TL;DR: FMLA for maternity leave. FMLA is a federal law that provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year for the birth of a child, placement for adoption or foster care, or to care for serious health conditions of yourself or an immediate family member.
Keep reading for more on how to qualify for FMLA for maternity leave or paternity leave, what to expect, how to prepare, and more.
What’s the history of FMLA?
Signed into law by President Clinton in 1993, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has been protecting family leave for many Americans for almost 30 years.
The law protects 12 weeks of unpaid leave in a given year if you have a qualifying event. It also requires that group health benefits be maintained throughout the entire leave.
In December of 2019, the FMLA was amended. The Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) granted federal government employees up to 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth, adoption or foster placement of a new child. (Note that the amendment of getting 12 weeks of paid leave only applies to federal employees!)
Why was it created?
The 80’s and 90’s saw rapid workforce growth, especially by an unprecedented number of women entering the workplace . Many were pushing for a federal law that would support working class Americans who wanted to raise a family. Congress stated that FMLA was important for child development, the family unit, and not making parents choose between job security and parenting.
Am I eligible for FMLA for maternity leave?
To be eligible for FMLA protection, you have to work for a covered employer and meet personal eligibility requirements.
FMLA Covered Employers
FMLA only applies to a certain subset of American employers. It applies to public agencies (including local, state, and federal government), public and private elementary schools and secondary schools, and private-sector employers with 50 or more employees.
FMLA Eligible Employees
To be an eligible employee, you need to have worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, worked at least 1,250 hours during that time, and work at a location where your company has at least 50 employees within a 75 mile radius.
Giving notice for FMLA for Maternity Leave:
30 Days is a Good Rule of Thumb!
There isn’t very specific guidance on how much notice you have to provide to your employer to be covered by FMLA for maternity leave. A good general rule of thumb is to request leave at least 30 days in advance. (If you are taking FMLA leave for pregnancy, this should be foreseeable.)
Of course, sometimes the reasons for taking leave are unforeseeable. While not common, in the case of parental leave, it’s possible you won’t know you need to take leave before 30 days. So provide notice as soon as possible given your circumstances and situation.
If you have an FMLA-qualifying reason to take leave and if you are planning to take FMLA leave for the first time, you don’t have to mention FMLA specifically when you request leave. Regardless, you should share information with your employer that helps them determine if FMLA applies to your situation.
You should always check with your employer (HR should be your friend!) to learn about their specific requirements for requesting and taking leave.
What’s protected under FMLA for maternity leave?
Legally under FMLA, your job and your health benefits are protected during your period of leave.
1. Your Job
Once you return from your leave, you will return to your original job or an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, etc. Taking FMLA should not in any way be used against you when coming back to your position.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean it always happens like this. Some parents come back from leave and find out they don’t have a job or they’ve been demoted. What happens next? Know your rights and your options. Here’s an article to help you decide if you have a claim against your employer.
2. Health insurance
Your employer must also continue your health insurance through the duration of your FMLA leave as if you were not on leave. Something to note: if you make contributions to health benefits through your paychecks, you will most likely still need to do this. And, if you are taking unpaid leave, this means you may have to write regular checks to your employer to keep up-to-date on your monthly premiums.
While continued health insurance is protected, other benefits like life insurance and accrual of PTO or sick days aren’t guaranteed under FMLA. A lot of companies choose to continue these benefits for employees on leave, but aren’t required to do so. (This is used as an incentive for employees to come back to work for their employer after their leave.)
Preparing for FMLA for maternity leave: A Checklist
Your FMLA maternity leave preparation checklist:
1. Make sure you and your employer are eligible.
Your HR representative can help you confirm whether you and the company are covered by FMLA.
2. Make sure the reason for your leave is covered.
If you are expecting a child whether by pregnancy and childbirth or adoption or foster placement, you are covered!
3. Give notice.
30 days is the best, or as early as possible if unforeseen.
4. Give your employer the information they need.
Once you notify your employer about your leave, you may need to provide additional information. Your employer is allowed to ask for more detail if they aren’t sure whether the FMLA applies.
5. Decide how you want to take your 12 weeks of FMLA for maternity lave.
You can take FMLA for maternity leave any time up to a year after the birth or placement of your child. If both parents are FMLA-eligible, sometimes they take their leave together and sometimes they stagger their leave. You should also think about how you can combine FMLA leave with other types of leave like sick days, vacation days, short-term disability, etc. Some parents will use their sick days and PTO to recover from childbirth then take FMLA later in the year for some family time.
If deemed medically necessary, you might qualify for intermittent leave or a reduced schedule. Both are a possibility through FMLA. This allows you to take off small increments of time that add up to 12 work weeks or 480 hours. Intermittent leave might look like shorter days or taking one day off per week.
6. Make a plan with your employer to minimize disruption at the company.
Under FMLA, you are obligated to make an effort to leave that doesn’t unnecessarily disrupt your company’s or team’s operations. Be ready if your employer asks you to work around the company’s requirements.
7. Arrange for payments of your health insurance premiums.
As mentioned above, your employer is required to continue your group health coverage during your time off. This means they will continue to pay its usual share of your health insurance premiums, and you will also continue to pay your share. Since FMLA is unpaid, you won’t get a paycheck for a few months. This means you’ll owe your company for insurance premiums. Your company might ask you to write a check every payday, pay the entire premium in advance, or make other plans. Try to come up with an arrangement that works for both you and your employer.
Combining FMLA for Maternity Leave with Other Types of Leave
What can get confusing about parental leave is that there are more than a few different options and ways to do it. Many parents stack, combine, mix, and match. And you should too! Think about all that is available to you based on what company you work for and where you live. These could be: FMLA, vacation days, sick days, company-paid maternity leave, short-term disability, etc.
It’s important to know your employee preferences and requirements around how you take parental leave. Some companies require their employees to take all of the available paid and unpaid leave they’ve accrued as part of FMLA. For example, if you’ve accrued five weeks of PTO or sick days, they may require you to take your paid time before you use unpaid leave. You can take what’s remaining of the 12 weeks as unpaid leave. In this case, you would have seven additional weeks of unpaid leave.
You may also be eligible for medical leave or short-term disability due to childbirth. Generally, birthing parents get 6 weeks under short-term disability for a vaginal birth and eight weeks for a c-section.
Read more about taking short-term disability for pregnancy here.
If you’re not eligible for FMLA and your company doesn’t have parental leave policies, short-term disability may be all the time you get. If you do have FMLA coverage, the short-term disability period is part of your 12 weeks. (ie: You can’t take 6 weeks of short-term disability then tack on 12 weeks of FMLA.)
More information on FMLA for Maternity Leave
If your company is required to provide you leave through FMLA, they are also required to share information about FMLA with you. If you are unsure about anything that the FMLA leave policy covers or how it will affect you, ask them!
Download the employee guide: The Employee’s Guide to the Family and Medical Leave Act