Members may apply for an unpaid child care leave immediately following a parental leave but must then return to work for 12 months after their child care leave ends. If they do not return to service, they will be required to pay back the parental leave benefit. 

Babies born over the summer are subject to the same timeframe as babies born during the school year when it comes to parental leave. A UFT member can use days from their CAR bank for any work days once the school year begins up to six weeks (or eight following a C-section) after birth, and the six weeks of paid parental leave must be used within 12 weeks (or 14 weeks following a C-section) after the date of birth. 

If you are not eligible for parental leave because you have not been employed by the DOE for 12 months and in active service for 12 months prior to your child's birth, you are able to take a traditional maternity leave. There is no minimum service requirement to be eligible for maternity leave. 

Maternity leave begins the day your child is born. You can use up to six weeks of your accumulated CAR days (sick days) for a non-cesarean delivery or eight weeks for a cesarean delivery. If you don't have enough CAR days in your bank, you may submit a request to borrow up to 20 additional sick days or, in some cases, use a grace period. 

You will continue to be paid and maintain your health benefits during your leave as long your absences are covered by CAR days, borrowed days or a grace period. Please note that members will not be paid beyond the six to eight weeks after giving birth. 

Your payroll secretary can tell you how many CAR days you have accumulated or your pay stub also contains that information, which can be found on the DOE payroll portal.  You would apply for a maternity leave online through SOLAS. 

If you have been working for the DOE for more than 12 months, but were not in active status in the past year, you would also be eligible for an unpaid child care leave at the conclusion of your maternity leave. 

Please contact a UFT leaves specialist before applying to discuss your options at 212-331-6311. 

See a comparison between maternity and parental leaves for additional guidance.