Workload Relief for Eligible Child Caregivers Form

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In order to provide relief to faculty members faced with the additional demands of being primary care-giver to a newborn child, newly adopted child, new foster care or guardianship placement, or newly-established legal custodian care, New York University's workload relief policy permits one (1) semester of workload relief from classroom teaching and administrative committee work, or two (2) semesters of half relief from such duties based on the individual's normal yearly workload at full salary.  Workload relief is not considered a leave as faculty members are expected to make themselves available to the extent reasonable and practicable for their customary responsibilities of research, student consultation and advising.

The school in which the individual applying for workload relief is a faculty member shall remain financially responsible for the faculty member's salary during the workload relief period. Financial support for workload relief of classroom teaching, necessitated by having to hire appropriate replacements, is borne by a University workload relief fund. Please see the Workload Relief for Eligible Child Caregivers form (PDF: 209KB) for details.

Individuals eligible for these workload relief benefits include all full-time (code 102) faculty.  To qualify for workload relief, the faculty member must be the parent primarily responsible for the care of a newborn child, newly adopted child, new foster care or guardianship placement, or newly-established legal custodial care.  In all circumstances, only one (1) parent may be considered primarily responsible for the care of the child.  If both parents could be eligible under this policy because they are both code 102 faculty, each such eligible faculty member could qualify sequentially for a half semester if the designation of primary responsible parent changed, but the total amount of workload relief would not increase.

Normally the first semester of workload relief will be the semester in which the temporary disability leave for childbirth is completed (see Faculty Handbook, p. 59), the semester in which the adoption, foster care or guardianship placement takes place, or the semester in which the birth takes place. If the primary caregiver taking workload relief is the non-birth parent, only the latter two (2) situations are relevant. If these events occur between semesters when classes are not in session, the first semester of the workload relief typically will be the following semester.

At least five (5) months before the start of the first semester of relief, a faculty member wishing to request workload relief for parenting under this plan should inform his or her department chair by filling out a Workload Relief application (PDF), certifying that she/he is the primary caregiver and stating her/his intentions to take one (1) full semester or two (2) half semesters of relief. The application should be submitted to the person responsible at his/her school for processing the application as listed on the Workload Relief contact sheet. Details of the workload relief arrangement must be decided in consultation with the chair or dean in Schools without departmental organization.  Tenure clock stoppage may be granted for cumulative maximum of two semesters during the probationary period to a faculty member who is the primary caregiver of a child whether or not the faculty member avails herself or himself of workload relief (see Faculty Handbook, p.60).  The one full semester of relief or two half semesters of relief will count as credit toward a faculty member's sabbatical leave.

This policy is not intended to replace leave available to faculty members who are eligible for leave for the birth of a child, an adoption, or foster care placement under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 ("FMLA"). FMLA shall run concurrently with workload relief as either intermittent or reduced workload leave. An FMLA certification must be completed and submitted with the Workload Relief Application to determine FMLA eligibility. Eligible faculty members may still elect to take unpaid FMLA leave if they wish to provide no service while providing care for their newborn child, newly adopted child, or foster care or guardianship placement.

This policy does not constitute a contract of any kind and may be modified with or without notice at the University's discretion.


Notes
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  1. Dates of official enactment and amendments: Not Available
  2. History: N/A
  3. Cross References: N/A