Family leave policy misleads

For English professor Heather Easterling Ritchie, the problem with Gonzaga's current maternity leave policy isn't that it doesn't provide adequate coverage. Instead, she said it's a problem of clarity and communication.

Easterling, who had a child almost three years ago, said that it worked fairly smoothly for her, which doesn't mean that she doesn't want to see some things changed.

"That worked fine for me," she said. "But in general, I feel the system is inadequate."

Amber McKenzie-O'Neil, the associate director of the international student program, had a child in May 2011. She said that she took two months off and then started working two days a week in July, by choice.  Like Easterling, McKenzie-O'Neil said that the cultural orientation toward pregnancy is a problem that needs to change.

"Honestly, the issue has less to do with Gonzaga, and more to do with the United States and its laws as well as the culture around maternity leave," McKenzie-O'Neil said. "I don't like that ‘maternity leave' is literally considered a ‘disability' under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and is therefore also considered a ‘disability' by Gonzaga."

GU, while not having an official "Maternity Leave," has a series of federally and state mandated leaves that cover the birth of a child, said Human Resources Benefits Manager Debby LaRocco. This structure ends up providing around 18 weeks of job-protected leave, she said. When compared to other universities similar to GU, it's a fairly typical set-up.

"We offer a great short-term disability package to cover medical leave and pregnancy leave," LaRocco said. "And that's comparable to what other higher education institutions offer."

According to LaRocco, in the current structure, staff use up accumulated sick and vacation days while on leave. Sick days accumulate for staff at the rate of one per month. After a staff member uses up their accumulated sick and vacation days they still have job-protected leave, it's just not paid. The federal FMLA, protects an employee's job for up to 12 weeks.

In addition to the FMLA, Washington state has two state leaves that run concurrently with the federal leave. The first one, the Pregnancy Disability leave, provides six weeks, while the second, the Washington Family Leave Act, adds an additional 12 weeks. All told, LaRocco said, staff and faculty can take around 18 weeks or more of job-protected leave when they have a child.

It's a similar setup for faculty, except for one key difference, LaRocco said. Faculty, who don't have a typical 9 to 5 schedule don't accrue sick or vacation days. Instead, they receive short term disability leave, which is generally around six weeks of full pay, depending on their medical condition. After the six weeks, faculty can take an additional 12 weeks if it's deemed necessary. If either faculty or staff encounter major complications Gonzaga provides long term disability plans. Both faculty and staff have protected leave, LaRocco said.

Professor Carolyn Cunningham, who is expecting to deliver her baby in three weeks, said it has been easy to navigate the leave structure. As an assistant professor in the communications and leadership program her situation is a little different, she said, as she is able to teach online courses this coming semester, thus allowing her to work from home. At first Cunningham said that she did feel some pressure about how going on leave might affect her job, however, after investigating and going to HR she said that  realized the pressure was self-imposed.

"I think there are a lot of assumptions and people think it's going to be unfriendly," she said. "I want to stress it doesn't have to be. One thing I'm really glad I did was go to HR."

While Easterling still critiques the system as a whole, she said that she felt very supported by the HR department, and LaRocco in particular.

"Debby and the people at HR, they're great," she said. She said that she would like to see a change in the actual policy itself, not the people upholding the policy.

It's a complex issue, she said. However, it's important that it's discussed by the university. As it is, she said, it seems ironic that Gonzaga says community is a key tenant of the college, yet doesn't have a dedicated maternity leave.

"The place where the conversation needs to be more substantial is at the level of the department [chairs], the deans office and the academic vice president," she said. 