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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

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Associate Director, Disability & Leave Administration

Consultants

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

In general, the information listed here applies to employees that work in California. For specifics on other states please contact the Leave Unit.

Caltech offers options to take time away from work to manage personal, medical, or family issues. Depending on the type, the leave may be paid and/or unpaid.

Types of Leave

Post Doctoral Scholars and Staff should contact the leave department regarding these leave types.

Medical Leave

Medical leave is when you are unable to work due your own serious health condition or pregnancy-related disability. This leave can be taken continuously or intermittently.

Postdoctoral Scholars Pregnancy Leave

Family Care Medical Leave

Family Care Medical Leave is when the employee needs leave to care for a spouse, registered domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, parent, child, or designated person with a serious health condition. This leave can be taken continuously or intermittently.

Baby Bonding is to care for a newborn, for the placement or care of a child who is newly placed with an employee for adoption or foster care. This leave can be taken continuously or intermittently.

What is Intermittent Leave? It is any leave that allows partial or full days off that are considered leave time and meet eligibility requirements.

What is Continuous Leave? It is leave taken in consecutive days.

Other Leaves

Personal Leave of Absence

Personal Leave is for purposes such as education, scientific research, public service, and personal reasons not covered by other paid time off or leaves of absence.

Post Doctoral Scholar's please contact Scholar Services [email protected], or call (626) 395-6586 for this type of leave.

Requesting a Leave of Absence

Contact the Caltech leave administrator at (626) 395-3092 or [email protected] 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.

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

Other Absences

  • Paid Time Off for Benefit Based Employees (Vacation, Sick Leave, Holidays) - 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 (Jury Duty and Bereavement) - Please refer to PM 27 (PDF)
  • Paid Parental Leave for Staff PM 26-2 Paid Parental Leave for Staff Make a PDF for here
  • Postdoctoral Scholars Handbook- Leaves on page 5, 6 - Please refer to handbook

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

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

  1. If you are injured, please notify your supervisor immediately. In cases of emergency, contact security at x5000 or (626) 395-5000.
  2. 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.
  3. An Employee Claim Form for Worker's Compensation Benefits and an Employee Accident Report Form will be provided to the injured employee.
  4. 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 24-48 hours of receipt of the forms.
  5. 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.