Maternity leave?

kkoehler · December 2005

I am updating an employee handbook that I handed out to my employees a couple of years ago. One of the changes to be made refers to time taken off due to birth, adoption, or Foster care placement of a child.

Our policy currently heads with the above and has a bullet underneath that states *6 weeks paid. It does not specify to the mother or father. What I am wanting to do is show the father 3 days paid and specify 6 weeks for the new mother. This sounds somewhat discriminate. Is it and how should I write this policy where there are no open windows for law suit? What if I make the heading Maternity only and address adoption and foster care when and if it occurs?

Catbert Evil HR Director · December 2005

You could title one maternity and one paternity, not coming right out and saying mommy and daddy. That's just a knee-jerk answer. My question on top of yours - what do other employers give for maternity? You're giving 6 weeks paid. We have no policy and have a lady soon to give birth (still working). What we do here will set precedent for the company. We're a privately held company with 45 employees.

kkoehler · December 2005

We too are a privately held company with only 29 employees. I know if you have 50 or more employees you have to comply with FMLA and speak to that in your handbook. Having under 50 employees is the owners discretion, I believe. I am not the one to give advice but I feel pretty sure I am correct. Our owner felt like 6 weeks paid was a good policy for us. Any days over that of course with a doctors note would be accepted but not paid. It is hard for a small company to hold a position for someone but the few times we've had to, we did. Hope that helps some.

System · January 2006

In order to avoid sex discrimination against men, I think you'd need to give exactly the same to men and women for adoption and foster care. For childbirth, I'd think that the only difference would have to be based on the mother's physical need to recover from childbirth.

I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know if you can set a flat time (like six weeks) for recovery. And I wonder if the law would require you to give six paid weeks to a man who has surgery.

You might find an article or this in the Subscribers Area ([url]http://www.hrhero.com/lc/[/url]) or you might want to talk to a lawyer.
[url]http://www.employerscounsel.net/[/url]

Good luck.

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

KathyHR · January 2006

Since we have to comply with FMLA, employees have up to 12 unpaid work weeks off. But we run paid time off concurrent with FMLA. While mom is off recovering physically she can use her sick time, after the doctor releases her she has to use vacation or personal time. If she runs out of paid time the time time off is unpaid. If Dad is using FMLA he uses vacation or personal time unless he has a doctors certification that he needs to be off, then he can use sick time. Since we are a government non-profit our sick time accrues at 10 hours per month up to 720 hours so usually mom has enough sick time to cover her recovery. We don't have short or long term disability.
At my previous company we had 100% paid short-term disability which kicked in after the 7th consecutive day off, up to 90 days, so mom could use that in order to be paid. After 90 days long-term disability could start which was through an insurance company and paid something like 60% of their pay.

lorrie · January 2006

Is it your intention to give the mother 6 weeks paid regardless of whether it is a birth or adoption? That is generous of you, but could cause problems is an adoptive father wants 6 weeks paid also.

Our company does not pay for bonding time, although mothers and fathers are both allowed 12 weeks unpaid leave (FMLA) if they choose.

If the mother gives birth (vs. adoption), then it falls under our STD plan, which pays for her recovery time. Her doctor determines the amount of time needed, and if that exceeds 6 weeks they must show why extended time is necessary.

Separating the issues this way avoids some of the discrimination concerns you mention.

pork1 · January 2006

KKohler: We have two (2) policies: FMLA Policy, is written and contains all of the rights and benefits under the Federal Law. It provides the necessary words to deal with any and all FMLA provisions. Time off is explained that the physician will determine how long a patient/employee will be off for a expecting birth of a child, adoption, and spousal time off for the bonding.

The 2nd Policy deals with the Medical Leave conditions for all physician related situations. It provides for the compensation issues related to the FMLA Policy. Compensation being one of those. Spousal time off maybe granded under FMLA, but it is not compensated by the company. The individual may choose to use vacation/sick days to compensate self. 6 weeks for both employees is the max allowed. 6 weeks for a normal birth and 8 weeks for the "C" section birth are the guidelines. The physician can order more time off, but our polcy will shut off the compensation based on the guidelines in the policy. We have had 2 employees that were allowed to work right up to the birth date. We have a current employee that wants to take a 9 month leave of absence. Should the physician believe that is the circumstance, we would not be able to approve a 12 week FMLA and Medical Leave request, because it is certified that the individual and her physician believe that she should not be working for 8 months of this expected birth.

Your small company can pretty much do what ever the President/ownership tells you to do in the development of a policy. I strongly recommend you have both a medical leave policy and a Personal time off Policy for medically supported situations. This way the company can follow and apply the words accordingly with any case and be consistent in your execution. A male broken leg is no different than a expecting female employee! Whatever you do for one you will do for the other!

PORK

KathyHR · January 2006

Pork, would you mind sharing the 2nd policy you wrote about. What do you do about a doctor certifying they still have a medical condition after the 6 or 8 weeks but you know they want additional time and want to use sick instead of vacation? We have one pregnant now & I told her that at our option we can get a 2nd & 3rd opinion. We don't have a strong medical leave policy and I've been thinking about coming up with something to beef it up.

Maternity leave?

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