Parental Leave

The birth or adoption of a child is a qualifying event to add them to your benefits at RIT. You have 31 days from the date of birth or placement to update your benefits via the Change Benefits for Regular Employee service request. 

The change you make must be consistent with the change in your circumstances. Employees can make the following changes: 

• Add child to your medical, dental, vision coverage. You can change medical plans but you cannot change dental plans.
• Cancel medical, dental or vision coverage if enrolling in your spouse's plan.
• Enroll or increase your Supplemental and/or Spouse Life Insurance (evidence of insurability required).
• Enroll in or add new child to Child Life and/or Child AD&D Insurance.
• Enroll or increase Beneflex election (Health Care and/or Dependent Day Care Spending Account).
• Review (and update, if necessary) your life insurance and retirement plan beneficiary designations. 

RIT will hold the position of an employee on an approved disability leave for six months.  If the employee is not able to return to work within six months of cumulative lost time in any rolling 52 week period, the department may begin recruitment efforts to fill the position. Questions regarding an employee's employment status should be directed to their HR Business Partner. 

The standard duration of short-term disability following the birth of a child is 6 to 8 weeks, depending on the type of birth, as determined by Prudential under New York State Disability Law. You will qualify for Short-Term Disability for the time period your doctor considers you unable to work. 

How to apply? See Applying for Short Term Disability page for process and additional details regarding short term disability leave. 

RIT short term disability benefits is comprised of two parts: 

• Your NYS statutory disability benefits (After a one-week waiting period of seven consecutive calendar days, NYS disability benefits provide 50% of your pay to a maximum of $170 per week.) And,
• An RIT benefit pay supplement (outlined below)

NOTE: Employees are considered disabled beginning on their first day absent from work as determine by their physician and should not perform any work on behalf of RIT. 

RIT Pay Supplement

The RIT Pay Supplement is payable upon approval of claim by Prudential. RIT will provide the first week of Pay Supplement while an employee's claim is pending at Prudential. If approval is not received in time for the next pay period, no further supplemental pay will be paid until Prudential has approved the claim. At that time, all back Pay Supplement will be paid to the employee in the next payroll cycle.

**If you wish to use sick days to supplement your disability, please contact the FMLA mailbox.  fmla@rit.edu.

New York State Disability and Paid Family Leave benefits are only provided for total leave, which means an employee may not perform any RIT related work including emails during the disability or family leave. 

While on leave, you are required to communicate to your manager and Prudential all updates to your leave status including any leave extension dates and expected return to work dates. You are responsible for making sure your physician completes and returns all required documentation on a timely basis to Prudential.  

IMPORTANT! Any request for extension of disability benefits beyond the initial approved through date will not be paid by RIT until Prudential has received medical documentation to support continued disability and approved the extension of benefits. 

FMLA leave runs concurrently with short term disability, NYS PFL and RIT's New Parent Leave. When you open your claim, Prudential will assess your eligibility and approve you for the leave type(s) you are eligible for. 

Accordingly, and in compliance with both Federal and New York State law, RIT provides support by allowing reasonable time away from work for employees who are lactating to express milk, and makes reasonable efforts to provide a private room or other location in proximity to the work area for such activity. This accommodation is available up to three years following the birth of the employee's child.

See Lactating Employee Accommodation policy for more information. 

Regular and non-regular employees may be eligible for state statutory disability benefits based on the state they reside in. To determine if an your home state offers a statutory disability leave, see the Statutory Paid Leaves outline provided by Prudential. 

If a regular employees is eligible for statutory benefits through their home state, they must apply directly with the state for these benefits and provide confirmation of these benefits to the FMLA mailbox. 

In addition, eligible employees must also apply for Family Medical Leave (FMLA) benefits through Prudential. FMLA provides an employee with up to twelve (12) weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave due to their own serious medical condition or that of a family member. See the Family Medical Leave page for more information regarding FMLA and covered leave reasons. 

