Paid Parental leave

University employees who become a parent via childbirth, adoption, foster care or another legal placement are eligible if at the time of the qualifying event they:

• The employee is full-time or part-time (regardless whether half-time or more) in a permanent, probationary, or time-limited (benefits-eligible) appointment at the time of the qualifying event;
• For the immediate twelve (12) preceding months, employee has been employed without a break in service* by the State of North Carolina in a permanent, time-limited, or probationary appointment.
  • Periods of workers’ compensation or short-term disability in the 12 months preceding the qualifying events do not make the employee ineligible for paid parental leave.
  • Periods of leave without pay, as defined in 25 NCAC 01E.1100 and the Leave Without pay Policy, shall not constitute a break in service**.
• The employee has been in pay status for at least 1,040 hours in the previous twelve-month period.
  • Whether an employee exhausted FML does not affect eligibility for paid parental leave.

* Under 25 NCAC 01D .0114, “A break in service shall be deemed to occur when an employee is not in pay status, as defined in 25 NCAC 01D .0105, for more than 31 calendar days.” Pay status is defined to mean, “An employee shall be deemed to be in pay status when working, when on paid leave, when exhausting vacation or sick leave, or when on workers’ compensation leave.” 25 NCAC 01D .0105(a). ** 25 NCAC 01D .0114.

Paid Parental Leave for Postdocs & House Officers

• Leave earning Postdocs and House Officers with an appointment of at least .5 FTE are eligible for Paid Parental Leave under the Postdoc Paid Parental Program. More information about this policy is available at: https://grad.ncsu.edu/paid-parental-leave-for-postdocs/To initiate this process, please reach out to the Office of Post-Doctoral Affairs directly at postdocadmin@ncsu.edu 
• Important: An FML request is required to be entered in WolfTime in addition to requesting Paid Parental Leave through the Office of Post Doctoral Affairs.

Paid Parental Leave provides:

• Eight (8) weeks of paid parental leave for the birth parent, providing the first four (4) weeks for recuperation immediately following the birth and
• Four (4) weeks of paid parental leave for the non-birth parent, as well as for adoptions, foster care, or other legal placement of a child.

• Each week of Paid Parental Leave will be compensated at 100% of the employee’s regular, straight-time weekly pay.
• Leave for part-time employees will be awarded on a pro-rated basis corresponding to the percentage of hours they normally are scheduled to work.
• Eligible University employees who have given birth shall be provided four weeks (160 hours, pro-rated for part-time) of Paid Parental Leave for recuperation during the disability period associated with the birth (“Recuperation Leave”). This leave must be used as a continuous four-week period of leave commencing immediately following the birth.
• Eligible University employees shall be provided four weeks (160 hours, pro-rated for parttime) of Paid Parental Leave to care for and bond with an eligible child (“Bonding Leave”). This applies to both parents. This leave must be used within the first twelve months of the
  birth or placement of the child and should be coordinated with the employee’s management to minimize impact to the work unit, if feasible, and to avoid any public safety concern. This leave must be used as a continuous four-week period of leave.
• Eligible University employees are only eligible for (“Recuperation and/or Bonding Leave”) once within a twelve month period from the last day the leave was taken. Ex: If the birth occurred on 4-5-2022, PPL-Bonding taken 1-10-2023 – 2-6-2023, and subsequently a new birth is occurring 9-5-2023; the employee would not be eligible for the use of PPL- Bonding until 2/7/2024.
• Paid Parental Leave must run concurrent with Family & Medical Leave, if available. Even if the employee has already exhausted their available Family & Medical Leave, the employee will remain eligible to use Paid Parental Leave if it has not been used within the past twelve months.
• Employees must be approved for Paid Parental Leave prior to taking the leave.
• Paid Parental Leave (“Recuperation Leave”) must be applied to absences prior to the employee using any available personal leave (vacation, bonus, sick, etc.), other accrued paid time off, or leave without pay.
• Paid Parental Leave (“Recuperation Leave”) must be taken immediately after the birth, otherwise the leave will be forfeited.
• Paid Parental Leave cannot be used prior to the birth or legal placement of a child for related medical issues or placement-related legal or court appointments.
• If both parents work for the same institution, each is independently eligible to use Paid Parental Leave; the leave benefit is not combined for the parents for a qualifying event.
• Paid Parental Leave (“Bonding Leave”) must be used within twelve months of the birth of the child or placement of the child; if it is not used in that time, then it is forfeited.
• Eligibility for Paid Parental Leave ends if an employee transfers to an ineligible position/appointment or to a non-participating institution. Paid Parental Leave is not paid out upon separation from employment and cannot be donated to other employees.

Exception for Stillbirth

In the event of a stillbirth occurring twenty or more weeks into the pregnancy, a birth mother who is otherwise an eligible University employee shall be provided up to four weeks of Paid Parental Recuperation Leave commencing immediately following the stillbirth.

Temporary positions, to include Graduate Students, are not eligible for the Paid Parental Leave program.

Relationship to Faculty Serious Illness and Disability Leave

• Non-leave earning faculty covered by Sections 300.2.11 and 300.2.11[G] of the UNC Policy Manual, and any other faculty who are covered by their institution’s Faculty Serious Illness and Disability Leave program, are not covered by this regulation. More information about this policy is available at: https://policies.ncsu.edu/policy/pol-05-30-01/

• Qualifying event
• Effective date of qualifying event
• Leave begin date and end date
• Required supporting documentation, if available

Examples of Acceptable Supporting Documentation

To submit a Paid Parental Leave request please go to the MyPack Portal and log in.

• Under Employee Self Service click on the WolfTime tile.
• Click on the Request Extended Absence tile.
• Click on the (+) sign and select the “Absence Type and Absence Take” for Paid Parental Leave.
• You will be logged into the Paid Parental Leave Request page.
• Follow Steps 1-4 to submit your request.

Note: You will also need to submit a Family & Medical Leave (FML) request, as Paid Parental Leave will run concurrently with FML. You can find step-by-step instructions on how to submit an FML request here.

After you submit your request, you and your supervisor will receive a confirmation email from University Human Resources confirming that we have received your request for processing.

The NCSU Leave Team will review eligibility and supporting documentation and will communicate directly with you regarding the status of your request.

All communications from the NCSU Leave Team will be sent from the ncsuleaveteam@ncsu.edu email address.

Once approved, weekly subsequent requests can be submitted by the employee through WolfTime.

Should you have any questions about your request, you may email them to ncsuleaveteam@ncsu.edu.