Duke Introduces New Parental Leave Benefit for Staff
 Duke announced a new
parental leave benefit for staff that will provide greater support for employees balancing the demands of work and family life.
Under the previous policy, Duke employees had to use vacation, sick time or
Paid Time Off (PTO) to receive pay while on leave for the birth or adoption of a child. The new policy provides three weeks of base pay to eligible staff - either female or male - who are considered the primary caregiver
in their families.
"One of the issues that has continued to surface at Duke is the lack of paid leave for staff giving birth or adopting children," Keohane said. "The addition of this benefit will help support members of
the Duke community - both women and men - as they strive to balance their work with the wonderful but challenging role of becoming parents, or as their families grow."
The new benefit, which takes effect September 1, resulted from an initiative the president launched last year to study and respond to issues among women at Duke. In spring 2002, Keohane appointed a 15-member Women's Steering Committee to
study the experiences of women at Duke and recommend improvements.
The benefit is expected to provide support to a significant number of
employees taking leave for the birth or adoption of a child.
"Duke is one of the few academic institutions to offer such a broad paid parental leave," said Tallman Trask III, executive vice president for Duke. "The benefit covers either the mother or father, and both natural birth and adoption. A paid leave can provide the support many staff members need to spend additional time with their family during this important period. This benefit will also help employees save their vacation or sick time for other needs."
Judy Hall, a staff assistant in the Department of Surgery who is expecting her second child in September, is among the first Duke employees who will benefit from the new policy. She is planning to take off 12 weeks and was expecting to be on leave without pay for at least eight of those weeks.
"The financial aspect is great," Hall said after learning of the policy. "My husband works for the City of Durham, and he has been working extra hours to save money for when I'm out. We did it last time, but it was tough. This will certainly help make it a little easier on us."
While the president's full report on the issues facing women at Duke is not expected until next month, work has already begun on several recommendations for improvement, including the expansion of Duke's child care center, and enhanced tenure-clock relief and parental leave policies for faculty. The faculty parental leave policy, designed for a group that typically does not have vacation time or the ability to teach a course for only part of a semester, provides one semester of paid leave.
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