A View from the Inside

Advocating for Equity in Parental Leave

Ian Ringgenberg, chair, P&A Senate
Shannon Farrell, co-chair, P&A Senate Benefits & Compensation Subcommittee

In the Fall of 2016, the P&A Senate Benefits & Compensation Subcommittee began investigating how the University of Minnesota's parental leave policies compared to other universities, and how well they worked for University employees. Parental leave seems to be a perennial topic of consideration on the committee, but one that rarely provides easy answers. Part of the difficulty with analyzing parental leave is that any individual birth may be covered by multiple types of leave used in sequence or simultaneously. In trying to assess the University's standing among peer institutions, we found a web of federal and state law, campus policies, disability leave, vacation time, and sick leave. Add to that the fact that the American system of parental leave is such an outlier on a global scale-- the only one of the 41 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) not to mandate paid maternity leave at a national level-- and it’s tough to know where to start to adjust policy.

In discussions with constituents, a theme began to emerge that adoptive parents in particular struggled with the current policy at the University. While birthing mothers at the University are currently granted six weeks of paid leave, non-birthing parents receive only two weeks of paid leave, with an additional four weeks of unpaid leave. The stories we heard from adoptive parents suggested that only having two paid weeks was inadequate for the experience of adopting a child. The bureaucratic process of going through an adoption can easily consume two weeks of leave, without allowing any time to bond with the child. It should come as no surprise that having a child is expensive, and an adopted child is no exception. To ask adoptive parents to take unpaid time away to have a child pushes it further out of the reach of many employees. In addition, most childcare centers will not accept a child until they are six weeks old, so for adoptive parents of infant children, taking additional time off goes without saying.

To address these issues, the P&A Senate passed a resolution requesting that all parents welcoming new children into their families be granted six weeks of paid, designated parental leave. An additional concern is the gendered language in the current parental leave policy, which specifies that birthing mothers receive six weeks paid leave. In an effort to be more inclusive of trans and gender non-conforming employees, the language in the resolution is purposefully gender-neutral. In fall 2017, in advance of consideration by the University Senate, a number of governance bodies, including the Civil Service Senate, the Senate Committee on Faculty Affairs, and the Social Concerns Committee,  endorsed the resolution. We are hopeful that if the resolution passes at the University Senate, the  administration will work to implement the change as policy.

From the conversations we’ve had with committees, constituents, and amongst ourselves, it’s clear this resolution is a place to start-- not a place to end. Many parents, particularly birthing parents, find they are not ready to return to work at six weeks and deserve the support of the campus community during that time. Others would appreciate support of flexible and part-time work arrangements as they adjust to the balance of family and work obligations. Finally, other issues relating to parental leave remain problematic. For example, parental leave for personnel paid from grants causes a number of concerns, including funding and potential hiring bias. However, we believe this resolution will make progress toward upholding the University’s promise of a family-friendly environment for our employees.