The ability to spend time with their newborn child greatly improves [the residents’] well-being and their ability to find an appropriate work–life balance. This makes them better trainees, better physicians, and better people. —R. Peter Manes, MD
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March 2023
Dr. Manes agreed. “Although time away from training can be perceived as a challenge, the very notion of timed training is falling by the wayside. A move toward competency-based education makes time away much less concerning. Our goal is to train safe, competent, professional otolaryngologists. This can still be accomplished with parental leave,” he said.
Katie Robinson is a freelance medical writer based in New York.
Parental Leave Resources
There are several online resources regarding parental leave that apply to medical residents:
ACGME Answers: Resident Leave Policies
The ACGME published this blog post in September 2022 to address questions related to its resident medical, parental, and caregiver leave policies. It covers the actual requirements and contains links to their implementation. It also notes the following: “The Institutional Review Committee will cite sponsoring institutions for violations of the new requirements beginning July 1, 2023.”
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla
The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid leave for specified reasons. Among the FMLA provisions is one that offers 12 weeks of leave per year for the birth, adoption, or fostering of a child, or to care for the child within one year of birth/placement.
The FMLA applies to public agencies, including local, state, and federal employers and local education agencies, and private sector employers that employ 50 or more employees for at least 20 workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year. Eligible employees must work for a covered employer, must have worked 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of the leave, and must have worked for the employer for 12 months (although not necessarily consecutively).
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
https://www.ncsl.org/labor-and-employment/state-family-and-medical-leave-laws
NCSL is a bipartisan organization serving legislators in the 50 states and territories of the United States. Its website provides a list of which states have enacted and/or implemented family and medical leave laws, along with the details of those laws. The sad news: Only 16 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia have done so.