An advisory council at the University of Georgia voted to recommend the school offer eight weeks of paid parental leave to employees and allow faculty to modify their duties for a semester after having a child.
The paid leave would apply to women and men.
The recommendation, made during a meeting Wednesday of the University Council — a group of faculty, staff and students — does not change UGA’s human resources policies. It is just a push for administrators to consider revising the school’s human resources policies.
Leave policies for the state’s 31 public colleges and universities are set by the state Board of Regents, which would have to determine whether any changes are made to the policy. Employees currently receive up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave through the federal Family Medical Leave Act, and they can also use a collection of accrued annual and sick leave, time off that comes with compensation.
Not having a dedicated parental leave policy has hurt UGA’s recruitment and retention of quality employees, supporters of the policy changes said.
The council also recommended eliminating a limit on the number of courses UGA students can withdraw from during their college tenure.
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