If your state does not have a state funded disability plan, you would follow the NYS disability pay guidelines outlined above. If your state does have a state funded plan, RIT will supplement what the state pays as follows:

If your state has a mandated waiting period, you will need to use RIT sick time as follows:

• Non-exempt employees will need to use available sick/personal days (recorded in Kronos.) Non-exempt employees that do not have available sick days may request the use of available vacation days.
• Exempt employees will need to use exempt illness days (recorded in Oracle.)
• Use of this time is designed to keep you at 100% of base pay during any mandatory waiting period.  If you do not have enough sick or vacation days available to cover the waiting period, you will not receive pay for those days in the waiting period 

If you remain disabled beyond 8 weeks, RIT will supplement the disability benefits to 80% of your base pay for the duration of the approved disability, up to 26 weeks total benefit. During the period of time you receive the 80% supplemental benefit, RIT can apply any available sick days to supplement these days to 100% of your base pay. You cannot exceed 100% of your pay between your supplemental pay and sick time.  

**If you wish to use sick days to supplement your disability, please notify RIT through the FMLA mailbox.

The federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides unpaid time for bonding a new child. An FMLA leave runs concurrently with short term disability, NYS PFL and RIT's new Parent leave. 

Federal FMLA Poster

State Disability and Paid Family Leave benefits are only provided for total leave, which means an employee may not perform any RIT related work including emails during the disability or family leave. 

Employees receiving state disability benefits must work with their state to provide any required documentation for their leave.  If eligible for FMLA benefits, non-NY employees coordinate their FMLA leave through Prudential. 

While on disability leave, you are required to communicate to your manager and Prudential all updates to your leave status including any leave extension dates and expected return to work dates.

You are responsible for making sure your physician completes and returns all required documentation on a timely basis to your state funded plan for disability and Prudential for FMLA. 

IMPORTANT! Any request for extension of disability benefits beyond the initial approved through date will not be paid by RIT until Prudential has received medical documentation to support continued disability and approved the extension of benefits. 

All regular full-time and part-time employees who are scheduled to work 750 or more hours per year become eligible for the Adoption Assistance Program upon employment.

To request reimbursement for eligible adoption expenses, employees should submit Adoption Assistance Program Reimbursement Form service request. 

Employees will be reimbursed for up to $2,000 for the following expenses incurred in the placement and adoption of a child:

• Fees of a private or government adoption agency that is accredited or licensed.
• Placement fees including professional evaluation through home studies, interviews with prospective adoptive and natural parents, physical exams and private placement fees by a doctor, lawyer or other appropriate professional.
• Temporary foster care fees including foster care required immediately before placement of a child in your home.
• Legal and court fees including court supervision, termination of natural, parental rights, final adoption procedures and birth certificate preparation.
• Traveling expenses including costs for meals and lodging.

Use the Adoption Assistance Program service request to submit your expenses for reimbursements. 

This policy excludes, but is not limited to, the following expenses related to adoption:

• Professional counseling for the natural parents.
• Institutional living expenses such as an orphanage, children’s home or unwed mothers home for the child or natural mother.
• Fees related to establishing legal guardianship.
• Fees related to the adoption of children over the age of 18 unless the child is physically or mentally incapable of caring for him/herself.
• Fees related to surrogate parenting arrangements, illegal adoptions or adoption of a spouse’s child.
• Contested legal actions to establish parental rights before adoption.
• Maternity fees for the natural mother, including pre and postnatal care, obstetrical fees and related hospital charges.

Full or partial payment may be requested any time after the child is placed in the home. This policy does not require that the employee wait for reimbursement until the final date of adoption has occurred. In cases of multiple adoptions, the adoption of each child will be considered separate, however a maximum of $4,000 will be paid under this policy to any family during any twelve-month period.

The federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides unpaid time for up to 12 weeks of leave for an employee's bonding a new child.

FMLA leave runs concurrently with NYS PFL and RIT's New Parent Leave. When you open your claim, Prudential will assess your eligibility and approve you for the leave type(s) you are eligible for. 

After the birth or placement of your child, new parents can apply for RIT’s New Parent Leave to supplement the amount of the benefit paid under NYS PFL. RIT's New Parent Leave is administered by Prudential. To apply for leave, see the below section titled "Requesting Leave Through Prudential." 

