Parental Leave
Congratulations on your expanding family! Here are some resources to make this transition a smoother one.
Parental Leave Policies
The policies will give you an overview of how your parental leave will work for you.
Virginia Human Rights Act - Reasonable Accommodations for Pregnancy (effective July 1, 2020)
The University provides reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, including lactation, unless the accommodation imposes an undue hardship. Reasonable accommodations include more frequent or longer bathroom breaks, breaks to express breast milk, access to a private location other than a bathroom for the expression of breast milk, acquisition or modification of equipment or access to or modification of employee seating, a temporary transfer to a less strenuous or hazardous position, assistance with manual labor, job restructuring, a modified work schedule, light duty assignments, and leave to recover from childbirth.
Requesting Parental Leave
Eligible employees must request parental leave in writing to their supervisor (staff) or department head (faculty) ninety (90) days in advance of the requested leave start date (or as early as possible in the planning phase of an adoption process). Human Resources approves staff requests and the appropriate Dean approves faculty requests for parental leave. Parental leave is independent of other time off or sick leave benefits and runs concurrently with FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act).
All employees requesting parental leave must complete the online Parental Leave Form and make an appointment with Andrea Velasquez. Please complete the FMLA Request form and bring with you to your appointment.
Benefit Changes
If you want to add the new addition to health insurance, you have 31 days from the date of birth/adoption to do so. Contact Human Resources for instructions on how to enroll in Workday. You will need to provide a birth certificate or proof of birth from the hospital to enroll the child.
You may want to make changes to your group life insurance beneficiaries. To do so, you should complete this is Workday. If you want to change beneficiaries on your retirement account, please contact TIAA and/or Fidelity directly.
To make a change to tax withholding allowances (which you can do at anytime), you'll complete new federal and state tax withholding forms and return to HR.
Lactation Stations & Support
The University has four lactation stations available to employees, students and campus visitors. They are located in Early-Fielding 104, Holekamp 004, Law School 452 and Tucker Hall 021 (campus map). Many employees have private offices that make pumping more convenient. If you do not have a private office, or if your workspace otherwise lacks privacy, we will work with you to find a lactation space that is convenient and private. Contact Andrea Velasquez to begin this process.
Childcare Resources
A listing of resources is available on our Dependent Care page.