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Paid Family Leave Insurance Legislation: Bill signing on May 2
Information about the Liaison for Work and Family Issues
Contract Language and Helpful Guides
Relevant State and Federal Laws
University-wide Committee on Work and Family Issues
Background: Work and Family Issues in the Academic Workplace
Liaison for Work and Family Issues
Dr. Catherine N. Duckett has been appointed as the new Liaison for Work and Family Issues. Questions related to using the three forms of family leave benefits under Article XVI should begin with a call or email to Dr. Duckett as the Liaison. Her role is to assist in knowing what the benefits are, whom to inform and how to do it.
Dr. Catherine N. Duckett
Liaison for Work and Family Issues
Project Manager, Office of the Associate
Vice President for Promotion of Women
in Science, Engineering and Mathematics
221 Life Sciences Building,
Busch Campus
145 Bevier Road
Piscataway, NJ 08854
732-445-5425;
FAX 732-445-1147
Email: cduckett@rci.rutgers.edu
Click here to see the joint labor-management email announcement of Dr. Duckett's appointment as Liaison.
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Contract Language and Helpful Guidelines
Contract Language: Article XVI
Click here for Article XVI, which covers the three forms of family leave, as a stand-alone excerpt of the contract.
Click here for a copy of the full contract, of which Article XVI begins on page 57.
Helpful Guides to Work and Family Benefits
1. Know Your Contract April 2008 features work and family benefits as well as the new Expedited Appeal of Denial of Tenure.
2. Guidelines for Teaching and Graduate Assistants on family leave benefits related to pregnancy and parental leave prepared especially for the situation of graduate student employees at Rutgers University.
Rutgers AAUP-AFT provides this document as an initial set of guidelines for the implementation of recuperative and parental leave benefits with a specific focus on Teaching and Graduate Assistants. Future communications will address full-time faculty in addition to changes that might be helpful to TA/GAs. This is a work-in-progress and the guidelines will evolve over the next four years.
Communicating with Dr. Catherine N. Duckett in her role as the Liaison is the best place to start should anyone have questions about how the benefits apply in a specific instance. Call 732-445-5425 or email: cduckett@rci.rutgers.edu. Dr. Duckett will maintain confidentiality while the leave arrangements are being made.
Patrick Nowlan, staff representative for the union, is also available to assist: pnowlan@rutgersaaup.org, or 732-445-2278.
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Relevant Federal and State Laws
Paid Family Leave Insurance is now law in New Jersey
On Friday, May 2, 2008, Governor Jon Corzine signed Paid Family Leave Insurance into law. He called this a "legacy moment" for himself and New Jersey.
With this bill being signed into law, the Time to Care Coalition realized a great victory for working families in New Jersey. Our state becomes the third state in the nation to enact Family Leave Insurance, one of the most far-reaching and progressive workplace reforms in decades.
Rutgers AAUP-AFT was among the coalition partners as well as many other folks from Rutgers. The AFL-CIO, other labor union locals, community organizations, faith-based groups, the NJ National Organization for Women and other women's groups were also part of this effort that began about a dozen years ago. It's a big victory for working families and the unions that represent them. It was a tooth-and-nail battle with the business lobby.
At least one million NJ workers don't have a single paid day off from their job and 40% of all low-wage workers don't have a single sick day. This legislation will make a significant and real difference in the lives of NJ's working families and their loved ones. The payroll tax deduction will begin January 1, 2009 and the paid family leave funds will become available on July 1, 2009. The payroll tax deduction will be on a sliding scale, averaging about $33 per year, or 64 cents per week. Workers may take up to 6 weeks off to care for seriously ill family members or newborn or newly adopted children, receiving two-thirds of their salary up to a cap of $524 per week. Small businesses are not required to hold a job for the worker taking the paid family leave, but for businesses that employ more than 50 workers, federal law continues to require these large employers to hold a comparable job.
Among workers at Rutgers University who will benefit from the new paid family leave insurance program are the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Counselors. They are employees (also represented by AAUP-AFT) who do not have paid family leave in their contract. The full-time faculty and teaching/graduate assistants do have paid parental leave for care of newborn or recently adopted children, a gain we made in the 2007-2011 contract. This contract also has unpaid family leave covering the need to care for seriously ill family members.
Patrick Nowlan, staff representative for legislative affairs of Rutgers AAUP-AFT, and others who attended the bill signing report that it was an exciting, proud and joyful moment for the entire coalition. Over 200 people filled the room and cheered as sponsors and supporters gave moving and eloquent statements about the importance of Family Leave Insurance.
The Time to Care Coalition worked hard to get this bill over the finish line. There were dozens of legislative visits; many, many committee hearings; press conferences; polls commissioned; lobby days; small business owners recruited; and a lot of floor votes to get through. The Coalition’s grassroots organizing campaign was spectacular, especially given that the efforts were underfunded. Everyone working together generated over 100,000 email messages, handwritten letters, faxes and phone calls to legislators urging them to pass this bill.
