Northeastern University: Petition to Improve Family Leave Benefits

NU is far not as family friendly as it likes to believe, and too many times in my long. history here I've seen faculty and staff -- women in particular -- struggle to handle work/life balances. The stresses are real, and a caring institution would take this seriously.

Why does Northeastern so much money on buildings and so little on liveable wages and benefits for the people who work here? We need something with teeth that can hold them accountable.

We should set an example for others. Especially since we are not meeting the standards set by the most socially progressive nations.

The time is right for Northeastern to take a strong stand for gender equity and the creation of an inclusive and supportive work environment.

Coming from Canada (Québec) where maternity and family benefits are more deeply embedded in society, I know the value of this initiative and support the effort to bring NU into the 21st century on the issue.

I made these recommendations three years ago (after a book reading) and teach this material comparatively (USA vs Europe) so I support this petition wholeheartedly and hope it makes a difference.

This is an incredibly important initiative that will help foster gender equity on campus. This can only benefit Northeastern in terms of increased productivity and morale.

This is a critical initiative that will help to promote gender equality at the university and will put Northeastern on the map as a family-friendly institution.

A family friendly workplace is a better environment for all employees, parents and non-parents.

I am getting married in the fall and my fiance and I have started to discuss our plans for having children in the coming year or two. However, I am gravely concerned about how we would be able to manage financially with the current maternity leave policy here at Northeastern. I strongly support this petition to improve these policies to better support working parents.

Adopting these changes is imperative to Northeastern being a world-class university. By failing to do so, it is already shedding quality staff and faculty members, and will drive away promising applicants.

Northeastern's maternity leave policies are inhumane and inconsistent. Different employee classes receive different numbers of sick days, vacation days. Different delivery options lead to different amounts of leave. There is no flexibility for special circumstances. I had a complicated delivery with a long recovery time, and also an (unrelated) surgery 7 weeks postpartum. Surgery turned into medical leave, so that I was paid again to the end of my 12 weeks. Faculty are heavily impacted by the timing of the baby. I had a five month fight over how to handle the four weeks of the semester remaining after I was supposed to return from leave. This has impact on faculty retention. The poor way maternity leave was handled led to me seeking new employment. This is a serious problem that Northeastern must rectify.

Annual contract employees are particularly vulnerable; despite continuous employment at the university, I was ineligible for any kind of protections when I delivered my first child and had to choose between returning to work when he was 7 weeks old or not returning to work at all (since my position was not protected by maternity leave benefits). Particularly with the reliance on annual contract faculty to teach undergraduate classes, this creates an undue burden for women (who frequently occupy those ranks of faculty) to juggle/negotiate childbearing around semester-long schedules in order to seek both leave and continuous employment, which is an absurd principle.

Supporting working families is good for the University

Hello, I had a very complicated delivery and needed additional time. I returned back to work against doctor's orders because of financial restraints. At the time, my husband worked at State Street, and their paternity leave was amazing, allowing him to provide extra support while I recovered physically.

I found the discrepancy in benefits between employment class especially troubling. Clerical staff - who typically make the least - only accrue one sick day per month. So Northeastern's reliance on sick time for maternity leave puts this class of employees in an especially precarious position.

Thank you for bringing such a basic and important issue to the NEU community. There is no reason why a university environment cannot offer more regular and flexible accommodations for expecting mothers and parents. As the cost of living will never stop rising so must a company find ways to support their hard working employees who choose to have families.

I fully support this petition. I do not have children myself, but I see my colleagues struggle to balance work and family life. In addition to being the right course of action, Northeastern could use a progressive leave policy as a strong recruiting tool.

I fully support this petition and second the comments about equity for LGBTQ parents in the NU community. I recently left NU for another opportunity in an effort to create a better work/life balance due to having two small children at home. It was a difficult decision because I loved my role at NU. I hope your voices are heard on these important workplace issues.

these propose changes help families and everyone in the Northeastern community