Can you get fmla for pregnancy

And even if you have both FMLA and medical or disability leave, you may still run into problems. If you give birth to a preemie who is in the hospital for four weeks after birth, you'll only have the remaining eight to spend with her. And if you have a complicated pregnancy that requires weeks of bed rest , you may use up all of your leave before you even give birth.

Ultimately, says Ness, "We're still a long, long way from where we need to be. However, a company can require an employee to make vacation and sick days part of the 12 weeks off. Time off is one thing; money is another. In order to get any pay while you're on leave, your company must offer paid leave or provide temporary disability insurance as a benefit; such insurance pays about 60 percent of your wages. Unfortunately, many companies don't do either. Law-wise, Californians are the luckiest women of all.

That means that no woman in California has to go for 12 weeks without pay. A new mom could draw on her state disability for her first six to eight weeks postpartum. Then, she would receive family leave insurance until she gets to 12 weeks. If none of the above situations apply to you, you may be able to use accrued vacation, sick days, or personal days to help you get by.

But the option of using sick leave is simply not a reality for many. What's more, some companies don't allow employees to use their sick days to care for others, even a new baby. Six months later, and in connection with an absence for therapy, the employer may properly ask Joe for another recertification for his need for FMLA leave.

Can employers require employees to submit a fitness-for-duty certification before returning to work after being absent due to a serious health condition? Under the regulations, an employer may require that the fitness-for-duty certification address the employee's ability to perform the essential functions of the position if the employer has appropriately notified the employee that this information will be required and has provided a list of essential functions.

Additionally, an employer may require a fitness-for-duty certification up to once every 30 days for an employee taking intermittent or reduced schedule FMLA leave if reasonable safety concerns exist regarding the employee's ability to perform his or her duties based on the condition for which leave was taken. What happens if I do not submit a requested medical or fitness-for-duty certification?

If an employee fails to timely submit a properly requested medical certification absent sufficient explanation of the delay , FMLA protection for the leave may be delayed or denied. If the employee never provides a medical certification, then the leave is not FMLA leave. If an employee fails to submit a properly requested fitness-for-duty certification, the employer may delay job restoration until the employee provides the certification. If the employee never provides the certification, he or she may be denied reinstatement.

Under the regulations, an employer may deny a bonus that is based upon achieving a goal, such as hours worked, products sold or perfect attendance, to an employee who takes FMLA leave and thus does not achieve the goal as long as it treats employees taking FMLA leave the same as employees taking non-FMLA leave. For example, if an employer does not deny a perfect attendance bonus to employees using vacation leave, the employer may not deny the bonus to an employee who used vacation leave for a FMLA-qualifying reason.

Sasha uses ten days of FMLA leave during the quarter for surgery. Sasha substitutes paid vacation leave for her entire FMLA absence. My medical condition limits me to a 40 hour workweek but my employer has assigned me to work eight hours of overtime in a week.

Employees with proper medical certifications may use FMLA leave in lieu of working required overtime hours.

Employers must select employees for required overtime in a manner that does not discriminate against workers who need to use FMLA leave. The regulations also clarify that substituting paid leave for unpaid FMLA leave means that the two types of leave run concurrently, with the employee receiving pay pursuant to the paid leave policy and receiving protection for the leave under the FMLA. If the employee does not choose to substitute applicable accrued paid leave, the employer may require the employee to do so.

Neila needs to take two hours of FMLA leave for a treatment appointment for her serious health condition. Neila can also take unpaid FMLA leave for the two hours. FMLA leave may be available to address certain health-related issues resulting from domestic violence.

An eligible employee may take FMLA leave because of his or her own serious health condition or to care for a qualifying family member with a serious health condition that resulted from domestic violence. For example, an eligible employee may be able to take FMLA leave if he or she is hospitalized overnight or is receiving certain treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder that resulted from domestic violence. Example: Dean worked for his employer for six months in , then was called to active duty status with the Reserves and deployed to Iraq.

Employer Notice Requirements Q. Employee Notice Requirements Q. The day you start your leave is up to you. Other times, expectant mothers decide to start their leave before their due date and before they go into labor.

This helps them have more time to prepare. You may also be able to use short-term disability payments to take leave if your doctor says you need to stop working early. You can also try to extend your leave using vacation time, sick leave, and other types of personal days. If you need more time off, you should discuss it with human resources to see if you can take an unpaid leave of absence or unpaid disability leave. You may even be able to work from home for a while.

Some additional things to understand about FMLA include knowing that if you and your spouse both work at the same company, then the FMLA will only cover one of you. This means that you might need to reserve FMLA for the last option for leave.

Be sure to give your boss notice when you plan to take FMLA for childbirth. While the regulations are fairly clear, there is always a possibility that your employer could disagree with your request for leave. If you are planning on taking maternity leave, get everything ready at work before you go.

In fact, you will want to be flexible even with the day you start your maternity leave just in case you are early or late on delivery. Also, you should be the one making decisions. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures , and Airbnb.

Other Leave Laws In addition to the FMLA, there are other federal and state laws that allow you to have time off work for pregnancy and parenting. You do have certain rights to defend, though, so if you think that your employer is wrong for firing you, or that you experienced any pregnancy discrimination, be sure to consult an attorney about your options Do I Receive Benefits While I'm on Maternity Leave?

Consult with an attorney before making any decisions. Some employers offer adoptive parents policies identical or similar to those given to birth parent One big difference may come with companies that pay for maternity leave through STD policies because adoption will not typically qualify under the definition of those insurance policies.

Other Ways to Extend Your Leave You can also try to extend your leave using vacation time, sick leave, and other types of personal days. Although the United States does not guarantee paid maternity leave, employers may provide paid leave if they choose. The main difference between federal and state FMLA laws is whether leave is paid or unpaid. Federal is unpaid. Certain states provide paid family and medical leave. Nine states — California , Colorado , Connecticut , Massachusetts , New Jersey , New York , Oregon , Rhode Island , and Washington — and the District of Columbia have laws that provide paid family and medical leave for employees who need time off to care for sick or disabled family members or bonding with a new child newborn, adopted or foster child.

The number of states providing paid family and medical leave continues to grow.