Parental, Medical and Caregiver Leave

It is the policy of PCOM to grant parental, medical or caregiver leave to all residents and fellows.

Procedure

• Per the ACGME sponsoring institution policy, starting with their first day of employment, every resident/fellow in an ACGME-accredited training program is entitled to one six-week period of paid leave at any time during their training program for parental, medical or caregiver leave. The resident/fellow is also afforded one week of paid time off (PTO) during the academic year in which this six-week leave is taken.
• This leave must be approved by the program director and the designated institutional official. Supporting documentation will be required.
• Residents/fellows will be paid 100% of their salary during this leave period, and their current benefits will continue.
• If additional, consecutive time is needed beyond this six-week period, then the resident/fellow can use their PTO from a subsequent year and bring it into the current year, or they can take unpaid time off.
• Subsequent parental, medical or caregiver leave will fall under the existing Parental, Medical, and Caregiver Leave of policy.
• This six-week leave is to be used en bloc. Any unused weeks cannot be saved to be used later.
• Three of the six weeks must be PTO time. The fourth week of PTO can be used at the resident/fellow’s discretion at another time during the academic year, unless the resident is at the PGY-1 level. In that case, the fourth week of PTO must be used during the Christmas or New Year’s holiday week.
• Our goal is for our residents/fellows who take leave to be able to graduate on time. However, these leaves may impact their ability to graduate on time or impact board eligibility in the following ways:
  • If a resident/fellow is not in good standing in their program and is not meeting the ACGME milestones, the Clinical Competency Committee may require additional time in the program to meet the milestones required for successful graduation.
  • Many of the certifying boards have strict guidelines on how many weeks of training are required to qualify for their board-certifying examination. If leave exceeds time or educational limits set by a particular board, then it could result in additional months of training for the resident/fellow.
  • The impact of an extended leave upon the criteria for program completion and board eligibility must be discussed with the resident and documented by the program director before the resident/fellow’s leave begins.
• Though all efforts will be taken to minimize the impact to clinical assignments resulting from leaves of absence, residents/fellows taking leave may be required to complete rotations that are required for successful program completion.
• After completing 12-months of employment at PCOM, in addition to this six-week paid leave program, PCOM offers employees additional leave of absence.

Process

1. The resident/fellow must meet with their program director to review their planned leave dates, and to review potential impacts on their ability to graduate on time and to take their certifying board exam. The program director will review clinical assignments they will be required to make up, if necessary. All discussions will be documented by the program director and placed in the resident/fellow’s personnel file.
2. The resident/fellow will then inform Human Resources (HR) in writing that they require a leave of absence and the category of the leave (parental, medical or caregiver) that they are requesting.
3. The resident's program coordinator will contact the DIO and the GME office manager to inform them that a resident/fellow is requesting a leave of absence under the ACGME six-week leave policy.
4. The resident/fellow must complete the appropriate forms and provide the appropriate documents to HR.
5. Once HR approves the leave, they will contact the resident, program coordinator, program director, GME office manager and DIO to inform them of the leave approval and dates of the leave.
6. During the leave, the resident/fellow will work with HR to verify the return-to-work date. Once verified, this will be communicated to the program director, program coordinator, GME office manager, and the DIO, a minimum of 14 days prior to returning to work.