(A) Purpose/objective. The Woodford County Fiscal Court will provide up to six weeks of paid parental leave to employees following the birth of an employee's child or the placement of a child with an employee in connection with adoption or foster care. The purpose of paid parental leave is to enable the employee to care for and bond with a newborn or a newly adopted or newly placed child. This policy will run concurrently with Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, as applicable. This policy will be in effect for births, adoptions or placements of foster children occurring on or after October 13, 2020.
(B) Eligibility.
(1) Eligible employees must meet the following criteria:
(a) Have been employed with the county for at least 12 months (the 12 months do not need to be consecutive);
(b) Have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 consecutive months immediately preceding the date the leave would begin; and
(c) Be a full- or part-time regular employee (temporary employees and interns are not eligible for this benefit).
(2) In addition, employees must meet one of the following criteria:
(a) Have given birth to a child;
(b) Be a spouse or committed partner of a woman who has given birth to a child; or
(c) Have adopted a child or been placed with a foster child age 17 or younger. The adoption of a new spouse's child is excluded from this policy.
(C) Amount, timeframe and duration of paid parental leave.
(1) Eligible employees will receive a maximum of six weeks of paid parental leave per birth, adoption, or placement of a child/children. The fact that a multiple birth, adoption, or placement occurs (e.g., the birth of twins or adoption of siblings) does not increase the six-week total amount of paid parental leave granted for that event. In addition, in no case will an employee receive more than six weeks of paid parental leave in a rolling 12-month period, regardless of whether more than one birth, adoption or foster care placement event occurs within that 12-month timeframe.
(2) Each week of paid parental leave is compensated at 100% of the employee's regular, straight-time weekly pay. Paid parental leave will be paid on a biweekly basis on regularly scheduled pay dates.
(3) Employees must take paid parental leave in one continuous period of leave, and any unused paid parental leave will be forfeited.
(4) Upon termination of the individual's employment, he or she will not be paid for any unused paid parental leave for which he or she was eligible.
(D) Coordination with other policies.
(1) Paid parental leave taken under this policy will run concurrently with leave under the FMLA; thus, any leave taken under this policy that falls under the definition of circumstances qualifying for leave due to the birth or placement of a child due to adoption or foster care will be counted toward the 12 weeks of available FMLA leave per a 12-month period. All other requirements and provisions under the FMLA will apply. In no case will the total amount of leave—whether paid or unpaid—granted to the employee under the FMLA exceed 12 weeks during the 12-month FMLA period. Employees should refer to the Family and Medical Leave Policy in § 36.069 for further guidance on the FMLA.
(2) After the paid parental leave is exhausted, the balance of FMLA leave (if applicable) will be compensated through employees' accrued sick, vacation and personal time. Upon exhaustion of accrued sick, vacation and personal time, any remaining leave will be unpaid leave. Employees should refer to the Family and Medical Leave Policy in § 36.069 for further guidance on the FMLA.
(3) The county will maintain all benefits for employees during the paid parental leave period just as if they were taking any other county paid leave such as paid vacation leave or paid sick leave.
(4) If a county holiday occurs while the employee is on paid parental leave, such day will be charged to holiday pay; however, such holiday pay will not extend the total paid parental leave entitlement.
(5) An employee who takes paid parental leave that does not qualify for FMLA leave will be afforded the same level of job protection for the period of time that the employee is on paid parental leave as if the employee was on FMLA-qualifying leave.
(E) Requests for paid parental leave.
(1) The employee will provide his or her supervisor and the human resource (HR) department with notice of the request for leave at least 30 days prior to the proposed date of the leave (or if the leave was not foreseeable, as soon as possible). The employee must complete the necessary HR forms and provide all documentation as required by the HR department to substantiate the request.
(2) As is the case with all county policies, the county has the exclusive right to interpret this policy.
(Ord. 2020-12, passed 10-13-2020)
Cross-reference:
Family and Medical Leave Act, see § 36.069