[Feburary 1, 2010]

Parents would be able to take paid leave for baby bonding under a newly proposed policy now available for employee comment.

Responding to employee interest, UC Human Resources has proposed allowing employees, including birth parents, adoptive parents and foster parents, to use up to 30 days of accrued sick leave for baby bonding.

The proposal is part of an updated Absence from Work policy that consolidates several existing leave policies into a single comprehensive absence policy.

“In the midst of furloughs and budget cuts, we are still committed to finding ways to improve our employees’ work lives,” said Dwaine B. Duckett, vice president of human resources.

The Absence from Work policy also proposes to:

• Increase from 30 days to 12 weeks the amount of accrued sick leave an employee may use during a Family and Medical Leave to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner or parent;
• Increase bereavement leave for the death of a family member from 5 to 10 days.

“UC’s employees, especially the LGBTI community, has been instrumental in advocating for the baby-bonding benefit for some time,” said Duckett. “This is an example of how supporting and managing diversity issues effectively can benefit the entire UC community.”

The proposed policy would apply to staff earning sick leave except those represented by a union; any similar policy for represented employees would be subject to collective bargaining.

Under current policy, staff can use vacation or comp time, with a supervisor’s approval, for baby bonding leave; sick leave is excluded as an option.

The proposed policy is available on the At Your Service website. Look for information about how to submit comments on the policy from your local human resources office.

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