Maternity/Parental Leave

Congratulations if you are expecting a baby or adopting a child! We hope the information provided below is helpful as you make plans to balance your work life with the changes to your personal/home life.

 

Prior to delivery

  • An employee who is absent from work due to an illness relating to or resulting from pregnancy has the right to use accrued sick leave and/or wage continuation benefits. The employee is required to submit the same types of medical verification as is required for the general use of sick leave.

After delivery

  • Employees should notify their work location and EHS within 5 days of the birth of the child.
  • Upon delivery, parental leave is granted for a period of six weeks for normal delivery or eight weeks for cesarean section (employees must submit medical documentation confirming a cesarean section delivery to EHS).
  • The six-week parental leave period consists of 42 calendar days (including the date of birth); the eight-week parental leave period consists of 56 calendar days (including the date of birth).
  • The six or eight week parental leave is a paid leave if, and only if, the employee giving birth has accrued sick days and/or the wage continuation benefit.  If an employee does not have sick days or the wage continuation benefit, they are still entitled to parental leave as indicated above, however the leave will be unpaid.
  • An employee returning to service from an illness relating to or resulting from their pregnancy and/or childbirth has the right to return to the same position at the school or other location that they vacated subject to the same rules, regulations and time limits as are applied to employees returning from sick or sabbatical leave.

In the event of a claim of a continuing illness related to the pregnancy/childbirth which extends beyond the six or eight week parental leave, she may request continued sick leave.  Documentation must be submitted from the employee’s treating physician to support the claim.  Should there be a conflict between the EHS office and the employee’s physician, such conflict shall be resolved in accordance with the applicable collective bargaining agreement.  Sick leave will not be granted for the sole purpose of child rearing.

 

Options at the end of a six or eight week parental leave

  • Following the six or eight week parental leave, an employee may take an eighty-nine (89) day unpaid leave with the right to return to her position and location. (Calendar days apply in calculating the 89-day unpaid leave.)
  • An employee desiring to return from an extended unpaid parental leave that has lasted between ninety (90) days and two years does not have the right to return to her former position unless it is vacant.
  • An employee desiring to return from an extended unpaid parental leave that has lasted longer than two years has the right to return to School District of Philadelphia employment provided there is a vacancy.
  • Employees may extend their unpaid parental leave up to four years.

 

Employees who adopt children shall have the same unpaid parental leave option available to them as employees who give birth even if the adopted child is over eighteen months old.