Hi, when I had my twins I got 12 weeks of leave plus I was able to take vacation time and unpaid leave for 1 month to total 4 months of leave. I was laid of that "Corporate" job almost a year ago. I started working about 9 months ago for a family owned business. Its qute different but I like it. When I was casually talking with the owner about another girl thats pregnant that works here she mentioned there is no maternity leave, that anything a person takes here is unpaid.
My question is, does the 12 weeks of FMLA not apply to small owner operated businesses? I dont want to stir the pot, but just curious if that can really be true?? It seems to me that you should have some time at least portionally paid anywhere?? Any one else dealt with this?? THanks!
FMLA isnt paid they still can take the 12 weeks but it doesnt require the employer to pay the employee.
L.,
I don't know the exact legal verbiage, but I know that employers under a certain number of people do not have to adhere to FMLA.
It seems as though it may be different in every state. Here's what I found. Hope it helps... http://www.hr.state.az.us/Employeerelations/familyleave.htm
FMLA is not necessarily PAID leave. All the law states is that the company has to hold a position for you until you decide to come back (up to 12 weeks). Also, they are not required to hold your original position. So for example... if you have been with a company for 2 years and have become a manager and earned pay increases in that time, then they have the right to hire someone else for your position, and then when you come back, they can put you back at whatever their starting wage and position is. They can even say that they are holding a position for you in another city all the way on the opposite side of the state if they want. As long as there is an open position for you when you return, it doesn't matter where or what it is. My best friend had to find that out the hard way. She lives in Mesa, and was a manager for a company that she had been with for over 10 years, and when she was ready to come back from maternity leave at 11 weeks, they told her that they have an entry-level position for her in Show Low (sp?) if she wants it. She denied, and they told her, sorry, that's all we have. So she went to a lawyer and he told her that they did everything within their right, and she had no recourse. Sucky, huh?
L.,
FMLA applies to businesses with 50 people or more, if I remember correctly. What I do know, is that it is not paid time off. After working somewhere for a year, you can take FMLA time for you or family without risk of being laid off from your job because of the time taken. I'm sure you can use vacation time if your employer offers it, but you do not get paid time off for FMLA.
Many places offer short term diability as part of their insuranece coverage. If you have this, you can use the short term disability to cover your time off. The benefits depend on how long you have been at your job. For example, when I was at an old job, I was pregnant, and would have had the baby 5 months after starting there. My short term disability would have given me 100% of my pay for one week, and 50% for each additional week up to 7 weeks, for 8 weeks total.
Good luck to your friend!
Hi L.-
I work for a pretty good size company here in the valley, and just had my second son 3 months ago. When I found out I was pregnant I realized that I had made the mistake of not enrolling in short term disability with my employer. Had I done this, my maternity leave would have been paid, but instead I did not get paid during my 8 weeks of maternity leave. FMLA does not state that the employer has to pay the employee when they are gone, it just says that they will hold a position for you until the leave is up and not necessarily the same position.
When I had my first son, I worked for bank one and short term disability was paid by the employer, so when I started with this new place, I assumed the same thing......I made a very costly mistake. But we managed, and I got to enjoy some time with my new little guy.
Hope this helps!
FMLA leave only applies to companies with at least 50 employees.
Maternity leave, however, is not required for anyone in the U.S. Companies can choose whether to give paid maternity leave. From what I've heard, the U.S. is one of the worst developed countries for paid maternity leave.
