[Dcouncil] DEI Updates of Interest

[Rhonda Barbosa]

Dear Colleagues:

Thank you for raising this topic.  Indeed, paid parental leave is an area that lab explored some years ago.  Approximately 18 months ago we have revisited this topic and Treva, our Sr. Benefits Representative did some benchmarking for us.  As recently as last month she completed another benchmarking exercise within the National Laboratory Complex.  At this month's meeting I will share this information with you and inform you of next steps in this process that Gina alluded to in yesterday's email correspondence.

And thanks to Rebecca for sharing resources/events for Pride month.

Warm Regards,
Rhonda
________________________________
From: Dcouncil <dcouncil-bounces at jlab.org> on behalf of Rolf Ent <ent at jlab.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 1, 2021 12:32 PM
To: Rebecca Duckett <duckett at jlab.org>; dcouncil at jlab.org <dcouncil at jlab.org>
Subject: Re: [Dcouncil] DEI Updates of Interest

Dear Rebecca,

we need HR, as I do remember the request came up some 5-10 years back, for good reasons
as this is a "standard" benefit in any countries/places, but there was some HR wrinkle which
made it difficult. So we should ask Rhonda/Kelly/Cassandra to go back in memory what the
issue is.

Personally, I do agree a parental leave policy is a must in modern times, people look for it.

Best regards,   Rolf

________________________________
From: Dcouncil <dcouncil-bounces at jlab.org> on behalf of Rebecca Duckett <duckett at jlab.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 1, 2021 12:08 PM
To: dcouncil at jlab.org <dcouncil at jlab.org>
Subject: Re: [Dcouncil] DEI Updates of Interest


Hi all-

So I would like to follow up on this because several of you have reached out to me directly to clarify or discuss.



Currently, the lab does not have a maternal or paternal leave policy. Unless I missed it, there isn’t mention of it on any of our recruitment, benefits or onboarding materials either.



As I understand it, women at the lab must pay into short term disability monthly if they wish to have a child during their employment here. If they do not opt in, they can be denied coverage because pregnancy could be considered a pre-existing condition. Furthermore, they must reserve 7-8 days of leave before their coverage can even be active, at which point they will receive around half of their paycheck during the 6-8* week period after they give birth.



Perhaps we can get insight from our benefits team on this to see if this important topic is being revisited.



To be candid, within the past two months, I have spoken with three different women at the lab who have addressed this as a huge disadvantage to working here especially compared to the other national labs. This concern has legs and is worthy of our time.



In an effort to continue promoting inclusivity and diversity at the lab, this conversation at the very least deserves some discussion time during our next meeting.



Thanks,

Rebecca



*6 weeks for vaginal delivery and 8 weeks for cesarean





From: Rebecca Duckett <duckett at jlab.org>
Date: Friday, May 28, 2021 at 2:34 PM
To: "dcouncil at jlab.org" <dcouncil at jlab.org>
Subject: DEI Updates of Interest



Hi team-
As we approach June, I just wanted to bring some items to the forefront for purposes of discussion during our next meeting:



  *   Because we know research doesn’t happen in a day, some of our transgender colleagues have publications under their dead names (name given at birth which usually doesn’t match their gender identity). The labs are working on ways to retroactively find those publications and make the name change to the researcher’s current name.



  *   June is Pride Month. As such, Hampton Roads Pride (Hampton Roads LGBT+ awareness nonprofit) has released their schedule of events, which I have attached.



  *   During the DEI Focus Group on the LGBT+ colleagues, Elena Long supplied the following resources of note for the LGBT+ community.
     *   http://lgbtphysicists.org/
     *   https://www.aps.org/programs/lgbt/
     *   https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.08406



  *   On June 14, Wikipedia in partnership with APS Physics, is hosting two events.  Shout out to Markus Diefenthaler for that info.

     *   A Juneteenth Freedom Day Edit-a-thon focused on creating and editing biographies of Black physicists (Sunday, June 20 at noon)
        *   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbbeOHB8y71q2ZeA6pFMJz-sY9FEix_0o5BXOlprPsN4aTpA/viewform
     *   A third Wiki Scientist Course focused on creating biographies of minority and women physicists. (multiple pertinent dates here: click the link for more info)
        *   https://www.aps.org/programs/outreach/wiki-course.cfm?utm_source=announcement&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Wiki&utm_content=committee



  *   And finally, we often speak of the need to lift up women in STEM careers however, it has been brought to my attention the lab does not have a parental leave policy. Other labs including Argonne, Fermi, Los Alamos and Brookhaven all offer leave of some kind. This is a much larger conversation of course, but one people are having around the lab and one that I believe we should pay attention to.



Thanks,

Rebecca





Rebecca Duckett
Internal Communications Specialist
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
Jefferson Science Associates, LLC
757-679-7575 (c) | duckett at jlab.org<mailto:duckett at jlab.org>




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