Expectant Staff Find Parental Leave Policy a Newborn Wonder

<<< Yes, sir, that's my baby--Admission office administrative assistant Tracy Lynch (center, holding her three-week-old son Timothy), is the first person to take advantage of the new staff parental leave policy. Human resources benefits specialist Jennifer Mullins (left) and Public Safety administrative assistant Jeanne Tripp (right) both expect to use the paid leave after their children are born.

Until this month, staying home with a new infant or newly adopted child meant piecing together unused sick time and vacation time. People came up with paid leaves of varying lengths that way, but now most staffers can stay home as primary caregivers to their new children for six weeks, while receiving full salary and benefits. Leave may be extended to twelve weeks by using vacation or unpaid time too.

When the human resources staff developed the new parental leave policy, they didn't know that a colleague would be among its first users. But benefits specialist Jennifer Mullins, whose first child is due this month, will temporarily stop administering the policy to take advantage of it herself. "It's wonderful that we have parental leave," she says. "We're a women's college, so we should have it." Mullins notes that the new policy, which began July 1, makes this staff benefit comparable to the faculty benefit (though the two are structured differently).

Mimi Baldwin, associate director of admission, who expects her first child in October, says the new policy "is wonderful; it makes me feel supported by the College, and it puts everyone on an equal footing." Baldwin adds, "I always saw it as a contrast that we teach women to have careers and families, but we weren't recognizing that for our own employees. I think Mary Lyon would have wanted this [parental leave]."

Public Safety administrative assistant Jeanne Tripp is expecting her first baby in January 1998. Tripp says she's pleased at not having to use sick time for infant care. "Now I'll have that block of sick time if I need it at the end of my pregnancy, and can still stay home with my baby. Also, I feel more comfortable financially knowing that I'll have paid leave if I have to come back to work later than I plan to."

Mail processor Eileen Kirby, whose first baby is due in late August, thinks it's "great" that she can take the same amount of paid time off without having to use sick days. "I'm really glad this happened--I never understood why the faculty had something we didn't--and this worked out in the nick of time for me."

The timing was even closer for admission office administrative assistant Tracy Lynch, who gave birth to Timothy just as the new policy kicked in. If it hadn't, Lynch would have taken unpaid leave for part of her time off, since she hadn't accumulated enough sick days in the two years since her daughter Kristen was born. "I'm pleased; it'll make a big difference to have all my leave time paid," Lynch says.

Although fathers are eligible for parental leave if they are a new child's primary caregiver, no men have taken the benefit so far, Mullins says.

Prospective parents should contact her or assistant director of human resources Lorraine Gendron for details.

All five moms plan to return to their jobs full time after their parental leaves, though Mullins won't be far from her baby even then; she hopes to enroll the wee one in the campus child care center.