After several discussions throughout the semester, Faculty Senate voted to pass the proposed revisions to the University of Idaho”s leave policy at the Feb. 12 meeting.
The revisions came from UI administration, and Debra Ellers of General Counsel presented them at the meeting. The biggest change was that new employees would have to wait six months from their first day to be eligible for parental leave.
The maximum waiting period for leave as required by law is 12 months. Earlier in the semester, Faculty Senate expressed intent to eliminate any waiting period and allow employees to be eligible for parental leave from their first day, but UI Provost and Executive Vice President John Wiencek had some concerns.
Ellers said allowing employees to use parenting leave so soon may make things difficult for hiring managers and adds stress to other employees” lives who have to cover for the new person being gone.
“I think that the family friendly concept is a great one, that”s very commendable,” Ellers said. “But also the other side is thinking about the long-term, long-suffering employees who are trying to cover the openings the hiring manager is trying to hire for.
Faculty Sen. Jodi Nicotra of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences asked what would happen if a pregnant woman was hired and then had to have an emergency C-section while she was still within the six-month period. Ellers said it would be up to the employee to take personal, unpaid leave or they would be advised to reapply later because the position needs to be filled.
The statement rose the eyebrows of several senators. Nicotra asked if that was discriminatory.
“It”s not, because attendance is a job requirement,” Ellers said.
Faculty Sen. Andrew Brewick of Staff Council asked about another portion of the revised proposal, in which employees must give at least 30 days notice before taking leave. Ellers said the change was made to provide Human Resources with an adequate amount of time to process it, but if an employee needed to take leave right away and was not able to give a notice of 30 days it would not be required.
At this week”s Faculty Senate meeting, Faculty Sen. Brian Mahoney of Staff Council said he was under the impression that the policy revisions went through Staff Council. He said was surprised to find out the group did not have adequate time to look at the revisions before Faculty Senate voted on it, although he and Staff Council still support the decision that was made.
Brewick agreed with Mahoney and said the policy was substantial enough that this was something that should have circulated through staff before Faculty Senate made a decision.
Vice Chair of Faculty Senate Liz Brandt said although staff input is important, if they took any extra time the policy wouldn”t pass this year, since the next University Faculty Meeting is coming up on May 3.
“It was sort of the rock and the hard place that we were stuck between,” Brandt said.
Faculty Secretary Don Crowley said he thought the assumption among all members of Faculty Senate was that if they didn”t approve the changes, UI President Chuck Staben would veto any other proposed solutions.
“Those changes didn”t come from anybody up here,” Crowley said. “They came from somewhere else.”
Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ErinBamer