Preparing for Leave and Return to Work

Preparing for Leave

Notify supervisor of leave needed (when known), in as much of an advanced notice as possible (30 days is recommended).

FMLA process. Complete the FMLA form 30 days before the birth/adoption of a child. This form will need to be completed by the employee and a medical physician, and should be submitted to the LaTausha Brown Duncan in the Office of Human Resource Management at lataushab@lsu.edu. Our FMLA Specialist will review and process the form. If the employee has any questions, please contact our office at hr@lsu.edu.

The status of an employee’s benefits, may change with the birth or adoption of a child.  Contact our Benefits Team at hr@lsu.edu for additional Information or questions regarding your benefits prior to the birth or adoption.

Review Leave. If an employee will be out for an extended amount of time, a leave of absence must be submitted along with the appropriate time off request through Workday. If the employee is unable to place themselves on a leave of absence, then employee’s supervisor or department’s timekeeper will be responsible for completing this process in Workday.

Birth of Child

Adding your dependent/change benefits. Employees have 30 days after the birth and/or adoption to add the dependent to insurance. This is a two-step process. They first must add the child as a dependent. See the Manage Dependent job aid. Once routed and approved by HRM, they must then assign coverage to the dependent. See the Change Benefits job aid.  

Prior to returning to work, an employee or supervisor will need to initiate a return from leave request through Workday. 

Upon Employee's Return

Locate lactation rooms, as necessary. If needed, discuss with your supervisor about appropriate break times to nurse.

Appropriate break time for breastfeeding mothers is a vital part in their successful return to work. The University provides employees with a half-hour lunch break and two 15-minute breaks per day. Time for these breaks cannot be accrued, nor should it be used to extend a lunch period or shorten a scheduled workday. Additionally, no charge is made to paid leave or leave without pay for such breaks. Be sure to communicate with your supervisor once returning to work on your needed break times, as some departments have special scheduling needs to meet throughout the standard workday (8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.). View PS-79 on Flexible Work Hours and Staffing.

An HR Representative can answer questions about how Family Medical Leave works. In short: baby bonding leave is designed for parents of newborns, adopted children and foster children during their first year. Up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave is granted to eligible Employees through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Giving notice. Managers should know that Employees are advised to give at least 30 days notice before taking a leave, whenever possible, to help plan for the leave.

Helpful tips:

• Ask what your employee needs. Talk through variations of the employee’s scheduled time off, which will also help you adjust your workforce plan.
• Develop a transition plan with the employee. Work together to identify what can be reassigned before the leave. If your employee manages others, make sure they are briefed on what to do when their manager is gone and what the temporary reporting structure will be.
• Communicate with the entire team about expectations. Although you should be careful to not discuss personal details of your employee's leave widely, you can make colleagues part of the project planning process when there is a planned leave, and show appreciation for those who take on added responsibilities.

LSU utilizes Workday for all benefit changes. Make sure your employee understands this is a Qualifying Life Event (QLE), which allows for a new dependent to be added to their benefits. New parents only have 30 days from birth or date of placement to add a child to a health insurance policy. If the dependent is not added within 30 days of the QLE date, they must wait until they experience another QLE and/or Open Enrollment during October.

FMLA is unpaid leave granted to eligible employees which enables them to take up to twelve work weeks (480 hours) of job protected leave for qualifying events, including birth or adoption of a child. It provides for continuation of health care premiums when the employee has, and wishes to continue, health care coverage during the period of approved leave.

For additional Information on FMLA, please visit the FMLA page. 

When an employee gives birth to a child, accrued sick leave, of up to 6-8 weeks depending on delivery type, and accrued annual leave may be used.

When an employee does not give birth to a child, accrued annual leave may be used.  

In the event leave is exhausted and the employee is still unable to return to work, leave of absence without pay (LWOP) will be used.

Also note any unpaid time off will adjust monthly leave accruals.

For additional Information, please see PS-12, the University's Policy on Leave Guidelines.

The birth and/or adoption of a child is considered a Qualifying Life Event (QLE) to add and/or make changes to an employee’s benefits. The changes must be made within 30 days of the QLE which would be the date of birth or adoption. The benefits will be effective the date of birth or adoption. Proper documentation must be provided (see below), such as a birth certificate or adoption paperwork. During this time, the child can be added to any insurance offerings, including health insurance. Employees can also enroll in a Healthcare Flexible Spending Account and/or a Dependent Care Spending Account. These accounts allow employees to set aside tax-exempt dollars for out-of-pocket healthcare and/or dependent care expenses. For more information on LSU Benefit Offerings, please visit the Benefits webpage.

For a child under the age of 26: for natural or a legally adopted child of a plan member, a certified copy of the birth certificate which lists the plan member as parent, or a certified copy of a legal acknowledgment of paternity signed by plan member, or a certified copy of adoption decree naming plan member as adoptive parent is required. 

For adoption by agency or irrevocable act of surrender for private adoption, a certified copy of the adoption placement order showing date of placement, or copy of signed and dated irrevocable act of surrender is required.

LSU uses the Workday system to house employee Information and for employee processes.

It is the policy of Louisiana State University to recruit and employ highly qualified faculty. In accordance with this goal, the University strives to provide every opportunity for tenure-track faculty to attain a record worthy of tenure and promotion. In the course of a faculty member’s time in rank, the University may grant a temporary departure from the tenure-track, commonly called “Stopping the Tenure Clock.” The procedures linked establish a formal method for implementation of this temporary departure from the tenure-track as authorized by Section VIII.D. of Policy Statement 36-T (Tenure-Track and Tenured Faculty: Appointments, Reappointments, Promotions, Tenure, Annual Reviews, and Enhancement of Job Performance). Nothing in these procedures shall supersede the provisions of PS-36-T. Read more about Making Adjustments to Counting Service Toward Tenure. 

As a reminder, LSU now has a remote work policy, which can be utilized by department heads to make arrangements for their individual units. In accordance with the policy, any arrangements to work remotely must be approved by an employee’s supervisor and unit head.