Boise State offers up to eight weeks of Paid Parental Leave for all eligible employees, allowing them to take time off to bond as a new family while maintaining their employment status. Paid Parental Leave runs concurrent with FMLA.
Eligibility
To qualify, an employee must meet all the following eligibility requirements:
- They are a regular, benefit-eligible employee who has been employed with the University and/or the State of Idaho for at least twelve months during the past seven years. Those twelve months do not need to be consecutive;
- They have worked twenty or more hours per week and are expected to be employed for more than five months.
- They have worked at least 1,250 hours during the twelve consecutive months immediately preceding the date of the birth, adoption, or foster placement.
In addition, you must meet one of the following criteria:
- Be a new parent by childbirth; or
- Be the new adoptive parent of a child under the age of eighteen; or
- Be a parent of a child born by a surrogate; or
- Be seeking to adopt a child after the birth of that child, but the adoption has not yet been finalize; or
- Be actively approved to provide foster care or kinship and have an active and ongoing role in parenting the child and their care.
Please note that surrogate mothers, the adoption of a new spouse’s child, and sperm donors are not eligible for Paid Parental Leave.
How To Apply
- Qualifying employees will apply for the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). FMLA grants qualifying employees twelve weeks of consecutive leave. Under this policy, up to eight of those twelve weeks will be paid and must be used within twelve weeks after the birth or adoption of a child. Please apply by contacting our Employee Relations team at hrfmla@boisestate.edu.
- Eligible employees with a contract or work schedule less than twelve (12) months, and greater than or equal to nine (9) months, who experiences a qualifying event during a break in their appointment are eligible for Paid Parental Leave once the employee resumes their active appointment status. The employee is eligible to receive the balance of Paid Parental Leave that remains in the twelve (12) weeks since the qualifying event. For example, a partial-year employee who has a birth, adoption, or foster care or kinship placement of a child eight (8) weeks prior to the resumption of their active appointment will be eligible for four (4) weeks of paid parental leave, as four (4) weeks of paid leave eligibility remains in the twelve (12)-week period since the birth, adoption, or foster care or kinship placement.
- If you need additional time beyond the eight weeks, you can use accrued sick leave or vacation leave during the approved remaining four weeks under your FMLA absence. If you exhaust all sick and vacation leave, please review the Donated Leave Policy and submit a Shared Leave Request Form.
Faculty Workload Release Plan
Boise State provides Faculty Workload Release Plan. This benefit applies to all full-time faculty who teach, including tenured and tenure-track faculty, librarians, clinical faculty, research faculty, lecturers, and instructors. However, it does not apply to non-teaching administrative faculty. This benefit is separate from FMLA and Paid Parental Leave.
Workload Release includes one full teaching load release during any single semester. It also includes a reduction of other duties (such as advising, departmental service, and committee work) for the entire semester.
How to Apply
- Complete the Faculty Workload Release Plan for Birth/Adoption Form. Once submitted, the form will automatically upload to the HR FMLA Department.
- Coordinate with your department and college Dean to establish and approve a Workload Release schedule. Submit the signed schedule and agreed-upon responsibilities to Human Resources via email at hrfmla@boisestate.edu or through campus mail (HR Mail Stop 1265).