Parental Leave for Faculty
Parental leave provides faculty who become parents, either by birth or adoption of a minor child, with paid leave (up to sixteen weeks of base salary plus endowed professorship or endowed fellowship continuation) to allow for the healthy recovery of the primary caregiver, bonding with the adopted child and/or a period of family adjustment. Leave is available to a natural or adoptive parent who is the primary caregiver, defined as a parent who is responsible for over 50% of care to the child. Any faculty member who is employed full-time, has at least one year of regular full-time service at the time the birth or adoption is scheduled to occur or does occur, gives birth to or fathers a newborn or adopts a child, and is deemed primary caregiver is eligible for leave with pay. The service requirement will be waived for women and men who were previously employed (within six months of their Wake Forest University hire date) by an employer that provided parental benefits similar to those provided by Wake Forest University.
All requests for parental leave must be submitted in writing to the appropriate Department Chair or Dean and approved by the Provost's Office. For more information about the policy, and to learn about the necessary forms and procedures, please see the 2009-2010 Faculty Handbook, or contact the Human Resources Office. The parental leave request form will be available soon.