Atif Malik was New Jersey Citizen Action’s principal staff person dedicated to keeping us working together in the Time to Care Coalition. We thank Atif and everyone in the coalition who helped make this happen. In fact, Atif wrote most of this message, which has been tweaked for Rutgers AAUP-AFT members!
Federal unpaid family leave provisions
Visit the Department of Labor's webpage to read about the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA): http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/statutes/whd/fmla.htm
New Jersey's Family Leave Act
This is the unpaid family leave law as it stood before the new legislation was signed into law May 2, 2008.
Click here to view the New Jersey Family Leave Act. You may also view a fact sheet on the New Jersey Family Leave Act on the state's website:
http://www.state.nj.us/lps/dcr/downloads/flafactsheet.pdf
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University-Wide Committee on Work and Family Issues
The new contract also created a new University-wide Committee on Work and Family Issues.
President Richard L. McCormick and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip Furmanski officially charged the Committee on Monday, April 28 from 9-10 AM in the Board Room in Winants Hall. The Rutgers administration has appointed Marianne Gaunt (University Librarian--University Libraries) and Barbara Lee (Professor--School of Management & Labor Relations) as co-chairs of the University-Wide Committee. Dr. Catherine Duckett will also serve on this Committee.
Click here to read the letter announcing the meeting to charge the University-Wide Committee on Work and Family Issues.
Rutgers AAUP-AFT has six representatives on the University-wide Committee on Work and Family Issues:
Janet Golden (History, Camden)
Laura Ahearn (Anthropology, Douglass)
Susan Keith (Journalism & Media Studies, College Ave)
John Rollino (Physics, Newark)
Maria Stanko (TA, Ecological Evolution & Natural Resources, Cook)
Ryan Womack (Librarian, Alexander Library, College Ave)
In order to facilitate our internal work as a union to represent our members on work and family issues, including effectively represent our interests on the University-wide Committee, we established a standing committee on work and family issues.
Click here to read the charge establishing the standing committee, approved on December 13, 2007 by the Executive Council of the Rutgers Council of AAUP-AFT Chapters.
Professor Janet Golden in the History Department on the Camden campus is the chair of the union's standing committee. Contact her at jgolden@camden.rutgers.edu.
Union members with an interest in work and family issues may attend meetings of the union's standing committee and/or join an invitation-only Work and Family listserv. For more information, contact Cathy Stanford, union staff representative, at cstanford@rutgersaaup.org or call 732-445-2278.
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Background Information
on Work and Family Issues in Academia
(from the 2006 Work and Family Conference at Rutgers)
On October 24, 2006, the Rutgers AAUP-AFT hosted an "Issues in Work and Family" Conference in New Brunswick. The event was co-sponsored by the Center for Women and Work. Similar conferences were held on the Camden and Newark campuses.
Faculty, staff, and students from Rutgers and around the state gathered to listen and discuss the delicate balance that those in academia have to make between work and family. Professor Bob Drago from Penn State University shared his research on the challenges of raising a family in academia. Following the keynote, Mary Gatta of Rutgers University, Estelle Gellman of Hofstra University, and Mark Watson discussed the integration of work and family at universities. The second panel, David Harris of Greater New Brunswick Day Care Council, LaTrella Thornton of City College Child Development & Family Services Center, and Robin Herlands of Yale University GESO, discussed childcare for all university employees.
Following the speakers, interested faculty and staff strategized on different ways to change the current leave policy and how to address the lack of access to on-campus and subsidized childcare at the university.
Speakers included the following:
Keynote:
Integrating Work and Family in Universities:
Childcare for All University Employees
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David Harris, Greater New Brunswick Day Care Council “Childcare in the New Brunswick Area”
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LaTrella Thornton, City College Child Development & Family Services Center, “Need for Childcare at Universities”
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Robin Herlands, Yale University GESO , “Gaining Childcare for all Employees on University Campuses”
Additional Articles:
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AFSCME Local 1761 Clerical, Office, Laboratory, and Technical
Article 15 – Pregnancy/Childbirth, Adoption, Child Care Leave
http://uhr.rutgers.edu/documents/1761_agreement.pdf
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AAUP-AFT, Fulltime Faculty and TA/GA
Article XVI – "Family Leave and Disability Resulting from Pregnancy" as it existed under the 2003-2007 Collective Agreement
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AFSCME 888, Service and Maintenance Agreement
Article 12 – Pregnancy/Childbirth/Adoption/Child Care Leave
http://uhr.rutgers.edu/documents/888_agreement.pdf
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Making Room for Baby
Inside Higher Ed, January 30, 2006
Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed :: Making Room for Baby
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/DoR/GSH/childbirth_policy.pdf
If you are interested in more information about work-family policy and events at Rutgers, please send an e-mail to aaup@rutgersaaup.org.
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