Unexpected Paternity leave during internship

[Regadevilz]

Hello everyone. I want to first thank you for taking the time to read this thread and to help share your insight/wisdom regarding the matter of paternity leave. I was accepted into an internship placement at a hospital located within NYC. Shortly after being accepted into the position, I found out that my wife was pregnant and that our baby girl's due date is set for the end of September. My internship began at the end of August, which only allowed me around 4 weeks before our baby girl is expected to arrive into our lives. As a soon-to-be father, who have not accumulated any vacation/personal/sick days, I am at a loss regarding whether or not I will be allowed any time off once our baby girl is born...

My director and supervisor directed me to speak with HR, but the person in charge of leave is currently not available until a few more weeks. Do any of you have any experience with paternity leave, or have any wisdom/insight to share about this topic? I know some sites would allow extension of the internship for the amount of time one takes off, but I want to also be mindful regarding the limited staff/space that they may have if my extended internship bleeds into the new internship year.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I want to sincerely thank you for your precious time!

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[jdawg2017]

First off, congrats to you and tour wife!

Not sure what others will say from their experience, but the details are almost certainly something that will vary from site to site, so it’s unfortunate your HR staff person in charge of parental leave isn’t available. They really don’t have a backup HR person who you can talk to in the interim? I find that hard to believe if you’re at a hospital.

The key thing overall will be ensuring you complete your 2,000 hours to satisfy the internship.

 

[Regadevilz]

Thank you! Unfortunately, the HR staff available don't know how to handle this situation and suggested waiting for the HR staff in charge of leave to return. I definitely want to be reasonable and make up any time that I take off, I'm just worried that other issues like staffing and space might prevent me from extending my internship :/

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Thank you! Unfortunately, the HR staff available don't know how to handle this situation and suggested waiting for the HR staff in charge of leave to return. I definitely want to be reasonable and make up any time that I take off, I'm just worried that other issues like staffing and space might prevent me from extending my internship :/

This is something the DCT, not HR, should be able to answer for you. That is, the DCT may or may not know whether paternity leave is available from an HR perspective, but they should know whether or not they'll have the resources available to support an extra intern (and if funding would also be available) for however long the paternity leave might be.

I certainly know of interns having taken maternity leave on internship. I don't personally know of any who took paternity leave (e.g., friends I know took limited, if any, time off). I suspect the site would probably have to pause your funding during the paternity leave, as it's usually a set amount of money and/or for a set amount of time, which may also affect your benefits (if you have/use any) during that time.

 

[Regadevilz]

Thank you for your insight! I am totally okay with pausing the funding during my time off or extending my internship without any additional funding. Unfortunately, my DCT appeared very busy and stern, so all my DCT was able to do was redirect me to HR, which now puts me in an anxious waiting period that prevents me from planning what to do if or if they do not approve any paternity leave. I really appreciate your advice! Thank you so much!

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Thank you for your insight! I am totally okay with pausing the funding during my time off or extending my internship without any additional funding. Unfortunately, my DCT appeared very busy and stern, so all my DCT was able to do was redirect me to HR, which now puts me in an anxious waiting period that prevents me from planning what to do if or if they do not approve any paternity leave. I really appreciate your advice! Thank you so much!

Sure thing. If you know how much leave you'll accumulate over the training year, maybe the DCT will allow you to use some/all of that in advance (which may actually be what you and/or the DCT are waiting to hear back from HR about). If you're only using your standard amount of leave, it shouldn't result in extending the training year; it just means you won't have that leave to use later in the year.

Or if you can't take the leave in a big chunk, perhaps you could see if getting, say, a day off per week for a month or two is an option. That might be less "disruptive" to the overall training year and your current rotation.

 

[Regadevilz]

Oh wow, that's an amazing idea. Both the partial time off or utilizing my leave now for my time off sounds like a very optimal option! Thank you so much and let's hope for the best!

 

[Ollie123]

Folks I know who took parental leave all did some form of "Use most/all available leave - some folks made sure to save a handful of days for post-doc interviews - and then extend the internship by x weeks" but exactly how this looks will vary by setting.

The fact that literally only one person apparently knows how things work is simultaneously terrifying and not even slightly surprising. The number of "policies" in these sorts of settings that are not actual policies but just one person who decided a thing and then the next person decided something different is crazy.

 

[summerbabe]

Congrats! I agree with AA’s thoughts/advice, especially the point that each program should have some internal procedures or guidelines in place for things like parental leave, illness/injury that would prevent an intern from temporarily working, if a person has to discontinue internship, etc which would also ideally line up with the overall HR policies. So IMO, your DCT should be able to provide some general information.