RIT’s New Parent Leave cannot be taken separately, unless you are not eligible for NYS PFL because you do not meet the NYS PFL requirements see below). New Parent Leave offers two pay supplement options – Primary Caregiver (four weeks of pay supplement) and Secondary Caregiver (two weeks of pay supplement). If your spouse or domestic partner also works at RIT, both employees cannot claim Primary Caregiver during simultaneous bonding leaves for the same child.

New Parent Leave, NYS Paid Family Leave and Family Medical Leave (FMLA) run concurrently as you are eligible for more than one program at the same time. When you open your claim, Prudential will assess your eligibility and approve you for the leave type(s) you are eligible for. 

New York State’s Paid Family Leave (NYS PFL) provides job-protected time away from work with partial pay for eligible employees for qualifying reasons.

Eligibility for NYS PFL  All RIT employees, including adjuncts and student employees, who work in New York State are eligible, provided they meet certain criteria as defined by New York State - Employees scheduled to work 20 or more hours per week – eligible after 26 consecutive weeks of RIT service or employees scheduled to work less than 20 hours per week – eligible after 175 days of RIT work. NOTE: in order to be eligible for NYS PFL, you must be working in New York State.

PFL Benefit for 2023  For leaves that begin in 2023, the NYS PFL benefit is 67% of pay, with a maximum weekly benefit of $1,131.08, which is 67% of the New York State Average Weekly Wage. The maximum duration of NYS PFL is 12 weeks; the time must be taken in full-day increments and can be taken in a block of time or intermittently. Employees on PFL will receive their PFL benefits directly from Prudential, via a paper check or direct deposit bi-weekly (in arrears) basis. 

PFL Benefit for 2024  For leaves that begin in 2024, the NYS PFL benefit is 67% of pay, with a maximum weekly benefit of $1,151.16 which is 67% of the New York State Average Weekly Wage. The maximum duration of NYS PFL is 12 weeks; the time must be taken in full-day increments and can be taken in a block of time or intermittently. Employees on PFL will receive their PFL benefits directly from Prudential, via a paper check or direct deposit bi-weekly (in arrears) basis. 

Note New Parent Leave (full pay), NYS Paid Family Leave (partial pay) and Family Medical Leave (unpaid) run concurrently as you are eligible for more than one program at the same time. When you open your claim, Prudential will assess your eligibility and approve you for the leave type(s) you are eligible for. Below you will find an outline as to how the programs work together. 

Applying for NYS Paid Family Leave RIT works with Prudential for disability and family leave management services for employees.

For parents who are taking bonding leave that was not initiated through a short term disability leave for childbirth, you will need to call Prudential’s toll-free phone number 877-908-4778 or 844-778-4255/TTY to request your bonding leave. If your leave is planned in advance, you should contact Prudential 30 days before your absence begins or within 2 days of learning of the need for leave.  

RIT works with Prudential for disability and family leave management services for employees. Therefore, you must call Prudential’s toll-free phone number 877-908-4778 or 844-778-4255/TTY to report your leave request. If you are unsure of what leave programs you are eligible for, Prudential will be able to help determine. 

Information You Will be Asked to Provide When You Call Prudential

• Employer Name
• RIT Control Number – 50757
• Employee ID
• Reason for your Absence
• First day of leave
• Regular Work Schedule
• Date of expected return to work if known

In addition, once your claim has been opened, you will need to provide the following to Prudential: 

• The birth mother will need the following documentation:
  • Birth Certificate, or
  • Documentation of pregnancy or birth from a health care provider (includes mother’s name and due/birth dates)
• A second parent will need the following documentation:
  • Birth certificate, or if not available, a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity or court order of filiation; or • A copy of documentation of pregnancy or birth from a health care provider (includes mother's name and due/birth dates) and a second document verifying the parent's relationship with the birth mother or child. An example would be a marriage certificate or evidence of a domestic partnership.
• For Foster Care:
  • Letter of placement issued by county or city department of social services or local voluntary agency
  • If second parent is not named in documentation, a copy of that document plus a second document verifying relationship to the parent named in the foster care placement.
• For Adoption:
  •  Legal evidence of adoption process
  • If second parent is not named in legal documents, the second parent must provide a copy of the legal evidence of adoption process and a second document verifying the relationship to the parent named in the document.