight-week leave entitlement if the reason for the leave meets the FMLA or MPLA criteria.

To support the ability of faculty to sustain their academic careers at the time of birth or adoption, HMS/HSDM has developed a Parental Leave Benefits Program for faculty (Lecturers, Instructors, Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Professors). Eligible faculty are those who receive salary support either from the school or by grants or sponsored funds administered through HMS/HSDM and are not reimbursed to HMS/HSDM by any other organization or source.

The faculty benefits program at HMS/HSDM provides 4 weeks of parental leave at 100% pay for birth mothers, adoptive parents and partners of birth mothers. This leave runs concurrently with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that provides job protection for up to 12 weeks of leave per year and the Massachusetts Parental Leave Act (MPLA) which provides that a faculty member who has been employed for at least three (3) months is entitled to eight (8) weeks of full leave, which need not be paid, to care for a newborn or newly-adopted child. Birth mothers may request additional medical leave (see above), typically up to eight (8) weeks, to cover the medical recovery from the birth of a child.

To request parental leave, the process is as follows:

• Inform Department Head and Department Administrator as early as possible for planning purposes
• Inform HMS/HSDM Human Resources office and complete Parental Leave documents including any necessary funding source costing code changes in payroll

See:

• Harvard University FMLA policies
• Harvard Longwood Campus: Taking a Leave of Absence

Faculty earn one (1) hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum accrual of 40 hours of sick time per fiscal year. Faculty have access to use earned sick time after 90 days of employment. Sick time earned in one (1) year cannot be carried forward to a subsequent year, although those who have a break in service of less than one (1) year will retain an earned sick time balance of up to 40 hours. Faculty may access their full entitlement at the start of each academic year, except that individuals hired on a semester basis instead receive their full entitlement at the start of the semester. Unused sick time does not roll over from one (1) academic year to the next.

Employees can use paid sick time to care for a physical or mental illness, injury or condition affecting the employee or the employee’s child, spouse, parent, or parent of a spouse, to attend routine medical appointments for these individuals, and to address the psychological, physical or legal effects of domestic violence on the employee or the employee’s family member. Individuals may not be treated adversely because they have exercised their rights under the Law, including in taking earned sick time.

Faculty should follow their Department’s normal protocols for advance notice (unless the need for sick time is not foreseeable), including when the need for sick time will conflict with normally scheduled class hours. For questions concerning sick leave entitlement, please contact the HMS Human Resources Office or the HSDM Human Resources Office.

Faculty are entitled to all University holidays and typically an additional twenty (20) vacation days which do not carry forward from year to year. Faculty should inform their Department Heads of intended time away.

Harvard University provides employees information about and access to a variety of childcare resources, including cooperative day care sites, childcare centers, and family day care.

See:

• Longwood Medical Area Childcare Resources
• Harvard Information for Employees (HARVie) Caring for Children

School policies provide that a faculty member who assumes substantial and sustained responsibility for the care of a newborn or newly adopted child as the primary caregiver is entitled to a workload reduction for up to one (1) semester on a full-time basis or over the course of two (2) semesters or one (1) year on a part-time basis. The reduction must be taken within the first year of the birth or adoption and may be requested following up to two (2) birth or adoption events while on faculty. Faculty may request additional consideration for workload reduction for a third birth or adoption.

A faculty member using workload reduction would be the primary caregiver for at least twenty (20) hours during the work week, normally during the hours of 9AM-5PM, Monday through Friday. The faculty member requesting workload reduction should provide a statement to confirm primary caregiver status. Workload reduction is not intended for parents whose newborn or newly adopted child is cared for more than half the time by either a spouse/partner and/or a childcare provider.

To request workload reduction, the faculty member should provide the Department Head and Department Administrator a statement of parental activities as described above. The Department Head should submit the documentation and Departmental approval to the Office for Faculty Affairs (OFA).

For faculty whose primary appointment is based in a Basic and Social Science department (HMS Quad), there is a limit of eleven (11) years at voting faculty rank prior to appointment as Professor without limit of time. Most faculty will have two (2) three-year terms as Assistant Professor and one (1) five-year term as Associate Professor, although there is no requirement that a candidate serve the full eleven (11) years prior to tenure review. Once a faculty member has been promoted to or appointed as the rank of Associate Professor, review for tenure will occur by the end of the five (5) year Associate Professor term. Appointments for faculty who do not achieve the rank of professor within the allotted time may be extended up to one (1) year following the tenure review.

Extension of the 11-year tenure clock may be permitted in recognition of the often-conflicting obligations of parental and career responsibilities. It is the policy of the Faculty of Medicine to grant an extension of time to a faculty member who takes the major responsibility for parenting in a family. Extensions are granted for one (1) year on the occasion of the birth or adoption of a child, up to a total of two (2) years for two or more children and are added to the current appointment as well as the 11-year rule for tenure consideration. Extensions are requested in a letter from the Department Head to the Dean and are reviewed in the Office for Faculty Affairs (OFA). Extensions may occur at any time during the eleven (11) year period.