Disability & Leave Administration Unit

Caltech offers a number of options—paid and unpaid—for taking time away from work to manage personal, medical, or family issues. Accommodation requests due to a medical condition under ADA would need to be brought to DLAU (in addition to leave requests). Contact the Caltech leave administrator at (626) 395-3092 or at [email protected] to obtain a leave-of-absence packet and/or to schedule a consultation.

Our team

Manager, Disability & Leave Administration

Taynora Lee

HR Specialist/Disability & Leave

Contact our consultant for questions about personal leaves, maternity/baby bonding leave, and medical leaves of absence.

Sakurako Chan

Types of Leave
Worker's Compensation

Caltech offers a number of options—paid and unpaid—for taking time away from work to manage personal, medical, or family issues.

Types of Leave

Medical and Pregnancy Leave is for your own serious health condition or pregnancy-related disability.

Provide a written statement from your health-care provider with start date of your leave date, probable duration of leave and anticipated return-to-work date (this statement should not include diagnosis).

Postdoctoral Scholars Pregnancy Leave

Intermittent Leave allows partial or full days off that are considered leave time and meet eligibility requirements.

Family Care Medical Leave is for the care of your child, spouse, registered domestic partner, or parent.

Provide a written statement from the family member's health-care provider to include:

Confirmation that a serious health condition exists for the employee's family member (should not include diagnosis)
That the condition warrants the participation of the employee
The type of assistance needed by the employee's family member
The date the leave will begin and the probable duration of leave (end date)

Total family care leave is limited to twelve (12) weeks per rolling year.

Baby Bonding is for the birth of the employee's child, adoption or placement of a foster child.

Provide official documents related to the birth, adoption, or foster care placement.

Total bonding leave is limited to twelve (12) weeks to be taken within 1 year from the date of baby's birth, adoption or placement of a foster child.

Duration of leave may vary depending on eligibility. If leave eligibility is not met, the employee should discuss their options with the Disability & Leave Administrator.

Requesting a Medical or Family Leave of Absence

Contact the Caltech leave administrator at (626) 395-3092 to obtain a leave-of-absence packet and/or to schedule a consultation.

Leaves of absence should be requested 30 days in advance or as soon as practicable.

Your leave-of-absence packet will contain

A leave-of-absence request form
State Disability Insurance (SDI) or Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits application
A blank medical certification form for your physician to complete
A copy of the personnel memorandum
A leave-of-absence checklist to help you manage your leave

When the required documents have been completed and submitted, leave eligibility will be verified and you will be notified if your leave has been approved.

Other Absences

Paid Time Off for Benefit Based Employees (Vacation, Sick Leave, Holidays, Bereavement, Jury Duty) - Please refer to PM 15-2 (PDF)
Paid Time Off for Non-Benefit Based Employees - Please refer to PM 15-8 (PDF)
Personal Leave of Absence - Please refer to PM 25 (PDF)
Military Leave - Please refer to PM 15-7 (PDF)
Other Leaves of Absence - Please refer to PM 27 (PDF)

Questions regarding leaves of absence should be directed to the Disability & Leave Administration Unit at (626) 395-3092.

Caltech provides Workers' Compensation insurance for its employees. Workers' compensation laws are designed to help protect employees and their families from the financial consequences of injuries, illnesses, or death arising out of and in the course of their employment. The costs of medical treatment and disability payments for occupational injuries and illnesses are covered by the Institute's workers' compensation insurance policy.

If you have any questions regarding workers' compensation or if you have sustained a work-related injury, in addition to reporting the event to your supervisor, you may wish to call the Disability & Leave Administration Unit at (626) 395-3092 or email us at [email protected].

Reporting an Injury

If you are injured, please notify your supervisor immediately. In cases of emergency, contact security at x5000 or (626) 395-5000.
Supervisors or managers should verbally notify the workers' compensation administrator of any injury beyond first aid as soon as possible but at least within 24 hours, at (626) 395-3092.
An Employee Claim Form for Worker's Compensation Benefits and an Employee Accident Report Form will be provided to the injured employee.
The employee will complete his/her portion of the forms and return them to the Disability & Leave Administration Unit at Mail Code 170-84 or [email protected] as soon as possible but at least within 24 hours of receipt of the forms.
The supervisor will investigate the incident and complete a Supervisor's Injury Investigation, and email the completed form to [email protected] and [email protected] within 24-48 hours after the incident.

Treatment of Injuries

For emergencies, including serious injuries, call security at x5000 or (626) 395-5000 for paramedic service.

For first-aid injuries, administer first-aid treatment using the department first-aid kit.

For injuries requiring more than first-aid treatment, contact the workers' compensation administrator at (626) 395-3092 so that authorization can be coordinated with the appropriate medical facility. The employee will be sent to an occupational clinic for medical treatment.

For work-related injuries occurring after hours, holidays or weekends, call security at x5000 or (626) 395-5000, and you will be directed to go to the nearest emergency room.

For treatment by personal physician, the employee must have submitted a predesignated physician form to the Disability and Leave Administration Unit prior to an injury or illness occurring.

Transportation of Injured Workers

The injured employee can transport him/herself to the occupational doctor if able. If the injury is serious enough to seek medical treatment and the employee is unable to transport himself or herself to the occupational doctor, transportation can be arranged through our occupational clinics or paramedics will be provided at no charge. Caltech discourages supervisors and co-workers from transporting injured employees due to liability issues.

Please call (626) 395-3092 during business hours to arrange transportation to our occupational clinics. The security department at (626) 395-5000 will contact paramedics for emergencies.