LSU adopts paid parental leave policy, months after promised 

LSU announced Friday it will offer paid parental leave to its employees, making good on a promise administrators made months ago. 

The policy will allow up to six weeks of leave for any faculty or staff member after becoming a parent, including for foster and adoptive families. The new standards mirror those the state Civil Service Commission adopted for classified employees last year. Then-Gov. John Bel Edwards extended the same benefits to most unclassified state workers through an executive order.

“I believe this will be an important recruitment and retention tool for staff, as well as a welcome relief for parents-to-be at LSU,” Staff Senate President Josh Duplechain said in a statement to the Illuminator. 

The announcement comes nearly three months after the university promised the policy would be in place. After Edwards announced the benefit for state workers, LSU was the first university to declare it would follow the state’s lead. 

Despite the promised Jan. 1, 2024 start date, the policy languished in the President’s Leadership Council. The group of administrators needed to weigh the proposal and offer comment before university President William Tate could sign off on it, Vice President for Human Resource Management Niki Norton said in a statement to the Illuminator in February. 

Both the University of Louisiana and the Louisiana Community and Technical College systems have since approved and implemented similar policies. The Southern University System is considering adopting the same, a spokesperson said. 

The paid parental leave policy is retroactive to Jan. 1, according to an email sent to employees Friday.