Leaves

Getting Started - Navigating The Leave Process

Leave Planning Checklists

Employee Request To Initiate a Leave of Absence Forms

Medical Leave Of Absence: Yourself, Parental, or Care for a Family Member

Other-Leave of Absence

Bereavement Leave
Domestic Violence Leave
Military Leave
Jury Duty

Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (MA PFML)

Paid leave benefits now available for all employees under the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (MA PFML), as well as the College’s new Supplemental Medical Leave plan available to benefits-eligible employees. For information about MA PFML and Supplemental Medical Leave, please review the MA PFML Pamphlet (PDF) issued by the College in December 2020.

Bereavement Leave

Holy Cross recognizes the importance of taking leave when there is a death in the family. Where bereavement leave is not required by law, the College will provide paid bereavement leave as follows:

An employee may be absent without loss of pay for up to three days if someone in their immediate family or household dies. Members of their immediate family or household are considered to be their spouse, domestic partner, child, siblings, parent, grandchildren, grandparent, or spouse/domestic partner’s parents, children, siblings, grandchildren, grandparents or other relatives living in the immediate household. The purpose of this benefit is to allow employees, in a time of personal loss, the opportunity to travel (if needed) and to grieve. Time away from work for bereavement for anyone other than those persons listed above must be charged to vacation, floating holiday or personal time, and is subject to supervisor approval.

Employees must provide notice of the need for bereavement leave as far in advance as possible. The College may require documentation supporting their need for bereavement leave.

Domestic Violence Leave

Holy Cross provides up to 15 days of unpaid leave per rolling 12-month period to victims of abusive behavior, domestic violence, sexual assault, kidnapping, and/or stalking, and certain family members, for purposes directly related to the abusive behavior. These purposes may include seeking legal or medical services, counseling, or victim's services; securing housing; obtaining a protective order; appearing in court or before a grand jury; meeting with a district attorney or other law enforcement official; attending child custody proceedings; or addressing other issues directly related to the abusive behavior against the victim or family member of the victim.

An employee may take domestic violence leave if they are a victim of abusive behavior, or due to the abuse of a covered family member, including the employee’s spouse/partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild, or persons in a guardian relationship. Perpetrators or accused perpetrators of abuse are not entitled to domestic violence leave.

Before taking domestic violence leave, an employee must have exhausted all of their accrued paid time off, including, but not limited to, MA Paid Family and Medical Leave, sick time, vacation days, and personal time. An employee must provide advance notice of their need for leave whenever possible; however, this requirement does not apply if the employee or a covered family member faces imminent danger to their health or safety. Should the employee be unable to provide advance notice based on a risk of imminent danger, the employee must notify their supervisor or Human Resources within three business days that the time off was related to domestic violence. If the employee is unable to notify the College, a family member, counselor, clergy, or assisting professional may do so on their behalf.

The College may require documentation supporting an employee’s claim for domestic violence leave. Such documentation can consist of a protective order or other court document, a document under the letterhead of a court, provider or public agency that the employee attended for the purpose of obtaining assistance regarding the abusive behavior, police report, police witness statement, documents reflecting the perpetrator's conviction or admission of guilt, documentation of medical treatment, and/or a victim advocate, counselor, social worker, health care worker, member of the clergy, or other assisting professional's sworn statement. In lieu of these documents, an employee may also submit their own sworn signed statement. Any documentation supporting the need for domestic violence leave must be submitted within 30 days of their last date of absence.

While the leave may not be paid, an employee is entitled to return to the same or a substantially equivalent position once their leave has ended. An employee will not be terminated, retaliated against, or receive a reduction in benefits based on their use of domestic violence leave. All information related to the leave will be maintained confidentially, unless disclosure is expressly required by law, requested in writing by the employee or necessary to protect the safety of the employee or other employees.

For full information about Domestic Violence Leave, see the complete policy and application instructions (PDF) or call Human Resources at 3391.

