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. 

It depends on the type of ceremony, the location and your job title: 

Pedagogues and paraprofessionals:

• One day with principal’s or supervisor’s permission to attend their graduation or that of a parent, child, step-child, spouse or registered domestic partner;
• Graduation must involve a ceremony marking the award of a diploma or degree (actual certificate) by a recognized school or institution of higher learning. This also includes graduation ceremonies that are held virtually;
• If graduation is in a remote location, the superintendent can grant approval for up to an additional two days;
• Kindergarten, pre-K, 5th and 6^th grades are excluded;
• If elementary school goes up to the 8^th grade and students go from there to high school, then this is allowed in lieu of the usual junior high school graduation from the ninth grade;
• Upon return to work, download and complete the OP201 form.

 
Administrative titles (nurses, therapists):

• One day for employee to receive a degree form a college or university;
• One day to attend the graduation of a child or grandchild from kindergarten, elementary school, intermediate school, junior high school, high school or college or to attend the college graduation of a spouse or domestic partner;
• Upon return to work, download and complete the PD19 form.

Pedagogical employees may donate CAR days to another employee only if the recipient has a catastrophic sickness. The recipient does not have to be a pedagogical employee and may belong to a different payroll bank. However, DOE employees cannot donate or receive accrued time to or from an employee at another NYC agency.

• For every 2 sick days/CAR days donated, the recipient receives 1 day of leave.
• The donor cannot have a balance of more than 180 days or less than 50 days. 
• The recipient must have exhausted all earned sick leave and optional borrowed time.

To donate CAR days: 

1. Use the DOE's CAR transfer form.
2. Complete the form, following the instructions and submit it to your payroll secretary or timekeeper. 
3. Forms can be faxed to DOE payroll at 718-935-5561 - fax is the preferred method. You can send the forms via email to payrollinquiry [at] schools [dot] nyc [dot] gov (payrollinquiry[at]schools[dot]nyc[dot]gov) only if you do not have access to a fax. Please note that processing of the forms submitted via email may experience a considerable delay. 

During a per-session summer activity, pedagogues and paraprofessionals accrue one sick day for each month of service. If you don't take a sick day in July, you can take two in August. One sick day taken during a per-session summer activity can be self-treated, but the second day must have a doctor's note.

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.