Pregnancy and Parental Leave

Table of contents

  1. Administration of this Policy
  2. Procedures
  3. Eligibility Requirements
  4. Compensation During Parental Leave
  5. Benefits During Leave
  6. Reemployment
  7. Discrimination and Retaliation Prohibited

Parallel aims to be supportive of our employees throughout the various stages of their lives and their careers. The purpose of this policy is to give parents additional flexibility and time to bond with their new child and adjust to their new family situation. Flexibility and family-friendly policies are essential to cultivating an atmosphere where employees can thrive professionally without sacrificing essential family obligations. Parallel recognizes that employees may need to be absent from work to prepare for or to care for a newborn child or new adopted or foster child (referred to as “parental leave”), or due to a pregnancy-related condition (referred to as “pregnancy leave”). Parallel provides pregnancy and parental leaves of absence to all eligible employees in accordance with applicable laws.

Administration of this Policy

The People Ops team is responsible for the administration of this policy (the “Policy”). If you have any questions regarding this Policy or if you have questions about pregnancy or parental leave that are not addressed in this Policy, please contact the People Ops team (people@parallelmarkets.com).

Procedures

If you intend to take parental leave for the birth of your child or to care for a new adopted or foster child, you should provide advance notice to your supervisor or the People Ops team. When possible, you should give at least 30 days’ notice of your request for leave. If 30 days notice is not possible because of medical necessity or for other reasons, you should give as much advance notice to Parallel as possible.

Written notice is preferred, but not required.

If you are suffering from a pregnancy-related disability and require reasonable accommodation (which may include leave) for this purpose, please speak with the People Ops team to discuss a reasonable accommodation. You may be required to submit medical certification of your disability. If there are other pregnancy-related conditions for which you would like to discuss the use of paid or unpaid time off or other accommodations, please also contact the People Ops team.

Eligibility Requirements

All employees are eligible for 12 weeks of parental leave, the first 8 weeks of which are paid parental leave and the last 4 weeks of which are unpaid parental leave.

To qualify for parental or pregnancy leave, you must have worked for Parallel for 26 or more consecutive weeks if you work a regular work schedule of 20 or more hours per week. Employees with a regular work schedule of less than 20 hours per week are eligible after they have worked for Parallel for 175 days.

Please contact the People Ops team with any questions about your eligibility for parental or pregnancy leave.

Compensation During Parental Leave

During parental leave, employees will continue to be paid their Parallel normal rate of pay for up to 8 weeks. Pregnancy leave is unpaid. In no case can the use of paid leave time result in an employee’s receipt of more than 100% of salary that they otherwise would have earned had they not taken paid leave time.

Benefits During Leave

During pregnancy and parental leave, all benefits provided under Parallel’s employee benefit plan are governed by the terms and conditions of the applicable employee benefit plan documents in accordance with applicable law. For all other benefits, an employee on pregnancy or parental leave will receive the same rights and benefits as employees on a paid leave of absence for the first 8 weeks and an unpaid leave of absence for the 4 weeks thereafter.

Reemployment

Your job will be held for you in accordance with applicable law while you are on pregnancy or parental leave.

If you are on pregnancy-related disability leave, when you are able to return to work, you must submit a doctor’s certification stating you are medically able to return to your normal duties. Your continued absence from work beyond your required disability leave period (as determined by your physician) and exhaustion of all other available leave may be deemed a voluntary abandonment of your job.

Nothing in this Policy requires Parallel to reemploy individuals who are not eligible for reemployment rights under applicable law.

Discrimination and Retaliation Prohibited

Parallel prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination or retaliation against any employee or applicant because of that person’s pregnancy or parental leave. Specifically, no one will be denied employment, reemployment, promotion, or any other benefit of employment or be subjected to any adverse employment action based on that person’s pregnancy or parental leave. In addition, no one will be disciplined, intimidated, or otherwise retaliated against because that person exercised rights under this Policy or applicable law.

Parallel is committed to enforcing this Policy against discrimination and retaliation. However, the effectiveness of our efforts depends largely on employees telling us about inappropriate workplace conduct. If employees feel that they or someone else may have been subjected to conduct that violates this Policy, they should report it immediately. If employees do not report such conduct, Parallel may not become aware of a possible violation of this Policy and may not be able to take appropriate corrective action.