Iowa State is following a directive to provide a set amount of paid leave for parents expecting children, even though the policy was tabled before it passed.

Last fall, budget cuts led the Board of Regents to indefinitely table a policy allowing faculty and professional and scientific employees to have six weeks of paid leave upon the arrival of a new child into their family, said Susan Carlson, associate provost.

However, the university has passed guidelines in an effort to put some sort of rules in place while the policy is still tabled.

The university cannot change the current leave policies without the approval of the Board of Regents, Carlson said. So, in order to help faculty and professional and scientific employees expecting new children, the provost’s office sent out a set of guidelines to deans, directors and department chairpersons in January designed to help employees use the current policies to their benefit.

The university’s current policy requires faculty giving birth to use their medical sick leave to take time off — taking away their ability to use the sick days for other reasons. The policy also causes possible problems for new mothers if they don’t have enough sick days accumulated to cover a paid maternity leave.

The tabled policy would have helped to solve problems faculty face by automatically offering six weeks paid leave for all parents expecting a child.

And, in contrast to the current policy, the proposal was also not exclusive to women giving birth. It included both mothers and fathers because both parents face major changes at the introduction of a new child into the family, Carlson said.

“We were very disappointed to have [the policy] tabled,” Carlson said. “That doesn’t mean its dead, but it’s hard to say what will happen now.”

According to the passed guidelines found on the Provost office Web site, www.provost.iastate.edu, employees should meet with their supervisors about the need to take leave as soon as possible. A work plan can then be created with the length of leave and the amount of paid and unpaid leave the employee would use.

The work plan would also note any part-time work the employee would agree to do and needs for equipment or facilities while on leave.

In addition, employees are required to contact their supervisors regularly during leave.

The guidelines also supply a list of responsibilities for the university, the department and the employee.

The lists encourage flexibility on the part of the university and individual departments. It also calls for an “understanding that births and adoptions are not necessarily scheduled events.”

The Provost’s office was motivated to send out these guidelines because many people in the workplace are trying to have families and be professionals, Carlson said.

Another reason is the belief that, in order to have the best faculty and staff, the university needs to show it understands employees have a work component and a family component to their lives and that both are important.

“We’re hoping to send the message, ‘It’s everybody’s responsibility,’ not just about the people having the children; it’s not even just about the administrators who are directly dealing with those people,” Carlson said. “It’s about the whole university community taking part and welcoming families.”

Marian Kohut, assistant professor of health and human performance, has had a child while employed at Iowa State.

She said her department did a great job at working with her during the process, but she did not take an official leave after her son was born in the fall of 2001.

Kohut said her son was born at the end of November, so her graduate assistant was able to teach the rest of her classes until the end of the semester.

When the new semester began, Kohut and her husband juggled their schedules so one of them could be at home with their children.

“It’s not easy,” Kohut said. “I think [the guidelines] are a step in the right direction; having something is better than nothing.”