APPLICABILITY
Indicator metrics apply to all employees (see definition in General Clarifications). For organizations pursuing Level 2 and above, paid family and medical leave must be provided on a prorated basis to part-time employees who work at least 20 hours per week.
FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE POLICY
If an organization with part-time employees is pursuing Level 2 or above, the Family and Medical Leave policy must specify that the benefits are accessible regardless of employee type (i.e., full-time or part-time). Regardless of level pursued, the policy must specify that family and medical leave is separate from paid vacation time, even if this paid time off is unlimited. Additionally, this leave policy must apply to all parents and caregivers (i.e., not just the birthing parent or primary caregiver).
While the Indicator metrics require family and medical leave be available for welcoming a child through birth, adoption, or foster placement, Living Future encourages organizations to consider extending this benefit to apply to a range of circumstances including surrogacy.
FAMILY MEMBER
For the purposes of this Indicator, family members must include at minimum children, spouse or domestic partner, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent, and grandchildren. Organizations are welcome to expand on this list in their respective policies.
FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENT
Terminology can vary, but flextime, flexible work schedule, telecommuting, job sharing, and compressed work week are all considered flexible work arrangements.
For the purposes of Just, flextime allows employees to choose their own times for starting and finishing work within a broad range of available hours. It may include a requirement to work certain core hours, with the timing of the other hours of work (in office or potentially remote) up to the employee.
For the purposes of Just, a compressed work week is an arrangement that allows an employee to work the number of weekly hours typical of the industry in question, but in a shorter-than-standard time frame (e.g., instead of five eight-hour days for office work, it might be done in four 10-hour days).
GOVERNMENTAL ROLE
If the government of a locale fulfills any of the requirements for a given metric, those government benefits may be included in the organization’s coverage. In areas where the government provides paid leave, provisions must meet all aspects of the metric requirements or be supplemented by the organization directly.
PAID LEAVE
For the purposes of Just, paid leave is job-protected leave (i.e., organization must reinstate employees to the same or an equivalent job when they return to work) in which employees are paid at least 60% of their normal salaries.
Organizations may optionally pay 50% minimum of an employee’s normal salary during paid leave if they provide additional leave in proportion to the amount required when paying 60% of normal salary. Guidance on the proportional calculation is provided in the Calculations section.
PAID SICK TIME
Any paid leave designated explicitly for medical or health uses (i.e., sick time) in excess of 10 days per year may count toward medical leave thresholds in the metrics.
SHORT- AND LONG-TERM DISABILITY INSURANCE
Short- and long-term disability insurance provisions can contribute to the metric thresholds as long as they meet all the metric requirements. Most short- and long-term disability insurance only applies to the employee themself; in this case, disability insurance could count toward the medical leave component if the organization has separate policies that cover medical leave to care for family members as well as family leave.
