SoHE Parental Leave

Background

Prior to the UW-Madison parental leave policy, the School of Human Ecology had a parental leave policy for graduate students. Effective July 1, 2024, UW-Madison’s parental leave policy is in place and provides many of the same benefits, and in some cases, additional benefits beyond what were previously available. To ensure that SoHE graduate students have the same coverage under the UW-Madison parental leave policy, and that the policy and procedure for SoHE graduate students is included below.

Policy

The UW-Madison paid parental leave policy is effective July 1, 2024 to provide eligible employees a maximum of up to 6 weeks of paid time off every 12 months when they experience a qualifying birth or adoptive event. This includes all graduate assistants (TA/PA/RA and PA Reader/Grader). The full details of the UW-Madison policy can be found here. https://hr.wisc.edu/paid-parental-leave/

The UW-Madison policy does not include fellows. The Graduate School has created a supplemental policy for fellows to enable them to access similar benefits.

In cases where the UW-Madison and the Graduate School policy do not cover a SoHE graduate student, the School of Human Ecology may consider providing a similar level of paid parental leave to the graduate student.

As outlined in the UW-Madison policy, (section V., letter B.) paid parental leave may NOT be taken before the date of the qualifying birth or adoption event.

SoHE graduate students may use any earned sick leave (TA/PA/RA) before or after continuous paid parental leave upon approval of the supervisor as outlined in the Graduate Assistant Policies & Procedures. https://hr.wisc.edu/policies/gapp/#leave-benefits

Procedure

All SoHE graduate students requesting paid parental leave will follow the same procedure regardless of funding status. Requests should be submitted at least 30 days in advance of the start date of leave.

• SoHE graduate student submits the parental leave request from to the SoHE Divisional Disability Representative (DDR): Nancy Andrews
  • Current supervisor and/or faculty advisor will sign the request form
• SoHE DDR will review the request for eligibility under the UW-Madison, Graduate School, and/or SoHE paid parental leave policy
• SoHE DDR will send the decision and if approved, the parental leave tracking sheet, to the graduate student and current supervisor/faculty advisor and include the following contacts:
  • Department and/or Graduate Program Chair
  • Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs, Michelle Holland
  • Associate Dean for Graduate Education
  • Associate Dean for Finance and Administration
• SoHE graduate student and current supervisor and/or faculty advisor will return the parental leave tracking sheet to the SoHE DDR at the end of the leave period