150.981 Maternity and Family Leave for Hospital Medical Staff, Including Residency Programs in New York State:
The position of the Medical Society of the State of New York regarding leave policies for physicians in practice or residency training includes as follows:
(a) MSSNY urges medical schools, residency training programs, medical specialty boards, the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education and medical group practices to incorporate and/or encourage development of written leave policies including parental leave, family leave and medical leave;
(b) Residency program directors and group practice administrators should review federal and state law for guidance in developing policies for parental, family and medical leave;
(c) Physicians who are unable to work because of disability due to pregnancy, childbirth and other related medical conditions should be entitled to such leave and other benefits on the same basis as other physicians who are temporarily disabled for other medical reasons; (d) Residency programs and group practices should develop written policies on parental leave, family leave and medical leave for physicians. Such written policies should include the following elements:
leave policy for birth or adoption;
duration of leave allowed before and after delivery;
category of leave credited (e.g. sick, vacation, parental, unpaid leave, short term disability);
whether leave is paid or unpaid;
whether provision is made for continuation of insurance benefits during leave and who pays for premiums;
whether sick leave and vacation time may be accrued from year to year or used in advance
Residency program policies should also include:
extended leave for resident physicians with extraordinary and long-term personal or family medical tragedies for period of up to one year without loss of previously accepted residency positions, for devastating conditions such as pregnancy which threaten maternal or fetal life;
how time can be made up in order to be considered board eligible;
whether make-up time will be paid;
what period of leave would result in a resident physician being required to complete an extra or delayed year of training;
whether schedule accommodations are allowed, such as reduced hours, no night call, modified rotation schedules and permanent part-time scheduling.
(e) Staffing levels and scheduling are encouraged to be flexible enough to allow for coverage without creating intolerable increases in other physicians’ workloads, particularly in residence programs; and (f) Physicians should be able to return to their practices or training programs after taking parental leave, family leave or medical leave without the loss of status. (Council 3/9/95; Amended HOD 1997-180; Reaffirmed HOD 2014)
