Small Necessities Leave Act (SNLA)

Eligible employees can take up to 24 hours of unpaid leave per 12-month period for any of the following purposes: 

• to participate in school activities for the employee’s child such as parent-teacher conferences or interviewing for a child’s new school,
• to accompany the employee’s child to routine medical or dental appointments, or
• to accompany an elderly relative to routine dental or medical appointments or to appointments for other professional services related to the elder’s care, such as interviewing at nursing or group homes.

An elderly relative is defined as an individual 60 years of age or older who is related to the employee by blood, marriage, or same-sex domestic partnership. 

The college will measure the 12-month period as a rolling 12-month period measured back from the date you use any leave under this policy.

Eligibility

To be eligible, employees must have worked at Smith College for 12 months and accrued 1,250 hours in the year immediately preceding the leave. 

Employees are asked to give at least one week of notice if the need for this leave is foreseeable. If leave is unforeseeable, the employee must give as much notice as is practical under the circumstances. 

As in the case of the FMLA, you may elect to substitute any available paid vacation or personal time for the unpaid leave. Earned sick time may be applied for this purpose.

Departments may require that leave requests be supported by certification.