Office of the Provost & Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Family Care

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Family and Medical Leave for Family Care

The Family and Medical Leave (FML) policy for faculty provides full pay to tenured, tenure-track, and term faculty for the primary care of a spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent who has a serious health condition. The FML may be for up to 12 weeks (or 26 weeks for the care of a family member disabled while on active duty in the armed services), or its equivalent, during any 12-month period. Medical certification must demonstrate that the patient requires assistance and that your presence would be necessary or beneficial.

If you are taking FML for the care of a family member disabled while on active duty in the armed services, you are entitled to up to 26 weeks of FML; the first 12 weeks will be paid leave, while the remaining 14 weeks will be unpaid leave.

Note: This page is about FML for family care. Other pages have information about FML for parenthood and personal illness or disability. See also the FML FAQ or the FML Policy.

There are three types of FML available to faculty:

  • Continuous (full-time) FML means that you will take (up to) 12 weeks of consecutive leave, during which time you will not work. For example, if your parent is expecting to have surgery early in the Spring semester, you might take 6 weeks of FML at the beginning of the semester to care for them as they recover from the surgery, and then return to work.

  • Reduced work schedule leave means that you are working part-time during a semester, and your periods of working and not working are interspersed throughout your FML. You do not need to specify which days you will work or not work, but you need to indicate how many hours or days per week, on average, you will work. 

  • Intermittent leave is suitable when you are working full-time but need to take periods of leave during the semester on an ad hoc basis. For example, if your spouse will be receiving medical treatment every two weeks on Wednesdays and you will need those Wednesdays and the next day off of work, you may build that schedule into your intermittent leave.

Regardless of which type of FML you choose, you will need to work with your Department Chair to determine what work you will do during the semester (e.g., supervising students) and what work you wish to be released from (e.g., teaching, serving on committees). You will document this plan in the FML Academic Planning Form (see below).

If needed and requested by the Dean, the Provost’s office will provide up to $7,500 to the department for each FML leave to help defray the cost of adjunct salaries for course replacement.

For more details, please see the FML FAQ or the FML Policy.

How to Request FML

Two forms are required in order to request FML:

  • Human Resources FML Request Form (plus, in some cases, other required certification), submitted to HR

  • Provost’s office FML Academic Planning Form, submitted to your Department Chair, who will forward it to the Dean (this form assists the department and college in ensuring continuity of instruction and other job responsibilities during your leave)

We encourage you to discuss your FML request with your Department Chair as early as you are able and feel comfortable doing so. This helps your Chair plan for your absence and helps you develop a work plan that you feel comfortable with. 

The Deputy Provost for Faculty Affairs is available to answer questions or discuss the process.

Tenure-Clock Extension for Care of a Family Member

If you are an untenured, tenure-track faculty member (Assistant or Associate Professor), you may request from the Provost a one-semester or one-year extension of your probationary period (i.e., your tenure clock) for the following reasons: 

  • Primary care of a family member or domestic partner for serious health condition

  • Placement of child in your home for foster care

  • A qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that your family member or domestic partner is on active military duty or is called to active duty

You must provide adequate documentation of the situation necessitating the request. The Provost must receive notification prior to the date on which your tenure package is required to be sent to external reviewers. 

Regardless of whether you take an extension, and how many, you will be evaluated for tenure and other reviews using the same academic standards as candidates who did not receive extensions. The maximum length of the probationary period is 8 years (with an exception due to the COVID extension).

See R&P 2.2.5.7 or the page on Tenure Clock Extensions for more information.

Lehigh Sloan Research Grants

If you are a pre-tenure faculty member and you take FML for parenthood or to care for a family member, you are eligible for a Lehigh Sloan research grant. Please visit the Sloan Research Grant page for more information.