Caregiving Leave and Temporary Workload Modification for Senate Faculty

Caregiving Leave

A faculty member may need a temporary family medical leave (FML) to care for a child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner with a serious health condition. Eligible faculty members are entitled to twelve weeks of caregiving leave in a calendar year per the federal Family Medical Leave Act.

In the past, this leave was unpaid, though, per APM 715-20, Chancellors had the discretion to grant caregiving leave with pay to faculty in certain circumstances.

As of July 1,2021 APM 715 was revised to include the new Pay for Family Care and Bonding (PFCB) provision, which provides up to eight weeks (taken in minimum one-week increments) of pay (at 100% of salary) per calendar year for family caregiving leave taken under the FMLA.

Required documentation for caregiving leave:

Approval process

Deans may approve FML-eligible Caregiving Leave for up to 12 weeks and the concurrent use of up to eight workweeks of Pay for Family Care and Bonding (PFCB). Requests for additional leave must be sent to APO for the Vice Provost's approval.

Temporary Workload Modification (TWM) for health-related caregiving

Specific to Berkeley is Temporary Workload Modification (TWM), which allows a faculty member to remain on full-time status and modify their workload while managing significant health-related caregiving responsibilities (a serious health condition of the faculty member’s child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner).

Modifications in workload might include replacing teaching with additional service to provide for a more flexible schedule, or allowing for remote teaching, office hours, committee meetings, or other service obligations.

TWM may be taken in small amounts of time, but the time taken may not add up to more than eighteen weeks (essentially a semester) per five-year period.

TWM is not leave. If a faculty member needs to go on leave to care for a family member, they can pursue Caregiving Leave.

Required documentation for Temporary Workload Modification:

Certification of Health Care Provider for Family Member's Serious Health Condition (for TWM)
Declaration of Relationship for Family and Medical Leave
A work plan for the temporary modification of duties that meets the responsibilities equivalent to full-time active service.

Approval process

APO tracks the accumulation of and eligibility for TWM. In consultation with APO, Deans may approve TWM requests that are for less than one month (e.g., a child undergoes a short-term hospitalization and teaching duties must be taken over during the caregiving period), and will forward copies of the required documentation to APO. TWM for longer than one month must be approved by the Vice Provost for the Faculty.