UNC staff also shorted on family leave benefits

TO THE EDITOR:

In response to the editorial calling for better pregnancy support for undergraduates (“Support system needed,” April 9), I would like to point out that UNC staff do not receive the same family leave benefits as faculty members and graduate students at this University.

Campus SPA and EPA non-faculty staff receive only the minimum benefits required by the federal Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA): For the birth of a child, an employee may choose to use accrued leave (vacation, bonus, sick) and/or receive unpaid leave for up to 12 work weeks.

FMLA guarantees that an employee’s job and benefits are protected during this leave time. EPA non-faculty employees, for instance, receive 24 vacation days and 12 sick days per calendar year. Therefore, one would need to save up all sick and vacation leave for almost two years in order to accrue enough leave to continue receiving a paycheck for the entire 12 weeks FMLA allows.

And this doesn’t account for all the hours of sick leave a pregnant woman needs to use in order to attend her OB/GYN visits.

SPA staff generally receive less vacation leave annually, and they would need to save up for an even longer period of time.

By contrast, each faculty member receives a full semester of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child in addition to 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA leave.

Graduate students are allowed up to six weeks of maternity leave, during which time they receive full stipend support and health benefits.

We’d be interested in opening a campus-wide discussion about the disparity in maternity benefits among these different groups.



Tanya Kinsella
Undergraduate Academic Program Coordinator
Center for European Studies