Reproductive Loss LeaveAs of Jan. 1, 2024, UC’s leave options expanded to provide eligible employees with up to five days of protected leave following a reproductive loss. This change aligns with new California legislation. An employee may take up to five days of Reproductive Loss Leave following a reproductive loss by the employee, by the employee’s current spouse or domestic partner, or by another individual if the employee would have been a parent of a child had the reproductive loss not occurred. “Reproductive loss” means a failed adoption, failed surrogacy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or an unsuccessful assisted reproduction. If you need to request this type of leave, please reach out to emartinez35@ucmerced.edu for guidance. Visit UCnet for FAQs and more information on this leave option. Reproductive Loss Form available here and on our Academic Personnel forms page. UC Family-Friendly BenefitsBig changes effective on July 1, 2021, as UC delivers on our commitment to family-friendly policies, programs and benefits. After a thorough review by faculty, staff and key stakeholders across UC, the Pay for Family Care and Bonding (PFCB) program has been approved by President Michael V. Drake, M.D., and will be available as of July 1. Also effective July 1, UC’s new Adoption Assistance Plan will reimburse faculty and staff who are expanding their families through adoption for some of their related expenses. Below are links to announcements regarding PFCB and the new Adocption Assistance Plan:
The UC has an array of family-friendly policies to help academic employees balance work and life. Below is general information for all academic employees. All benefits vary by title. Please contact the Academic Personnel Office for more information on eligibility, benefits and privileges. Pay for Family Care and BondingNew July 1, 2021 UC is committed to supporting faculty and staff who need time off to care for a family member or to bond with a new child. Family and Medical Leave (FML) provides job protection when employees need time off for a number of reasons, consistent with federal and state law. The Pay for Family Care and Bonding (PFCB) program, effective July 1, 2021, gives employees the option to replace some of the income they would otherwise lose during their approved leave. Beginning in 2023, the PFCB pay option will provide income replacement of 100% of eligible earnings for up to eight workweeks per calendar year to replace the income that employees would otherwise lose during an approved Family and Medical Leave taken for a qualifying reason. This is an increase from the 70% income replacement offered through 2022. For monthly paid employees, PFCB income replacement will increase beginning with the pay period that starts on Jan. 1, 2023. For biweekly paid employees, PFCB income replacement will increase beginning with the pay period that starts on Dec. 25, 2022. To qualify, the FML leave must be taken in a block of one workweek or more, for any of the following purposes:
Family and Medical Leave (FML) is job-protected leave provided by the University for specified family and medical reasons consistent with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), and California’s Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL). PFCB is not an option if you’re taking FML for your own serious health condition or your pregnancy disability. Eligibility: Who's eligible: Non-represented employees on an approved block FML leave for one workweek or more for one of the qualifying reasons above. The same is true for represented employees in bargaining units that are participating in the program. (Most units are participating. Please refer to your unit’s collective bargaining agreement.) Who's not eligible: The following academic appointees are not eligible to participate in the Pay for Family Care and Bonding pay option because they already have more generous pay options available to them:
Who pays: UC Please note: To be eligible for PFCB, you must first be eligible for a qualifying Family and Medical Leave under FMLA and/or CFRA. This requires that you have been employed by UC for at least a total of 12 months and that you have actually worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months immediately before the start of the leave. To learn more about eligibility for Family and Medical Leave, see:
How the program works While FML may generally be taken as a block leave, intermittently, or by working a reduced schedule, PFCB is only an option if you take FML in a block of at least one workweek. You may opt to use other forms of paid leave (such as sick leave, vacation or PTO) before or after using PFCB, but not at the same time. If you elect to use PFCB, you must continue to use PFCB until your qualifying FML block leave ends or you exhaust your full 8 workweeks of PFCB for the calendar year. Note: If your FML ends before you have used the full 8 workweeks of PFCB for the calendar year, you may use the remainder if you have another qualifying FML block leave later in the calendar year. UC’s Adoption Assistance ProgramUC’s Adoption Assistance Plan reimburses those who are eligible (faculty and staff with Full, Mid-Level or Core benefits) for up to $5,000 of expenses related to adoption. There’s no need to enroll, and all expenses for the Plan are paid by the University. Here’s how it works: As you go through the adoption process, keep receipts for eligible expenses — such as attorney fees and court costs, travel expenses, counseling fees and home suitability study fees. After the adoption is final, you can work with WEX, the plan administrator, to verify the adoption and submit claims for reimbursement. Questions: See the Pay for Family Care and Bonding page and the Adoption Assistance Plan page to learn more. For questions about your situation, please contact the Esmeralda Martinez at emartinez35@ucmerced.edu. Family and Medical LeaveFaculty members do not accrue sick leave. However, eligible faculty members may be granted paid medical leave for periods of personal illness, injury or disability. Eligible faculty members with less than 10 years of University of California service in titles that do not accrue sick leave shall be granted a maximum of one semester for academic appointees or six months for fiscal year appointees of consecutive or intermittent paid medical leave within a 10 year period for personal illness, injury or disability. Eligible faculty members with 10 or more years of University of California service in titles that do not accrue sick leave shall be granted a maximum of two semesters for academic appointees or 12 months for fiscal year appointees of consecutive or intermittent paid medical leave within a 10 year period for personal illness, injury or disability. VacationAcademic personnel appointed on a fiscal year basis accrue