April 26, 2007

DEANS AND DEPARTMENT CHAIRS:

The Office of the President has issued a series of changes to academic personnel policies to enhance family friendliness. These changes were announced in a Berkeleyan article dated
13 April 2006.

A brief summary of the policies and Berkeley implementing guidelines follows:

Active Service Modified Duties - APM 760-28

Faculty who bear children receive at least 6 weeks of paid childbearing leave. The new policy allows the child bearer to take the balance of the semester in which the child is born as Active Service Modified Duties (ASMD), and in addition to this, an entitlement to an entire second semester of ASMD. All other faculty are entitled, upon request, to one semester of ASMD for childcare responsibilities. In all cases, the faculty member must certify that he or she has 50% or more responsibility for the care of the newly born or adopted child. Eligibility for ASMD normally extends from 3 months before to 12 months after the birth or placement.

Effective July 1, 2006, the campus will provide replacement funding to departments when a ladder rank faculty member is approved for ASMD. For each semester of childbearing and/or ASMD approved for a full time ladder rank faculty member, the department will receive $14,000 of funding per semester for replacement costs. This amount will be proportionate to the budgeted FTE of a faculty, i.e. $7,000 for a .50 FTE.

Stopping the Clock for the Care of a Child or Children – APM 760-30

Non-tenured faculty may stop the tenure clock if they provide certification that they have 50% or more of the care responsibility of a newborn or child under five years of age newly placed for adoption within the first year of the birth or adoption. Clock stoppage is automatic with the certification and does not require a faculty member to be on childbearing leave or on unpaid leave. However, the clock cannot be stopped following July 1, in the year in which the final appraisal is due. Faculty members are encouraged to request the clock stoppage, even if they do not foresee a need for it. Requests must be submitted within 2 years of the birth or adoption.

Deferral of Review – APM 760-31

Academic appointees at the Associate level or above may request deferral of a personnel review for one year due to a family accommodation as defined in APM 760. Such a deferral will not result in an arbitrary disadvantage in the promotion, advancement or compensation reviews. APM 210-1.c (4) clearly states that if there is evidence of sufficient achievement in a time frame that is extended due to a family accommodation, the evidence should be treated as if the personnel review had been conducted at the usual interval. That is, the file will be reviewed without prejudice and no reference to deceleration should be made in any of the letters from reviewers.

Parental Leave without Pay – APM 760-27

Academic appointees may request a full-time or part-time parental leave, without pay, for up to one year to care for a child.

Attached is a newly developed form to request the benefits provided by the above policies to faculty who have a newborn or newly adopted child, including ASMD. Please note that the replacement funding described above for ASMD will not be reimbursed to the department without submittal of the form with the appropriate signatures.

Questions can be directed to the Academic Personnel Office at Appolicy@berkeley.edu.

Jan de Vries
Vice Provost for Academic Affairs
and Faculty Welfare

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