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Shawn Kendall and her husband Kenneth were excited
to hear about the new parental leave policy following
the birth of their daughter Brianna. (photo by Butch Usery)
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New Parental Leave Benefit Just in Time for Duke Family
Time was literally running out for Shawn Kendall. She
had given birth to her third child in July, and after about
three weeks at home with her newborn daughter,
Brianna, she was about to run out of Paid Time Off.
Kendall, a health unit coordinator in Duke University
Hospital's Birthing Center, was prepared to take time
off without pay because she wanted to stay at home
with her newborn daughter long enough to help get
her on a schedule where she would sleep through
the night.
"I had planned to take about two-and-a-half to three
months off," Kendall said. "That's about how long it
takes to get things at home back on track - to get the
house back in order, to get the baby in a sleeping
pattern. All of my children have started sleeping
through the night after about three months. At that
point you don't have to wake up during the night and
then try to go back to sleep before going to work
the next morning."
Going on unpaid leave was a sacrifice that Kendall was
prepared to make. But then her husband, Kenneth, who
also works at Duke, came home with the good news.
"My husband came home and told me about this new
benefit that had been announced," Kendall said."Then,
my manager called the same day to let me know about
it and told me to check to see if I was eligible."
After calling Human Resources, Kendall found out that
she was eligible and submitted the paperwork to get
three weeks of paid leave credited to her.
"I was excited to hear about the new benefit," said
Kendall, who will celebrate 20 years at Duke next
August."I was glad to hear that Duke decided to
provide this benefit. It really helped me."
The new benefit, which is available to either mothers
or fathers who are the primary caregiver, as well as for
adoption and natural birth, is expected to help about
600 families a year.
Julie Pruitt, a program coordinator at Duke's Center for
Living, counts herself among those families. She had
used a majority of her time off to care for her husband
who had experienced health problems last year, and she
didn't have much Paid Time Off left to use toward her
maternity leave.
"When I heard that Duke was offering a new parental
leave policy, I was moved to tears," she said. "Being
pregnant with my first child, I was struggling with feelings
of guilt about only being able to take a brief maternity
leave after the birth of my child.The parental leave policy
is truly a blessing. Because of the new parental leave
policy, I can afford to extend my maternity leave an extra
three weeks and am thankful to have an opportunity to
spend more time at home with our new child."
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