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Standard & Procedure Name:Paid Parental Leave
Scope:Reliant Employees 
Revision Date:August 2, 2022
Last Review Date:June 7, 2023

Reliant is excited about our employees having healthy families. The birth of a child, adoption, and foster care are joyous times and times of adjustment for the family. Reliant desires to support its employees during these major life events.

Each of the Paid Parental Leaves described below will run concurrently with the employee's Leave of Absence, as applicable. Please visit the Common Parental Leave Scenarios page to see how the paid leave benefits intersect with leaves of absence. 


Maternity Leave

Maternity Leave

Paid Benefit

  • Female employees will receive fully paid Maternity Leave, based on the availability of funds in the account for which they are responsible, for 6 weeks for the birth of a child to recover from childbirth and to care for that child.
  • Full-Time, PT-30, PT-25, and PT-20 employees are eligible for this leave.
  • The 6 weeks of leave can start before childbirth if medically necessary or if the employee coordinates with her supervisor to begin her Maternity Leave early.

Leave of Absence

  • After this time, the mother may take her available PTO, as well as unpaid leave, totaling up to 12 weeks of leave.
  • If both parents work at the same ministry or church, they may be limited to a combined total of 12 weeks of leave. 
  • See the Family and Medical Leave section of the Leave of Absence policy.

Short-term Disability

  • Women experiencing medical complications related to the birth of a child, beyond the given maternity leave time, may seek additional medical leave in the form of Short-Term Disability, which allows employees to receive 2/3 of their normal salary during an extended illness.
  • This short-term disability is available for Full-Time 40 and 30-hour/week employees and needs to be sought at the time of the medical need.  
  • Short-term disability would be in addition to the maternity leave allowance.
  • If medical complications arise, please contact your Program Team for additional steps as early as possible. 

To notify Reliant of your Maternity Leave, please email your Program Team and CC your supervisor.

Paternity Leave

Paternity Leave

Paid Benefit

  • Male employees will receive fully paid Paternity Leave, based on the availability of funds in the account for which they are responsible, for 2 weeks for the birth of a child to care for that child.
  • Full-Time, PT-30, PT-25, and PT-20 employees are eligible for this leave.
  • These 2 weeks do not need to be taken immediately, but they can be taken any time within the first 3 months after birth.

Leave of Absence

  • The father may take his available PTO, as well as unpaid leave, totaling up to 12 weeks of leave.
  • If both parents work at the same ministry or church, they may be limited to a combined total of 12 weeks of leave. 
  • See the Family and Medical Leave section of the Leave of Absence policy.

To notify Reliant of your Paternity Leave, please email your Program Team and CC your supervisor.

Adoption Leave

Adoption Leave

Paid Benefit

  • Reliant employees will receive fully paid Adoption Leave, based on the availability of funds in the account for which they are responsible, for 2 weeks for an adoption placement to care for the child or children.
  • Full-Time, PT-30, PT-25, and PT-20 employees are eligible for this leave.
  • Employees may request an additional 2 weeks of paid Adoption Leave. To request this extension, employees should contact their Program Team. Supervisors will need to approve the extension.
  • These 2 weeks (or 4 weeks, if the extension is approved) do not need to be taken immediately or consecutively, but they can be taken any time within the first 3 months after the adoption. They can also be taken before the adoption is finalized if needed.
  • If both adoptive parents work at the same ministry or church, each employee will receive 2 weeks of Adoption Leave. Only one of the adoptive parents is eligible for the 2-week extension of Adoption Leave.

Leave of Absence

  • The adoptive parent may take his or her available PTO, as well as unpaid leave, totaling up to 12 weeks of leave.
  • If both adoptive parents work at the same ministry or church, they may be limited to a combined total of 12 weeks of leave. 
  • See the Family and Medical Leave section of the Leave of Absence policy.

To notify Reliant of your Adoption Leave, please email your Program Team and CC your supervisor. 

Foster Care Leave

Foster Care Leave

Paid Benefit

  • Reliant employees will receive fully paid Foster Care Leave, based on the availability of funds in the account for which they are responsible, for 2 weeks each year of a new foster placement to care for the child or children.
  • Full-Time, PT-30, PT-25, and PT-20 employees are eligible for this leave.
  • These 2 weeks do not need to be taken immediately or consecutively, but they can be taken any time within a calendar year or before the placement if needed.
  • The paid Foster Care Leave benefit is limited to two weeks each calendar year regardless of the number of foster placements within the year.
  • If both foster parents work at the same ministry or church, each employee will receive 2 weeks of Foster Care Leave each year of a new foster placement.

Leave of Absence

  • The foster parent may take his or her available PTO, as well as unpaid leave, totaling up to 12 weeks of leave.
  • If both foster parents work at the same ministry or church, they may be limited to a combined total of 12 weeks of leave. 
  • See the Family and Medical Leave section of the Leave of Absence policy.

To notify Reliant of your Foster Care Leave, please email your Program Team and CC your supervisor. 

Adding a child to your Reliant medical insurance

For more information on adding a child to your Reliant medical insurance policy (if applicable) please see Adding a Dependent to Insurance. The deadline to add a child to Reliant's medical coverage varies.  Employees under Reliant's domestic insurance with GuideStone must add dependents within 60 days of a child's birth or within 31 days for an adoption/foster scenario (not a newborn). Employees under Reliant's International insurance with Aetna must add new dependents within 30 days.  Please ensure notification to Reliant is received 5 business days prior to these deadlines to allow processing time for these additions. For questions about this process or other benefits questions related to the birth of a child please email benefits@reliant.org.

International Missionaries ONLY

If the country an employee resides in has a national law that requires the employer to pay an employee for a longer period of time than the Reliant policy, Reliant will honor the requirements of the national law in that country. Please contact international@reliant.org for further information on the International parental leave policy. 

Related pages

6 Comments

  1. Julie Thomas

    Amber Blais - Please review!

    1. Amber Blais

      Done! Made a comment above.

    2. Matt Elkins

      Reviewed and ready to go in my book. This looks great and reflects what we discussed. Thank you, Julie!

  2. user-ca312

    Barb Seckler- Do missionaries need to notify their liaisons or the payroll team if they are using unpaid leave for their maternity leave? If they are desiring to use the full 12 weeks 

    1. Barb Seckler

      user-ca312 this page has that info for you - https://solomon.reliant.org/display/public/employman/Leave+of+Absence#expand-FamilyandMedicalLeave - excerpted here: Employees who wish to take leave must provide at least thirty days advance written notice to their supervisor and Program Team of the need for family and medical leave whenever such need is foreseeable. Where the need is not foreseeable, employees must give notice to their supervisor and Program Team as soon as possible, normally within a day of learning of the need for leave.


      The liaison would then inform ES - I'll create a basic page for that andTonya Bartelscan add to that as part of her communication project.  For now I'd say the Liaison would send an email to payroll@reliant.org (Tonya Bartels may change that to benefits@relaint.org - but for now this should work) stating the name of the Missionary and the exact dates they are requesting unpaid leave for along with a statement confirming the Program team leader and Missionary's supervisor have approved the unpaid leave. 

      1. Tonya Bartels

        Payroll is where they get sent to Barb Seckler