POLICY
ON Reduction in Duties fOR FAMILY CARE
Draft: 11/12/2003
A Reduction in Duties to provide care for family members
with serious health problems is available to Active Status faculty members.
Upon submission of a request and proper documentation, the faculty member may
be granted a Reduction in Duties according to the following provisions:
- Requests for this Reduction in Duties are made by
the faculty member to the AVP through the appropriate Dean.
- The Reduction in Duties will be one of the
following, both involving full pay and benefits for the faculty member.
- Change from Active Status to On Leave Status:
While On Leave, the faculty member has no duties at the University; or
- 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 reduction 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.)
- A person is considered to be a family member of
the faculty member if that person is a domestic partner, child, child of a
domestic partner, parent, parent of a domestic partner, or a sibling of
the faculty member. Other possible relationships will be considered on an
individual basis, e.g., legal guardianship, etc.
- It is expected that most faculty requesting a
Reduction in Duties for family care should be granted a Reduction in
Teaching Load, with a change to the On Leave Status granted for cases with
extenuating circumstances.
- Reductions in Duties for family care are granted
for a one-semester period but may be renewed upon approval by the AVP.
- 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.
- 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.
- Faculty members who have their requests for a
Reduction in Duties rejected under this policy may appeal the decision
through the appeal process defined in the Faculty Handbook.
A visiting faculty member may be granted a Reduction in
Duties under this policy as the situation warrants.
11-04-03