Responsible Offices: University Administration Office; Academic Affairs Office
Purpose: To enable eligible staff and faculty to participate in family obligations of orientating the arrival of a new child (by birth or adoption) in the family.
Ashesi encourages family/work balance and allows the flexibility for employees to meet family obligations. To the maximum extent possible, the University will seek to support full-time faculty members who become parents as they welcome new children into their families, by providing them with time off or flexible time as the case may be, continuity of entitled benefits, and opportunities for temporary relief from their teaching or other duties.
The University recognizes that the maternity and paternity policy is only one step towards protecting the careers of faculty members who have family obligations. Any approved time off or flexible time is not meant to be used to advance a faculty member’s professional, academic or research activities. This benefit is available to all full‐time faculty appointments with a contract of two or more years duration and with at least one academic year of contiguous employment at the university before the delivery date and must be taken at the time of delivery or adoption of a new baby.
For the University to effectively plan, a faculty member who is pregnant or whose wife is pregnant must inform her/his Head of Department/Provost/Director of Human Resources by the end of the third month of the pregnancy for the necessary discussions and arrangements on either a reduction in teaching load, temporary absence, or replacement with another full time or temporary/adjunct lecturer, etc. to be made.
A female faculty member, on presentation of a medical certificate issued by a medical practitioner indicating the expected date of her confinement, shall be entitled to maternity leave of twelve (12) weeks from the date of delivery. The period of maternity leave may be extended for two additional weeks when recommended by a medical officer or approved by the Executive Committee as extenuating circumstances. Any period of absence from work due to the pregnancy which is duly certified by a medical practitioner shall not be treated as part of her maternity leave.
A male faculty member, on presentation of a medical certificate issued by a medical practitioner indicating the expected date of his wife’s delivery, shall be entitled to paternity leave of four (4) weeks from the date of delivery.
For a female faculty member, if the 12 weeks of maternity leave ends before the third week of the upcoming semester, or begins with a week or less left in a semester, then the instructor is expected to maintain a full work schedule, but may work with colleagues to cover classes as needed. If the 12 weeks of maternity leave ends in the third or up to the end of the fourth week of the upcoming semester, or begins with two to three weeks left in a semester, then the instructor will resume or maintain work on a partial schedule, with a reasonable workload reduction (e.g. a course release) for the semester to be negotiated with the Head of Department and Provost; in addition, the instructor must help the Head of Department find a suitable replacement for any classes she will miss, and will be expected to maintain full administrative and grading responsibilities for the course(s) in her remaining teaching workload.
Otherwise (if the 12 weeks of maternity leave ends after the first four weeks of the start of the semester or commences 5 or more weeks before the end of a semester), then the instructor, with the permission of her Head of Department and the Provost, shall be eligible for leave with pay for the semester, to resume full teaching duties the following semester. However, in such a situation, the instructor shall perform other duties, outside the 12 weeks maternity leave, such as capstone supervision, student advising, or administrative or other duty as assigned by the University.
For a male faculty member, the instructor will maintain a full teaching load, but with a flexible teaching schedule during the four weeks of paternity leave, with an alternate lecturer for anticipated missed classes if at all possible; the instructor must help the Head of Department find a suitable alternate for any missed classes, and will be expected to maintain full administrative and grading responsibilities for his course(s). The instructor will be excused from faculty, administrative and student advising meetings during paternity leave, but should be available via email or phone if needed.
In all cases, a faculty member expecting to take a maternity or paternity leave may work with the Head of Department in advance to balance the teaching load and schedule for the academic year in ways that will make their work and family life manageable. For example, it may be possible to arrange a slight teaching underload one year compensated by a slight teaching overload in an adjacent year, or to schedule a semester with a single preparation but multiple sections of a course, or to add administrative work to a reduced teaching schedule to balance the teaching load.
On resumption of duty, a nursing mother (a breast-feeding mother) is entitled to interrupt her work during her working hours to nurse her baby or express milk for her baby. Nursing mothers who are teaching may request a teaching schedule conducive for this, at least four weeks before the start of the semester.
Ashesi is also committed to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.