CMC faculty and staff who are thinking of adding to their families through birth, adoption, or foster care placement will find a new policy in place. Approved by the CMC Board of Trustees in December, the new parental leave policy makes it possible for eligible faculty and staff of either gender to be paid 75 percent or more of their regular salaries while away on parental leave.

The approval means that CMC joins the likes of Carnegie-Mellon University, Mount Holyoke College, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Texas at Austin, which all have parental leave policies for their employees. Traditionally, women and men have had to rely on available sick and/or vacation time to help finance parental time off. The newer policies make it easier to get full benefits and salaries for up to 12 weeks of leave.

CMC’s Board approved separate leave policies for staff and faculty, with the main distinction being that faculty have greater flexibility in scheduling leave time, McCallin says. Both policies apply to eligible men and women. In cases where both the mother and father are CMC employees, both parents would be allowed equal time off, but would be asked to take their leaves at different times.

CMC's new parental leave policy, approved by the Board of Trustees, went into effect Dec. 6, 2002, allowing staff and faculty paid leave for the birth, adoption, or placement of foster children.