vacation at the rate of two working days per month for full-time service. Fiscal-year appointees at 50 percent or more time accrue vacation at a proportionate rate; appointees at less than 50 percent time do not accrue vacation. HolidaysOfficial holidays for both academic-year and fiscal year appointees are those administrative holidays annually in the university calendar. Periods of academic recess are not regarded as holidays. For both fiscal year appointees periods of academic recess are only recess from meeting formal classes. they are not recess from research, committee and other administrative duties or other University obligations. Parental Leave Without PayAcademic appointees are eligible for full-time or part-time parental leave without pay for up to one year for the purpose of caring for their child, or a child of their spouse or domestic partner. Up to 12 workweeks of the unpaid parental leave runs concurrently with family and medical leave when eligible and provides health coverage benefits. **See above for eligibility for the Pay for Family Care and Bonding (PFCB) Program. Employees who qualify for PFCB can receive 100% of their eligible earnings for up to eight workweeks per calendar year. Childbearing LeavePer APM 760-25, birth mothers are entitled up to eight weeks of paid childbearing leave. While on childbearing leave, the birth mother is not responsible for completing any responsibilities as a faculty member. Childbearing leave is concurrent with active service modified duties if taken during the academic year. If the childbearing leave occurs during the summer, active service modified duties will normally commence in the fall semester. After the childbearing leave, the faculty member is expected to carry out the modified duties agreed to by the faculty member and chair/dean during the balance of the approved active service modified duties during the academic year, with the important proviso that in the semester of a childbearing leave, there must be full relief from teaching duties. An academic appointee who gives birth is eligible for childbearing leave for the period prior to, during, and after childbirth. Childbearing leave consists of time an appointee is temporarily disabled because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Leave for childbirth and recovery normally will be for at least six weeks; more time may be necessary for medical reasons. If an academic appointee is disabled because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions she is eligible to take an unpaid childbearing leave (“pregnancy disability leave”) for up to four months during the period of actual disability. During a childbearing leave, no duties are required by the University. Childbearing leave need not be taken in one continuous period of time but may be taken on an intermittent or reduced schedule basis when medically necessary. An academic appointee may also be eligible for employer-paid Short-Term Disability Insurance Plan benefits and, if enrolled, for employee-paid Supplemental Disability Insurance Plan benefits if unable to work because of her physical condition. Benefits for Faculty MembersActive Service Modified DutiesThis is not leave. Active service-modified duties is a period during which normal duties are reduced to prepare and/or care for a newborn or a child newly placed for adoption or foster care, in consultation between the appointee and the department chair (APM 760-28). For a birth mother, the first semester of active service modified duties should be concurrent with childbearing leave. If the childbearing leave occurs during the summer, active service modified duties will normally commence in the fall semester. Eligibility normally extends from three months prior to 12 months following the birth or placement. In order to use active service modified duties, faculty must be responsible for 50 percent or more of the child’s care. Non-birth mothers and fathers may take active service modified duties for one quarter/semester. Birth mothers may take a total period of childbearing leave plus active service modified duties for two quarters/semesters, provided she has had a full-time appointment for at least one full academic year. After the childbearing leave, the faculty member is expected to carry out the modified duties agreed to by the faculty member and chair/dean during the balance of the approved active service modified duties during the academic year, with the important proviso that in the semester of a childbearing leave, there must be full relief from teaching duties. During active service modified duties faculty are expected to meet some portion of their normal duties – it is not a leave of absence. For ladder-rank faculty, the modification of duties is normally partial or full relief from teaching, without the assignment of additional teaching duties before or after to offset the teaching relief. In the quarter or semester of a childbearing leave, there must be full relief from teaching duties. Active service modified duties is available for senate faculty and unit 18 lecturers. Flexible/Part-time Appointment/Reduction in Percentage of TimeFaculty may be eligible for an appointment to a part-time position or may be eligible to reduce their percentage of time of an appointment from full-time to part-time, temporarily or permanently to accommodate family needs. However, for faculty at the Assistant level, the eight-year limitation of service (APM - 133) still applies (not counting up to two years of clock stoppage). Faculty interested in this option enter into a memorandum of understanding with their department and University. Tenure-Clock Stoppage (ladder-rank faculty)Faculty may stop the clock at the assistant level to care for a newborn child or a child under age five newly placed for adoption or foster care. The child may be the faculty member’s child or that of his or her spouse or domestic partner. To be eligible, faculty must be responsible for 50 percent or more of the care of the child. Faculty are eligible to stop the clock for up to one year during the probationary period for each event (up to a maximum of two years), and do not have to take a formal leave or use active service modified duties to stop the clock. Deferral of Personnel ReviewsFaculty at the associate level or above may request a deferral of a personnel review to accommodate family needs in accordance with campus policies. Personnel reviews that are deferred due to the use of family accommodation policies should be treated the same as personnel reviews conducted at the normal period of service and evaluated without prejudice. (APM 760). Questions or schedule a meeting:Contact Esmeralda Martinez at emartinez35@ucmerced.edu or the Acadmemic Personnel Office at academicpersonnel@ucmerced.edu. Click Here for FAQ's
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