How you brought up this topic and when (e.g., once you found out in the spring or yesterday?) is likely relevant.

In general, when asking for things like this, striking a balance being direct (asking for what you actually need, providing some thought options that would work for you) without being overbearing ("I have to be off all of October") is likely to work in your favor.

If you caught your DCT in a busy moment and asked something like "Hey, what's the policy on paternity leave?", it would make sense that they would direct you to HR since HR would know those specifics better.

If you didn't do so already, perhaps an email clarifying your situation, along with a few possible accommodations like what AA suggested and request to follow-up in person, might get you further along. Good luck!

 

[ClinicalABA]

One issue that might be coming into play with HR is that you wouldn't qualify for FMLA due to not having worked their long enough (12 months and and 1250 hours), so the "regular" HR would not know how to construct a leave arrangement. Also, interns may or may not have employee at will status, and thus are a bit different than the probably hundreds of other employee's that HR typically deals with. That said, DCT should be your contact and advocate in this situation.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

One issue that might be coming into play with HR is that you wouldn't qualify for FMLA due to not having worked their long enough (12 months and and 1250 hours), so the "regular" HR would not know how to construct a leave arrangement. Also, interns may or may not have employee at will status, and thus are a bit different than the probably hundreds of other employee's that HR typically deals with. That said, DCT should be your contact and advocate in this situation.

Agreed. At VA, for example, I believe the process typically involves placing the intern on leave without pay status and contacting central office so their stipend can be suspended. And yes, that was always headed up by the DCT.

 

[borne_before]

Hello everyone. I want to first thank you for taking the time to read this thread and to help share your insight/wisdom regarding the matter of paternity leave. I was accepted into an internship placement at a hospital located within NYC. Shortly after being accepted into the position, I found out that my wife was pregnant and that our baby girl's due date is set for the end of September. My internship began at the end of August, which only allowed me around 4 weeks before our baby girl is expected to arrive into our lives. As a soon-to-be father, who have not accumulated any vacation/personal/sick days, I am at a loss regarding whether or not I will be allowed any time off once our baby girl is born...

My director and supervisor directed me to speak with HR, but the person in charge of leave is currently not available until a few more weeks. Do any of you have any experience with paternity leave, or have any wisdom/insight to share about this topic? I know some sites would allow extension of the internship for the amount of time one takes off, but I want to also be mindful regarding the limited staff/space that they may have if my extended internship bleeds into the new internship year.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I want to sincerely thank you for your precious time!

First, HR is there to protect the company, not you.

Second, take a week or two so, depending on how mama is doin. It'll be unpaid.

Third, when mama's three months are up, you might have hit the 1250 hours by then and can spend some more time with baby. NY might have some mad liberal laws that supersede the 1250 though.

Fourth, enjoy this bro. I highly recommend skin to skin contact and baby wearing. Do not nap with your kid on the couch - that's an excellent way to kill a neonate.

Fifth, get an Ollie swaddle. I also HIGHLY recommend Taking Cara Babies infant sleep courses. They'll help you start off on the right foot.

 

[LM02]

I'd just reiterate that the option to request an advance on your leave (if available) might be a nice way to balance out taking paid vs. unpaid time off to be present for your partner and child. It's probably not wise to completely max it out at this phase of the internship, because you might have postdoc interviews, illness, or other reasons to take time off throughout the training year. But even if you can split the time off as partly paid (with advanced leave) and partly unpaid (with a need to extend your internship past the end date to make up the time), it would probably ease the burden both financially and practically with your ability to complete internship.

Also keep in mind that if your internship end date is postponed, that might also have downstream impact on your graduation date. It would be wise to check with your home department to determine the latest possible date you can complete internship in order to be eligible for your planned graduation date.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I'd just reiterate that the option to request an advance on your leave (if available) might be a nice way to balance out taking paid vs. unpaid time off to be present for your partner and child. It's probably not wise to completely max it out at this phase of the internship, because you might have postdoc interviews, illness, or other reasons to take time off throughout the training year. But even if you can split the time off as partly paid (with advanced leave) and partly unpaid (with a need to extend your internship past the end date to make up the time), it would probably ease the burden both financially and practically with your ability to complete internship.

Also keep in mind that if your internship end date is postponed, that might also have downstream impact on your graduation date. It would be wise to check with your home department to determine the latest possible date you can complete internship in order to be eligible for your planned graduation date.

That's a very good point. It might also affect factors like any tuition you'd potentially have to pay to stay enrolled for an additional semester.