POLICY ON Reduction in Duties FOR THE ADOPTION OF A CHILD

Draft Printed:11/12/2003

A Reduction in Duties for the adoption of a child is available to Active Status faculty members. Unless the University is experiencing a Financial Exigency, upon submission of a request and proper documentation from a physician, the faculty member will automatically be granted a Reduction in Duties according to the following provisions:

1. Requests for this Reduction in Duties are made by the faculty member to the AVP through the appropriate Dean.

2. The Reduction in Duties will be one of the following, both involving full pay and benefits for the faculty member.
1. Change from Active Status to On Leave Status: While On Leave, the faculty member has no duties at the University; or
2. Reduction in Teaching Load: The faculty member has normal duties, except for a 6-hour reduction from the faculty member’s regular teaching load. For Library Faculty this is to be interpreted as a change to half-time duties. (Regular Teaching Load is to be interpreted as the number of hours the faculty member would have taught had the Reduction not been granted.)

3. A faculty member will be granted a Reduction in Duties for one semester for the adoption of a child. The Reduction may be either a change to On Leave Status or a Reduction in Teaching Load. If the faculty member requests, a second semester of reduced duties, consecutive with the first, may be approved but is not automatic.

4. The semester of the Reduction must be concluded by the one-year anniversary of physical custody of the child.

5. After a faculty member has invoked this policy twice, additional Reductions in Duties under this policy are no longer automatic but must be approved by the Academic Vice President.

6. Two or more children adopted simultaneously or within a one-year period will normally count as one for the purposes of this policy. The custody date referred to in number 4 will be the custody date of the first child adopted.

7. A faculty member who intends to invoke this policy must consult with the appropriate department chair as soon as is practicable, so as to allow the University a reasonable opportunity to provide for coverage of the duties of the faculty member during the period of reduced duties.

8. Administrators must exercise due care to ensure that the granting of a Reduction in Duties under this policy does not simply increase the workload of the other faculty members in the department; that is, visiting faculty and/or additional part-time faculty should be hired as appropriate to cover the responsibilities of the faculty member granted the Reduction in Duties.

9. If two JCU active status faculty members qualify for this Reduction in Duties as a result of the same child, only one at a time will be granted a Reduction in Duties.

A visiting faculty member may be granted a Reduction in Duties under this policy as the situation warrants; however, these reductions are not automatic and must be approved by the Academic Vice President.

11-09-03