Purpose/Objective

The Pudding will provide up to 16 weeks of paid parental leave to employees following the birth of an employee’s child or the placement of a child with an employee in connection with adoption or foster care. The purpose of paid parental leave is to enable the employee to care for and bond with a newborn or a newly adopted or newly placed child. This policy will run concurrently with Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, as applicable. This policy will be in effect for births, adoptions or placements of foster children occurring on or after July 1, 2019.

Eligibility

Eligible employees must meet the following criteria:

• Be a full-time, regular employee (contractors and interns are not eligible for this benefit)

In addition, employees must meet one of the following criteria:

• Have given birth to a child.
• Be a spouse or committed partner of a person who has given birth to a child.
• Have adopted a child or been placed with a foster child (in either case, the child must be age 17 or younger). The adoption of a new spouse's child is excluded from this policy.
• Have received guardianship of a child through surrogacy.

Amount, Time Frame, and Duration of Paid Leave

Eligible employees will receive a maximum of 16 weeks of paid parental leave per birth, adoption or placement of a child/children. The fact that a multiple birth, adoption or placement occurs (e.g., the birth of twins or adoption of siblings) does not increase the 16-week total amount of paid parental leave granted for that event. In addition, in no case will an employee receive more than 16 weeks of paid parental leave in a rolling 12-month period, regardless of whether more than one birth, adoption or foster care placement event occurs within that 12-month time frame.

Each week of paid parental leave is compensated at 100 percent of the employee’s regular, straight-time weekly pay. Paid parental leave will be paid on a biweekly basis on regularly scheduled pay dates.

Approved paid parental leave may be taken at any time during the month prior to the birth, adoption or placement of a child or the 12-month period immediately following the birth, adoption or placement of a child with the employee. Paid parental leave may not be used or extended beyond this 12-month time frame.

Taking leave

• Employees can choose to take paid parental leave in a few different ways, but this must be in coordination with the Studio Director and should account for coverage in their role when deciding how to take leave.
  • One single block of time (up to 16 weeks)
  • Multiple blocks of time (e.g., 1 week on 1 week off, 2 months on 2 months off, 1 month off, 6 months off, 3 months on)
  • Partial weeks (e.g., 2 days per week)
  • Partial days (e.g., half days)
  • Hour-tracking (e.g., 10 hours per week)
• In general, how leave is taken should be decided at least 8 weeks in advance, to allow for coordinating coverage. This schedule can change, as needed, over the course of the 12 month period—employees might shift between different approaches to blocks of time-off/on. This decision does not have to be made before the a birth or adoption event.