(JTA) — The Jewish Theological Seminary will offer its employees up to eight weeks of fully paid parental leave.
The policy, announced Tuesday, makes the Conservative institution in New York the largest Jewish seminary in the United States to offer such leave.
Under the plan, the seminary will provide eight weeks of paid leave to primary caregivers for employees who have worked there for more than three years and six weeks for those who have worked at the seminary from one to three years. Secondary caregivers will receive two weeks of paid “bonding leave.”
The leave applies to birth, adoption and foster care, and to couples whether they are straight or gay.
The employees also are eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, which runs concurrently with the paid leave under the policy.
The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College provides four weeks of paid parental leave to staff members who have worked there for more than two years, according to the Forward.
“This policy reflects our values as an institution and supports our faculty and staff members in both their work and personal lives,” Marc Gary, the executive vice chancellor at JTS, said in an email to faculty and staff announcing the policy.
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