Maternity Leave Question (WA State Family Leave Act)
I was always aware of FMLA, the Federal law that requires your employer (as long as they meet certain criteria) to allow you to take 12 weeks off, unpaid, for a new baby.
Just recently I learned about Washington State's Family Leave Act (FLA) which entitles you to additional unpaid time off from work - up to 18 weeks total when combined with FMLA.
My question is, has anybody on this board utilized WA State's FLA in conjunction with FMLA? If so, how did you use the time (i.e. extended your leave further than the 12 weeks, used it to return to work on a part-time basis for a period of time past the 12 weeks, or used it to take off some time before the baby's arrival etc...) Also, did you experience any pushback from your employer?
I'll be sharing the news of my pregnancy with my employer in the next week or so and I know that I don't need to commit to any sort of a leave schedule right away, but I know that's the first thing they'll ask and I am interested in what others have done.
Thanks in advance for any info!
Re: Maternity Leave Question (WA State Family Leave Act)
I know for a fact that AnnetteWalker did use her Wa FLA leve in addition to her FMLA.
I too will be using it. WHen I contacted my HR dept to get the ball rolling on my leave, I had to tell them about the Wa state additional leave. They in turn had to contact their lawyers etc.... to get the correct information. (I'm one of 6 people in Wa to work for this company.. we're based in GA.
I do plan to work up until the day I deliver, so I plan on using it all after the fact. The only thing is you will most likely have to pay COBRA while taking this additional leave. I will probably go back once I have to pay that and not take the entire time off.
some of it will also depend on how much your employer cares. Mine was fine with me taking 6 months off and then figuring out how/if/when I'd come back. So I got 2 weeks paid through sick time, then my mat leave pay kicked in for another 8 weeks (I think?), and then I used my remaining vacation time (which wasn't much) and I just went unpaid for the rest of the 6 months. I was supposed to have paid my insurance premiums then, but no one ever billed me for them or asked for them, so I kept quiet.
I used some of my FMLA while I was pregnant. Partly b/c I felt like *** for most of my pregnancy, partly b/c I was sick of my job, and partly b/c I was high risk and had a lot of appts. So my doc was OK with writing me a note about my high risk status, and my HR dept was fine with me using my FMLA unpaid time off sporadically to go to appts and take extra sick days off, etc. By the end, I was just working 4 days a week, and working one of those at home anyway. But since I used FMLA for that, I maintained my full time status, so I got my full paid mat leave.
Oh and I stopped working full time I think around Dec. 10, and my baby wasn't due til Jan 24, but the doc woudln't let me go past Jan 8. I ended up having him on Dec. 29. I think the week after I stopped working, I still did about half time from home for a week b/c people kept calling me!! And then we had the big wind storm where no one had power, and then it was the holidays anyway, so it just made sense to not be working then.
SOOOO.... if your employer is flexible with it all, you can negotiate anything. Remember that they are only obligated to give you those FMLA and WA leaves. They CAN give you more if they want.
I'm using it now and really anyone who qualifies for FLA in the state of Washington has the right to use it and shouldn't be receiving any pushback....it's the law. What both FMLA and FLA are important for is job protection. Your employer can always allow you more time off but there is no guarantee you'll get your same job and same pay back with time off outside of these laws.
FMLA can start before your pregnancy like Jill said or at the time of birth. It runs concurrently with your leave allowed for the time you are disabled due to the child birth, generally 6 weeks for vaginal delivery and 8 weeks for c-section. WA FLA cannot start while you are disabled from the pregnancy so FMLA tends to start first and then FLA begins once you are cleared as disabled from your doctor (that 6 or 8 week period). FLA and FMLA will then run concurrently. If you had no problems before your delivery, you really only end up using 6 weeks of FLA after FMLA is exhausted (12 weeks of FLA was exhausted at the same time as the 12 weeks of FMLA). You can choose to use the 6 weeks of FLA incrementally if your employer allows but if your child isn't sick, they don't have to allow it.
