IX. FACULTY LEAVES, BENEFITS, AND SERVICES

Rice University provides its faculty with a variety of benefits and services. This section describes the most important of those benefits, including holidays and leaves, medical and other insurance plans, and educational, cultural, and recreational opportunities for members of the faculty and their families. To take advantage of these benefits, faculty members should work closely with the Office of Human Resources and read carefully Human Resources Department  Benefits Booklet which is issued in the spring of each year. 

A. Leaves with Pay

1. Academic Recesses

In addition to certain national holidays listed in Benefits Booklet, Rice has its own academic recesses for faculty and students: fall midterm recess, Thanksgiving recess, inter-semester period, spring midterm recess, and spring recess. Since faculty members are normally appointed for nine months, most also have their summer months for research, writing, and other creative activities. Some faculty have summer appointments. See Policy 206-71 "Summer Recess for Faculty Members" as well as Section IV.C of this handbook.

2. Medical Leaves

A faculty member may request a paid medical leave for a serious health condition, including pregnancy. A physician must determine that the faculty member is unable to work. During a paid medical leave, a faculty member may receive up to half of her/his nine-month salary in short-term disability payments (The Benefits Booklet, Policy 423-98 "Short-Term Disability," Policy 204-03 "Faculty Family, Primary Caregiver, Medical and Professional Leaves," and Chapter V.A.1. explain how medical leaves affect the tenure clock.)

3.  Primary Caregiver Leave

The primary caregiver is the person in the household who has primary responsibility in terms of time and commitment for the active care, custody and welfare of a child.  A full-time faculty member who is a child's primary caregiver is entitled to one full semester leave at full pay, to be completed during the nine months following a child's birth or adoption.  The faculty member will be free of teaching, research, and administative responsibilities during this semester.  For information on how primary caregiver leaves affect the tenure clock, see Policy 204-03 "Faculty Family, Primary Caregiver, Medical, and Professional Leaves" online at http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Faculty_Leaves.asp?SnlD=553344792.

4.  Professional Leaves

See Chapter VII on Faculty Development.

 

B. Leaves without Pay

Faculty members may occasionally obtain professional or military leaves without pay (see Policy 418-93 "Military Leave"). They may also receive paid primary caregiver leave and/or family leaves without pay to care for a newborn child, a newly adopted or foster child, or a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition (see Policy 204-03 "Faculty Family, Primary Caregiver, Medical, and Professional Leaves"). It is important to note that during a leave without pay a faculty member is responsible for her/his share of medical insurance premiums. For information on how leaves affect length of appointments and tenure clocks, see Policy 201-04 "Faculty Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure" and "Guidelines."  

 

C. Fringe Benefits

All faculty members in professorial or research ranks are eligible for benefits. Annually appointed teaching faculty must teach at least three courses per academic year and be on an annual appointment for two semesters to be eligible for benefits (see Policy 403-96 "Benefits Eligibility").

1. Medical Plans

Rice faculty members are eligible for several different group medical plans and a major-medical, high-deductible plan for catastrophic coverage. Faculty members may enroll in one of these plans upon being hired, on becoming eligible for benefits, or during an open enrollment period each year in mid-April. Faculty members who choose not to participate in any of these plans may receive an annual supplement to a medical spending account. The university also offers a Flexible Benefit Plan under which a faculty member may pay medical insurance and other premiums with pretax dollars as well as two spending accounts through which faculty members may be reimbursed for certain medical and dependent care expenses so as to realize savings on federal income and social security taxes.

In addition, Rice offers two dental insurance plans and long-term care insurance (the latter being paid for by the employee as an after-tax deduction). For details, see Benefits Booklet.

2. Other Insurance Plans

Faculty members are automatically enrolled in Workers' Compensation (unless they specifically reject this coverage; see Policy 407-94 "Workers' Compensation"), in a basic group term life insurance plan paid entirely by the university, in a long-term disability insurance plan that provides some income in the event of total disability, and in a group travel accident and death insurance policy to cover them while traveling on university business. They may also elect to enroll in a group accidental death and dismemberment insurance policy (currently carried by Life Insurance Company of North America), to purchase additional group term life insurance (a policy that provides for the terminally ill to receive a portion of their life insurance benefits while living), to purchase dependent life insurance for a spouse and/or children, and to pay for their own long-term disability insurance.

The university's general liability insurance covers faculty members who are acting in good faith within the limits and scope of their faculty positions.

3. Faculty Financial Responsibilities for Benefits during Leaves without Pay

Faculty members going on leave without pay should visit the human resources office before their leave begins, to set up billing for their portions of medical insurance and other coverages they wish to continue while on leave. See Policy 204-03 "Faculty Family, Primary Caregiver, Medical, and Professional Leaves." It is important to avoid any gaps in coverage because such gaps could lead to limitations in future coverage. Rice continues to pay its portion of benefits for up to twelve months of leave, including medical insurance, basic life insurance, and long-term disability coverage. For continuing coverage of other benefits, such as dental insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, and supplemental life insurance, or other employee-paid benefits, faculty members should arrange to make monthly or quarterly payments before beginning a leave without pay. Faculty members in an HMO who plan to be out of the "catchment area" should see the human resources office about changing to PPO coverage for the duration of their leaves.

