Medical & Parental Leaves of Absence

Faculty may apply for a leave by completing a Faculty Request for Formal Leave of Absence (PDF) and following the request submission process as outlined on the form.

Once the leave request is received, Faculty Affairs will send a Notice of Eligibility for FML which will indicate whether the employee is eligible for a Family Medical Leave under federal and state law and a request for Medical Certification. (Note: An employee may still be eligible for a medical or parental leave under the Collective Bargaining Agreement even if they do not meet the federal or state law requirements.)

Medical Certification (PDF) from a health care provider may be required for Parental or Family and Medical Leaves. Faculty Affairs suggests using the form provided as a doctor’s “note” may not provide sufficient information to support leave approval. With regard to parental leave requests for foster care or adoption, a statement from the placement agency should be sufficient. Medical and Parental Leaves may not be approved until the employee complies with certification or documentation requests.

Once all the necessary documentation is received, the faculty member can expect to receive a written response granting or denying the leave. Prior to returning to work, the employee will be required to present a medical release to resume work if the leave is due to the employee’s own health condition.

Family Care and Medical Leave (FML) is provided to eligible employees in accordance with state and federal laws, which grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave during a 12-month period to care for themselves, children, spouses, or parents with a serious health condition. Medical certification is required. Employees are entitled to take FML after 12 months of employment or 2 semesters of service.

FML ensures that, if an employee exhausts all paid leave time during the absence, the employer continues to pay its portion of health, dental, and vision premiums and the employee is responsible for his/her portion of the premium for the FML period.

Additionally, FML entitles the employee to return to the same position or a comparable position with equivalent benefits, pay and conditions after the leave of absence.

All available leave credits will be applied concurrently with any FML period, including personal holidays. Faculty employees are entitled to one personal holiday each year, which is equivalent to one day off with pay. To use the personal holiday, faculty must request usage in his/her leave request or notify the department timekeeper. Personal holidays will be forfeited if not used by the end of the calendar year.

Faculty unit employees shall provide 30 days advance notice of the need for family care and medical leave when the need is foreseeable. When 30-days’ notice is not possible, the employee must provide notice as soon as practicable. In cases of emergency written notice of the need for leave shall be provided within 5 working days of learning of the need for the leave.

Note: Employees should familiarize themselves with the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the CSU Board of Trustees and their respective bargaining unit.  

• Article 22, Leaves of Absence Without Pay
• Article 23, Leaves of Absence With Pay

Parental leave is a paid leave of up to 50 academic work days for faculty employees who become parents through the birth of their own child, adoption, or foster care.

Leave may be taken as early as 60 days prior to the anticipated arrival date of a new child and no later than 75 days after the arrival of a new child.

In order to minimize disruptions of the academic program and impacts on students, faculty are also provided the following alternatives to parental leave:

• Spouse or partner who is also a faculty employee may donate all or part of his/her parental leave to the other spouse or partner; or
• 60% workload reduction for one semester.

This leave runs concurrently with any other related leaves for which the employee is eligible.

For additional information on parental leave, see Article 23, Leaves of Absence With Pay.

The Non-industrial Disability (NDI) Program is a wage continuation program administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD) for eligible employees who have suffered loss of wages due to a disability or injury that is not work-related.

For more information on NDI, see CSULB Benefits Services' website on disability programs.

The Catastrophic Leave Donation Program provides employees the opportunity to donate sick and/or vacation leave credits to other employees who have requested assistance due to a catastrophic illness or injury. Unit 3 employees may donate a maximum of 40 hours per fiscal year.

For additional information on catastrophic leave, go to Provision 24.23 in Article 24, Sick Leave.