Purdue to keep current leave program in place for additional year; recommend enhancements to bereavement, parental leave now
March 9, 2015
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University announced Monday (March 9) that its current leaves program will remain in place for the 2015-16 fiscal year, which runs through June 30, 2016, in order to provide time to further assess the program and its effect on faculty and staff.
William Sullivan, Purdue treasurer and chief financial officer, made the announcement after meetings over the past week with four groups of university employees and after reviewing emails provided following the sessions.
“Our intent continues to be to provide a clear, easily administered policy that is competitive and fiscally prudent,” Sullivan said. “The feedback I have received was tremendously educational and insightful for me. It is clear that we need to involve a broader base of our employees in the discussion and analysis, and ultimately, if changes are recommended, we need a substantially broader socialization effort.”
Sullivan notified faculty and staff via all-campus email today of the plan to hold off on changes to the overall leaves program. He did announce, however, that he is recommending to the Executive Policy Review Group two components of the proposed program take effect as of July 1, 2015. Bereavement leave would be extended to five days, and all parents across all categories would be provided six weeks of parental leave.
“These two portions of our proposed program were very important to a majority of faculty and staff,” Sullivan said. “At this time, we want to be sure we are offering these enhancements while still considering additional needed changes.”
Sullivan will continue to conduct focus groups at each of the Purdue system-wide campuses over the next two weeks.
“Over the course of the next 12 months we will revisit the issues that have been raised,” Sullivan said. “We intend for this process to be open and transparent so that faculty and staff feel they are involved and informed on any changes that may be recommended.”
Sources: William Sullivan, 765-494-9705, sully1976@purdue.edu
Trent Klingerman, interim vice president for human resources, 765-496-6846, klingert@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: A copy of the email message sent to employees is available at http://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/2015/150309LeavesMemo.pdf.
