Penn State to offer paid parental leave, joining other top Centre County employers
Penn State, the top employer in Centre County, will offer paid parental leave for employees starting July 1.
In an email that went out Thursday morning, Penn State, which employs 17,000 full-time faculty and staff, announced it will offer four weeks of paid parental leave to full-time, benefits-eligible staff for use consecutively within the first 90 days of the birth or adoption of a child.
To qualify, staff must be employed in a benefits-eligible position for at least 12 months before the child’s birth or adoption.
“This policy was created to provide additional support for our employees with growing families by allowing them paid time off to spend additional time with their new child,” said the email. “The policy supplements all other available paid time off benefits for family-related needs and runs concurrently with (Family and Medical Leave Act).”
The federal FMLA provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualifying employees for a serious health condition, bonding with a new child or any qualifying exigencies. Pennsylvania does not require employers to provide paid leave for new parents.
Prior to this change, Penn State did not offer paid parental leave for staff, and was required by law to offer up to 12 weeks unpaid leave through FMLA.
According to the email, the Applied Research Laboratory will pilot the paid parental leave program starting Feb. 1 until June 30.
Penn State has offered six weeks of paid maternal leave for faculty members and two weeks of paid leave for the birth parent’s partner since 2004. Adoptive parents who are faculty members also receive six weeks of paid leave, and if both parents are faculty members, may take up to eight weeks combined leave.
The university joins the few other top employers in the county in offering paid parental leave policies. Centre County government, the seventh largest employer in the area, approved a policy change last February to offer six weeks of paid parental leave for employees having, adopting or fostering children.
In August, Ferguson Township Supervisors also approved a policy for six weeks of paid parental leave for employees.
Here’s how other top Centre County employers’ parental leave policies stacked up.
- Pennsylvania state government, the third largest employer, does not have a paid parental leave policy.
- State College Area School District, the fourth largest employer, does not offer paid parental leave.
- Glenn O. Hawbaker, the fifth largest employer, does not offer paid parental leave.
- Walmart Inc., the sixth largest employer, increased its paid parental leave policy from two weeks to six weeks for full-time hourly and salaried employees in March 2018.
- Weis Markets Inc., the ninth largest employer, does not offer paid parental leave.
- Geisinger, the tenth largest employer, implemented two weeks of paid parental leave in September for full- and part-time employees who have worked at Geisinger for at least six months.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 2:39 PM.
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