The UC Faculty Family Friendly Edge

Initiatives

Existing Elements of the Family Friendly Package for UC Ladder-Rank Faculty

• Active Service-Modified Duties (ASMD)—Active service-modified duties (ASMD) is a period during which normal duties are reduced to prepare and/or care for a newborn or a child under age 5 newly placed for adoption or foster care. Eligibility normally extends from 3 months prior to 12 months following the birth or placement. In order to use ASMD, faculty must be responsible for 50 percent or more of the child’s care. Non-birth mothers and fathers may take ASMD for one quarter/semester. Birth mothers may take a total period of childbearing leave plus ASMD for two quarters/semesters, provided she has had a full-time appointment for at least one full academic year. 
  During ASMD 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. UC Office of the President has requested that campuses fund centrally (PDF) the cost of hiring replacement teachers. Most of the UC campuses are now doing so.
  
  
• Tenure-Clock Stoppage—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 ASMD to stop the clock.
  
  
• Flexible Part-Time Option—Faculty 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.
  
  
• Paid Leave—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 6 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 4 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. UC Office of the President has requested that campuses fund centrally (PDF) the cost of hiring replacement teachers.
  
  
• Unpaid Leave—Academic 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.
  
  
• Personnel Reviews—Faculty 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.
  
  

Additional elements of the Family Friendly Package for UC Ladder-Rank Faculty would include:

• Child/Infant Care—A guarantee to make high quality child care and infant care (PDF) slots available to ladder-rank faculty, particularly new hires.
  
  
• Relocation Services—An institutional commitment to assist new faculty with spousal/partner employment (PDF) and other familial-related relocation issues (PDF).
  
  
• Reentry Postdocs—Postdoctoral fellowships to encourage parents who have taken time off to return to the academy (PDF).
  
  
• Discounting Resume Gaps—Encouraging faculty search committees to discount familial-related resume gaps (PDF) in their consideration faculty candidates.
  
  
• School-Break/Summer Camps—The development and publicizing of existing school-break childcare and summer camps.
  
  
• Emergency Back-Up Childcare—Establishing a vendored emergency back-up child care (PDF) program for the UC system.
  
  
• Family Friendly Calendars and Scheduling—A reworking of the academic calendar and scheduling of departmental meetings (PDF) to fit with daycare and school schedules.
  
  
• Adoption Benefits—The establishment of adoption benefits (PDF) for UC faculty/staff.
  
  
• UC Recruitment Brochure—Marketing of the Family Friendly Package as a major recruitment tool.
  
  
• Necessary Institutional Mechanisms and Family Friendly Services/Benefits—Building the necessary institutional mechanisms to assure success of new and existing policies and supplement existing services and benefits (e.g. Informational Packages for Chairs, Family Friendly Brochures, New Faculty Orientation, Work and Family Web Sites, Campus Advising Committees on Dependent Care, Elder Care Assistance, UC Educational Fee Waivers for Faculty Dependents, Dependent Care Travel Funding etc.)