4. Retirement Plans

Rice University enrolls its faculty members in TIAA/CREF retirement plans and contributes to each account according to the age and salary of the individual faculty member. Vesting takes place after one calendar year of service. The university also offers supplemental retirement annuity accounts through salary reductions in pretax dollars up to the limit allowed by the Internal Revenue Service, currently through Fidelity Investments or TIAA/CREF or both. Faculty members who wish to continue their health insurance after retirement should make arrangements with the human resources office. The university does not make contributions to retirement accounts for faculty members who are on leave without pay. For more information on eligibility for participation in retirement plans, see the Retirement Plan Document available at the Office of Human Resources. See also Policy 422-98 "Retiree Definition and Benefits."

5. Other Benefits

Rice faculty members are eligible for a variety of additional benefits. They and their families may obtain professional counseling, through LifeWorks, to help resolve issues that they need to address at home or on the job. They may take job-related courses at other colleges and universities and be reimbursed for 75 percent of tuition up to $1,000 per fiscal year. See Policies 409-96 "Tuition Waiver," 430-94 "Tuition Remission to Dependents," and 432-98 "Tuition Reimbursement." Faculty members may arrange exchanges with other universities, including short-term exchanges through the C. D. Broad program with Trinity College, Cambridge, which is administered through the office of the dean of undergraduates. They may purchase yearly permits to park their cars on campus (free shuttle bus service is provided to distant lots, seven days a week). They may receive discounts at the Rice Campus Store, athletic events, theatrical productions, continuing studies and executive development courses, and concerts (most concerts and recitals at the Shepherd School of Music are free). And they are eligible for free notary public services (through the human resources office) and free access to athletic facilities.  Finally, faculty members may elect to purchase savings bonds through payroll deductions and to become members in the Smart Financial Credit Union.

6. Benefits for Spouses and Families

Rice welcomes the participation of faculty spouses and families in university life. It offers them library privileges, the use of athletic facilities, subsidized parking space, spousal seating at commencement, and membership in the Faculty Club. A spouse or a biological or adopted dependent child under twenty-five (of a faculty member who is eligible for benefits) may apply for tuition remission upon admission or transfer as a full-time student pursuing a first undergraduate degree (see Policy 430-94 "Tuition Remission to Dependents"). Spouses may also audit any course with the permission of the instructor (see Policy 431-94 "Auditing Courses"). 

D. Faculty Club

Since 1927 the Rice Faculty Club has been housed in an unusually fine building provided by Esther and George Cohen, the Cohen House and Garden. All of the Rice faculty are eligible to become members of the Faculty Club and to use the facilities of Cohen House. Members of the Club elect a board of directors which in turn sets policies for the operation of the club and Cohen House. The club serves lunch for members and their guests, Monday through Friday, and dinner on the first Friday evening of most months during the fall and spring semesters. The club is also available on other occasions for use by members or by individuals and organizations sponsored by members. Academic schools and departments regularly reserve rooms in the club for meetings, receptions, and dinners. Faculty pay a one-time initiation fee on joining the club (visiting and adjunct professors pay annual dues); thereafter all faculty are billed monthly for meals or other expenses they incur.
 

E. Faculty Women's Club

Wives of faculty -- and female members of the faculty --may join the Faculty Women's Club. The club has interest groups focusing on books, gardening, fine arts, investments, and dining. 

 

F. Compensation Policies

Faculty members receive salary checks on a semimonthly basis on the fifteenth and last work day of each month. The university provides direct deposit of payroll checks to most banking institutions and credit unions. When pay dates fall on a weekend or holiday, paychecks are distributed on the last business day before the normal pay date. Although salaries are for nine months of service, faculty may elect to be paid either over a nine-month or a twelve-month period.

 

G. Directories and Guides to Services

Faculty members will find a variety of very useful information in the Rice University Campus Directory , published late in the fall semester each year, and its regularly updated web version. The directory includes not merely telephone numbers and addresses for faculty, staff and students but also maps, hours of operation, and directions for finding and using many campus services. New faculty members will be able with the assistance of the directory and of departmental coordinators to establish e-mail accounts, obtain audiovisual equipment, order books or arrange photocopying of materials for courses, and get advice on using personal computers. They will also find the directory useful in dealing with crime, emergencies (for on-campus fire and crime, call the Campus Police at extension 6000 or 3333, but not 911), and emergency closings. In addition to containing most of the information available in the directory, RiceInfo (http://www.rice.edu/) is a constantly growing resource for information about Rice University, including this handbook as well as many other guides and resources.