Guidelines Regarding Medical and Parental Leave for Graduate Students

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to establish guidelines for addressing situations in which a graduate student is unable to fulfill his or her duties, responsibilities and commitments due to medical disability or the adoption or birth of a child. This issue arises, in part, because while graduate students do not accrue vacation or sick time benefits, they may experience circumstances of illness, injury, or the adoption or birth of a child that prevent them from fulfilling their obligations as students or as stipulated by their appointments as research assistants, teaching assistants, or fellowship holders. In such a case, the faculty mentor, the department, and Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies should make every reasonable effort to help the student maintain full enrollment status for the relevant semester. This will ensure that the student remains eligible for financial support, maintains visa status, and maintains a status that may be required for other reasons, e.g. deferral of payment on undergraduate loans.

Guiding Principle: The University is committed to putting in place guidelines and processes that will minimize the impact of medical and family circumstances on affected students and that will strive to ensure the least amount of disruption to their graduate studies and to the ability to meet their obligations to the university.

Short Term Medical Leave: A short term medical leave is a leave of up to six weeks. If a graduate student cannot fulfill his or her duties due to medical emergency (excluding the adoption or birth of a child, but see below) or injury, enrollment should be continued for up to three weeks. For students who receive funding, stipend support should be continued, irrespective of source, for up to three weeks. A request for a continuation of enrollment or a continuation of enrollment and stipend should be made by the student in writing and be accompanied with written certification from a health care provider and written permission by the graduate student that an official of the University may contact the certifying health care provider, if needed. The request should be made as soon as the need is identified by the graduate student.

The request, including supporting documentation, should be submitted to the department chair who will evaluate the circumstances and make a decision. The chair will then inform the student's advisor of the decision.

If three weeks leave do not provide the student with sufficient time to resume his or her duties, the student may request up to an additional three weeks of leave. Students who receive funding may request an additional three weeks of leave with continued stipend support. The request, including supporting documentation and approval by the department chair, should be made to the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, who will approve or disapprove the request. The Dean will then inform the student's department chair as well as the student's advisor of the decision.

Short Term Parental Leave: A short term parental leave is a leave of six weeks. If a graduate student cannot fulfill the duties of his or her appointment due to the adoption or birth of a child, enrollment should be continued for six weeks. For students who receive funding, stipend should be continued, irrespective of source, for six weeks. Either parent is eligible for parental leave, but if both parents are Rice graduate students, only one may take parental leave. A request for such leave should be made no less than four weeks prior to the start date of the parental leave. In the case of the adoption of a child, the request should be made either no less than four weeks prior to the start date of the parental leave or as soon as the adoption is confirmed. The request should be made by the student in writing and be accompanied with written certification from a health care provider and written permission by the graduate student stating that an official of the University may contact the certifying health care provider, if needed. In the case of adoption, the request for leave should be accompanied by certification of child adoption as well as written permission by the graduate student stating that an official of the University may contact the certifying individual, if needed.

The request, including supporting documentation and approval by the department chair, should be submitted to the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, who will evaluate the circumstances and make a decision. The Dean will then inform the student's department chair as well as the student's advisor of the decision.

Source of Funding for Students on Medical or Parental Leave:
Medical leave. For the three weeks of approved medical leave stipend support should continue from the same source of funds that supported the student prior to the leave (e.g. A1, H, D, G and R funds). If a second three week period of medical leave is approved by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, students supported on A1, H, D or G funds should continue to be supported by those sources, whereas students supported on R funds prior to the leave will be supported for the second three week period from Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Parental Leave: For students supported on A1, G, H and D funds, stipend support should continue from the same source of funds that supported the student prior to the leave. For students supported on R funds and, stipend support for the first three weeks of leave should continue from the same R fund that supported the student prior to the leave. Such students will be supported for the second three week period from Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Source of Funding for Students Supported by External Fellowships. For students supported on external fellowships (e.g. NSF, Ford, etc.) or Traineeships (e.g. IGERT, etc) the policy of the sponsoring source of funds will apply. While sponsors normally allow continued fellowship support during times of medical/family leave, others may not. Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will assist students in working with sponsoring agencies to determine their applicable policies. In those cases in which the sponsor will not provide support during the full period of medical/maternity/child adoption leave, the university will provide funding for the period not covered by the sponsor through Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Leave Beyond Short Term Leave: When a short term leave does not provide the student with sufficient time to resume his or her duties, the student may request leave without stipend for the rest of the relevant semester. That request, including supporting documentation and approval by the department chair, should be submitted to the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies who will approve or disapprove the request. The Dean will then inform the student's department chair and the student's advisor of the decision.

Guidelines for Leave of Absence: There may be medical or other circumstances in which a student may need to dis-enroll until such time as she or he can resume full time graduate studies. If this becomes necessary, the university will allow the student to take an unpaid leave for medical reasons of no more than two consecutive semesters. Such a request should be made by the student in writing and be accompanied with written certification from a health care provider and written permission by the graduate student stating that an official of the University may contact the certifying health care provider, if needed. The request including supporting documentation should be submitted to the chair of the student's home department, who will, in turn, make a recommendation to the Dean for Graduate Students, who will make the final decision.

A leave of absence is granted only by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies upon the recommendation of the department chair and only to graduate students in good standing with the university. Students must obtain approval for the leave before the academic semester in question. These requests, approved by the department, must be received in Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies prior to the first day of classes.

Leaves are not granted after students register for courses or after the registration period passes. Students must pay a reinstatement fee of $85 upon their return from an official leave.

Revised 02/2004