Massachusetts Society of Professors

Librarians and tenure-system faculty are eligible for one semester of paid leave following the birth or adoption of a young child. Non-tenure-track faculty are eligible for paid parental leave after three years working at UMass.

Full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty members are eligible for one semester of paid parental leave.  Librarians with at least four months of service are eligible for one semester, or 24 weeks, of paid parental leave. All non-tenure-track faculty members who are not funded by grants, contracts, or gifts, who have three years of full-time service, and who have appointments that make it possible to fulfill a return obligation are eligible for one semester of paid parental leave.

Leave must be taken the semester in which the child’s birth or adoption occurs or an adjacent semester.  Faculty members and librarians are required to use accrued sick leave but anyone with insufficient accrued sick leave may draw from the Sick Leave Bank.

To apply for parental leave:

1. Submit the electronic Parental Leave Application to your department Chair/Head.
2. Attach to the electronic application or email, a scan of the child’s birth certificate, adoption certificate, or letter from your doctor indicating the expected or actual date of birth.
3. If you have exhausted your own sick leave time and will need to use the Sick Leave Bank, you do not need to fill out an additional application other than the Parental Leave Application.