Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico State University has agreed to pay more than $700,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing the university of denying or discouraging faculty members from taking time off for family leave.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/1QaFGc0 ) that about 50 current or former nine-month faculty members who had a newborn, adopted a child or had a foster child placed with them qualify for the settlement.
According to the class-action lawsuit, faculty members say they were discouraged from taking or denied leave which violates federal laws guaranteeing eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave.
University officials say a paid leave benefit for faculty was in the works before the lawsuit, but the suit prompted them to roll out the policy change ahead of schedule.
___
Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
