Parental leave, also known as Paid Parental Leave, provides for 6 weeks of paid leave for eligible employees. Birth mothers, fathers or other partners of birth mothers, adoptive parents and foster parents may be eligible for parental leave. In the case of birth mothers, these 6 weeks can be supplemented by using CAR days from the day of birth until the CAR days run out, or 6 weeks worth of CAR days have been used (8 weeks in the case of a C-Section). So, if a birth mother has the days in her bank, she would get 12 weeks (14 in the case of a C-section) of paid leave. Members cannot borrow days or use a grace period when taking parental leave. Members who take Parental Leave commit to returning to the DOE for a minimum of one year following the leave.
Maternity leave is a birth mother's right to use CAR days following a birth for 6 weeks (8 in the case of a C-section). There is no additional right to paid leave. Birth mothers who take maternity leave are allowed to borrow days and use a grace period within the 6 (or 8 weeks for C-sections) window, There is no return-to-service requirement under maternity leave, though if a person borrows days, she has to either return to service or repay those days to avoid being billed for them.
The city continues to provide health insurance in either case.