Military Leave

Holy Cross complies with applicable federal and state law regarding military leave and re-employment rights. Unpaid military leave of absence will be granted to members of the uniformed services in accordance with the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA; with amendments) and all applicable state law. The employee must provide verbal or written advance notice of the employee’s intent to enter into the military for a period not to exceed five years to Human Resources. An employee may elect to use any accrued paid vacation while on leave but is not required to do so. When returning from military leave of absence, the employee will be reinstated to their previous position or a similar position, in accordance with state and federal law. An employee must notify their supervisor and Human Resources of their intent to return to employment, and follow pertinent reemployment application procedures, which differ depending on the length of the leave consistent with applicable law. For more information regarding status, compensation, benefits, and reinstatement upon return from military leave, contact Human Resources.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)

Employees who have completed twelve (12) months of employment and have worked more than 1,250 hours in the preceding twelve (12) months are eligible for Family and Medical Leave Act. FMLA may be taken by eligible employees for up to 12 weeks unpaid leave during a 12-month period for the following purposes:

To care for a newborn, a newly adopted or newly placed foster child
To care for a child, a spouse or a parent who has a serious health condition
The employee's own serious health condition
Active Duty Leave - Leave due to a spouse, son, daughter or parent being on active duty or having been notified of an impending call or order to active duty in the Armed Forces in support of a contingency operation.
Caregiver Leave - This benefit provides 26 weeks of FMLA leave during a single 12‐month period for a spouse, son, daughter, parent, or nearest blood relative caring for a recovering service member.

To view the FMLA policy in its entirety and review procedures for requesting a leave, please visit the Policies and Procedures website. For additional information, please contact Human Resources.

Workers' Compensation

College employees are expected to be safety‐conscious and report any unsafe conditions to their supervisor or department head. In the event that an employee, including a student worker, is injured on the job, the injury must be reported immediately to his/her supervisor or department head.

If you are absent from work as a result of a work-related injury you may be eligible for partial income in lieu of lost wages, as well as certain medical payments under the Massachusetts Workers' Compensation Law beginning with the sixth day of absence.

Workers' compensation benefits are coordinated with the College's leave policies and in cases of prolonged disability, with the Long Term Disability Insurance Plan. Upon employee request, sick time, vacation days and the like may be used during this period in conjunction with workers’ compensation benefits.

An employee must submit a clearance from the attending physician before returning to work following an absence because of a work‐related injury.

To view the workers' compensation policy in its entirety and to review procedures, please visit the policies website.

Parental Leave

For full details see the Parental Leave policy. Parental leave does not apply to periods when the employee would not otherwise be working and is not extended by holidays that fall within the leave period. Parental leave runs concurrently with the Family and Medical Leave Act and any other applicable leaves.

Fully Paid Parental Leave for Benefits-Eligible Staff and Administrative Employees

The College provides benefits-eligible full-time staff and administrative employees (i.e., employees who work at least 27.5 hours per week for at least 40 weeks per year) with a Parental Leave benefit that provides full pay at their normal weekly pay rate for the first eight (8) weeks of any approved parental leave in connection with the birth or adoption of a child. Following the eighth (8th) week of such leave, any additional period of child bonding leave is paid at the benefit rate set by the MA PFML law.

Parental Leave for Faculty Members

Faculty members are entitled to paid parental leave as set forth in the Statutes of the Faculty.

Jury Duty

If an employee is required to serve on a jury, they will continue to receive their regular wages or salary for the first three days of juror service or any part thereof. For any additional days, time spent on jury duty will be unpaid. An employee may opt to use available vacation or other available paid time off in place of unpaid leave. However, while on the jury, an employee is expected to be at work for any days, or parts of days, that the employee is not required for court attendance.

Holy Cross encourages employees to fulfill their civic duties related to jury duty. If an employee is summoned for jury duty, they must notify their supervisor as soon as possible to make scheduling arrangements.

The College reserves the right to require employees to provide proof of jury duty service to the extent authorized by law.

The College of the Holy Cross at its option, may change, delete, suspend or discontinue parts of, or College policies in their entirety, at any time without prior notice. In the event of a policy change, employees will be notified. Any such action shall apply to existing as well as to future employees.

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