The Lab is implementing a new UC Systemwide Pay for Family Care and Bonding (PFCB) program which will go into effect on July 1, 2021. This program reflects last year’s milestone when the UC Council of Chancellors unanimously approved a recommendation for a new program providing pay for UC employees who take leave from work for family care and parental bonding.
Under PFCB, employees who take Family and Medical Leave (1) to care for a seriously ill family member, (2) to bond with a new child, (3) as Military Caregiver Leave, or (4) as Qualifying Exigency Leave, will be eligible to receive up to 70% of their eligible earnings for up to eight weeks. The new PFCB program is available to eligible non-represented employees as well as represented employees whose collective bargaining agreements have adopted this new program (Note: represented Postdocs will continue with the paid parental leave benefit in their current contract).
The Lab’s current Paid Parental Leave policy went into effect in 2019 for non-represented staff to cover parental bonding. At that time, the Lab was a leader within the UC system to offer such a benefit to non-academic staff employees. With this new PFCB program providing parental bonding in addition to other family care coverage, the Lab will sunset the current Paid Parental Leave policy after a one year transition period to ensure that non-represented employees who have a parental bonding qualifying event before July 1, 2021 are covered. Employees with qualifying events should work with the Integrated Disability and Absence Management (IDAM) team for advice on which coverage qualifies for each individual situation during the transition period.
Berkeley Lab is developing a PFCB policy based on the current draft UC policy. To see a draft of the UC policy as well as a comparison chart between the new PFCB program and the Lab’s current Paid Parental Leave policy, go here.
For any general questions regarding PFCB, contact the policy team at hrpolicies@lbl.gov. For questions regarding using PFCB for a family or medical leave contact the Integrated Disability and Absence Management team at disabilitymanagement@lbl.gov.