FLA really comes in handy if you have sickness/disability prior to your delivery. FMLA can begin running while you are out on bedrest or for your pregnancy related sickness. But, FLA cannot run until you are no longer disabled from your pregnancy. So, if you are on bed rest for 12 weeks prior to your delivery, FMLA will be exhausted before your delivery. But, you are then protected for an additional 6-8 weeks after delivery for more disability related leave and then you get your 18 weeks FLA.
Do keep in mind you may have to pay for all of your benefit costs during FLA leave while during FMLA they are handled just the same as they are while you are employed. One more thing, the disability leave isn't provided under a disability policy, it's under the Human Rights Commission for the State of Washington. If your employer provides disability coverage, it will run concurrently with these leaves and provide some payment to you for these leaves as there is no requirement of pay during any of these leaves.
Sorry this is so long.Good luck to you!
I was advised of the WA Family Leave act by my manager who was pregnant at the same time. All I had to do was to email my HR dept and advise them "Per WA Family Leave Act" I want to take the additional 6 weeks leave. They sent me stuff in email form giving them my leave dates and I was good to go.
Keep in mind one thing that I was not aware of is that your company paid insurance does not carry over to that time like FMLA did. So we either had to pay COBRA rates or go without. We decided to go without insurance for that 6 weeks and it was fine. The COBRA rate for us for 3 people was over 1200.00 for 1 month.
Hope that helps.
Oct 2011 3 1/2 years old.
Robert Williams Birth date 5/16/2008
Again, that insurance question will depend on your employer. Mine kept me covered, and I was just supposed to pay the normal amount that would get deducted from my pay checks.
Also be very careful about going without insurance. An insurance lapse can trigger pre-existing condition clauses when you start back up.
Ack I always shake my head at this topic because I have spoken to an employment attorney on this topic and employers are not REQUIRED to give you 12 weeks under FMLA just because you have had a baby!
If you really want to know what your rights are I would highly suggest speaking with an employment attorney who can really tell you what you are and are not entitled to.
Also Jill you did not have to take FMLA time when you were sick and if they forced you to take FMLA time they were in the wrong. I know this for a fact because my former employer was trying to force me to take FMLA time when I was pg and missing work.
I actually talked to your lawyer about this and when she told me that I asked her to look into it again and she said that she was incorrect and employeers ARE required to give you 12 weeks for FMLA if you have a baby. it is the law and it is a requirement, as is FLA.
There are a couple circumstances where an employer does not have to allow you to take FMLA and they have to do with being a key employee and your employer has to designate you as such officially in order to not allow this leave. The intent of the law is for everyone to take 12 weeks leave if they want it and qualify. Everything stated above is generally speaking as is any law or employment related matter so you do need to look into it further for your own specific situation.
Do keep in mind though that many employment attorneys challenge FMLA laws all the time because there were many gray areas to the law. It was revamped recently which provided for more clarification and eliminated some of these.
TFarabians - I'm guessing you had a specific instance outside the norm which led to a different outcome but generally speaking, an employer actually can force employees to take FMLA time and have every right to designate leave as FMLA if it qualifies. It's actually in the employer's favor to do so and even recommended by the Department of Labor to employers. I've heard it directly from the DOL myself! There are some other pieces that have to fall into place for an employer to do this but there are many circumstances where an employer can designate leave related to a pregnancy as FMLA.
They didnt' force me to take FMLA. what was my other option? Sick time is that what you mean? I was out of sick time. I could have gone to 4 days a week as my 'standard' work week, but then I woudln't have gotten full mat benefits. So I just took unpaid leave in increments.
Like I said though, it didn't really matter how I did it b/c they were so easy to work with for unpaid time off.
All of this info is SO helpful - Thank you, everybody, for the insights!
It's great to hear the ins and outs from people who have experienced it. Keep the posts coming, if you have any other advice or info!