Maternity Leave

GJohnson

We are a small company not covered by FLMA.

In the past, we have given our employees six weeks of unpaid leave for maternity.
Our handbook states that pregnancy will be treated as any other disability.

Generally we have defined that leave is considered a disability if our insurance company determines that it is a disability. Our handbook does not state a specific amount of time granted for a disability - however, in a separate policy we do state that we can grant up to 30 days for personal leave.

We have an employee requesting 12 weeks off for maternity. She believes that she is entitled to 12 weeks as she is having a c-section. Originally she thought that we were covered by FLMA, which I have advised her that we are not and that our typical leave for maternity is 6 weeks.

What are the legal issues regarding maternity leave?

Leslie

You need to do for her what you do for everybody else. Legally, "the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 requires companies employing 15 or more people to treat pregnant workers the same way they treat other workers who have medical disabilities and cannot work. The law prohibits job discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related disability. It guarantees equal treatment of disabilities, including pregnancy, birth or related medical conditions. Your employer cannot fire you because you are pregnant or force you to take mandatory maternity leave. You are protected in other ways too. You must be granted the same health, disability and sick-leave benefits as any other employee who has a medical condition. You must be given modified tasks, alternate assignments, disability leave or leave without pay (depending on your company's policy). You are allowed to work as long as you can perform your job. You are guaranteed job security on leave. You continue to accrue seniority and vacation, and to remain eligible for pay increases and benefits. If your company does not provide job security or benefits to other employees, it does not have to provide them to a pregnant woman."

However, a lot of states have separate maternity laws - you need to check yours.

deniseE

I'm not sure what your internal policy is, or what particular laws your state may have. But do be aware that a C-section is major surgery and does require more than the general 6 weeks of disability time. Often doctors will extend leave to 8 weeks to allow for full healing.

If you would grant such leave to someone having open heart surgery, you should grant leave to someone having a c-section.

Allow the dr. to determine when the ee is ready to return to work.

Yahoo

In my experience, the 2 week extension for C-sections is a thing of the past. In a year and a half of administering the leaves at my co., I have yet to have a physician require/request an 8-week leave, nor would my disability provider allow it (without some kind of unusual complication).

Human Resources Manager

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-24-04 AT 08:24AM (CST)[/font][br][br]This is what I have found as well. Our disability carrier qualifies childbirth as 6 weeks unless there are complications, whether c-section or not.
In fact, it states that 6 weeks is the allowed amount for any uncomplicated abdomial surgery, be it c-section, apendectomy, whatever. Follow your policy and/or whatever state law requires in this case.

Pork

GJOHNSON: I went to the web site to review our policy and procedures for a expecting mother employee who does not qualify for FMLA, which would throw our procedures for this employee into the same situation that your company is presently in.

For an employee who does not qualify for FMLA, but is determined by the physician to be medically disqualified from working in any position for whatever reason. Our policy and procedures call for us to terminate that person, if the physician can not have the individual back to work within 6 weeks total from the disqualifying date. Broken leg male is the same as an expecting mother, termination due to a disqualfying medical condition. The 6 weeks was established by our medical coverage plan document which says we can carry an employee, who is not working and paying premiums on the ee rolls for no more than 6 weeks, at which time the PTO ee is eliminated from both the medical covered plan and our payroll records as a termination due to medical disqualification.

Now under our Medical Leave Policy which runs concurrent with the FMLA, it spells out 6 weeks for natural birth and 8 weeks for c section for short term disability payments. If not qualified for FMLA the individual would be on a Personal leave of Absence for personal reasons.

Medical qualification is a requirement for all positions and is assumed until a physician announces that an ee is no longer medical qualifyied due to some medical condition, which permits the ee from working in our environment.

Hope this helps, your post read like it might fit. Follow your policy, and if none is in place, follow your previous history for how your company has treated anyone else with any medical condition.

PORK

Shadowfax

You cannot use maternity and paternity interchangeably. You say you have given 6 weeks off for maternity leave. Pregnanccy leave is treated as any other disability. If the preg disability is 6 weeks, and, you give 6 weeks maternity, voila! 12 weeks leave. Don 't say one when you mean the other. One is a ligitimate disability, the other is not.

Pork

SHADOWFAX: Boy, I am getting old and hard of seeing and reading, but I'm just confused. I can not find the word PATERNITY written anywhere in the original post. I take it you read something in the post about being a parent, thus PATERNITY came into your fingers as you typed. Please identify the line and word reading left to right by line, so that I and many other old folks can come to the same level of genius that you demonstrate as you read the poster's mind and put words into the post!!!

Confused PORK

Shadowfax

This is one tough, and observant crowd. Replace 'paternity' with 'pregnancy' and see if that doesn't work better. The distinction I was trying to make was the poster said 'we have granted 6 weeks maternity...and treat pregnancy as a disability..' which is great. Typically, a normal pregnancy leave (disability) will not be 12 weeks, so some non-disability (maternity) leave may be considered. FMLA doesnt make a distinction, but I think for non FMLA e/ers, you can. Keep up the good editing PORK.

Don D

???

Pork

"Dandy Don", does??? also mean that you were confused??? I think the issue has been resolved for now. EXPECTING, MATERNITY, PREGNANT, ALL OCCUR prior to Paternity based on the delivery date. I think you will concur with the use of these words in connection with disability which the physician has declared in writing prior to delivery. After delivery, there may be a short term disbility declared by the physician, but normally not longer than 6 weeks with natural child birth or 8 weeks for a c section birth of a child to a parent or parents. However, the physician has the professional ability to declare a disability before birth and carry on through birth to the end of disability as declared by the physician. Hence there could be disability during EXPECTING PERIOD, MATERNITY PERIOD, AND PREGNANCY PERIOD.

Boy is ribs served over the week-end has my brain HUMMING!

PORK

Don D

I need a sex education course. I thought PAternity and MAternity occured at roughly the same point in time.

Pork

The way I learned the use of these words was when my mother discussed the "Birds and Bees" with my sister and I at the same time age 13 for me and 11 for my sister. Man, what an embarassing moment for both of us; however, I did remember and I have not heard of any new uses with the exception that most women of Southern heritage that I know consider Parenting to begin at conception and last through a life time, likewise, maternity goes along the same path. It is those men and women who take on the parenting responsibilites, be it natural birth or through adoption, that paternity is an issue with, "when does it start?". That then becomes the legal issue that messes all of our HR training and understanding of these terms.

MAY WE ALL HAVE A VERY BLESSED DAY AND BE WONDERFUL PARENTS.

PORK