2nd Trimester

Any lawyers in here??

My company has a Donated Sick Leave Policy where an employee can choose to donate their time to a fellow employee in the case that they need more time off than they have accrued. We just got a Memo last week from the CEO that he has decided that you are now not able to ask for Donated Sick Leave from your peers for pregnancy because that is an "elective" situation and not a medical necessity. I think that's crap! I'm not saying I expect all these people to give me their time, but I think I ought to have the right to ask them and let them decide if a pregnancy is a worthwhile reason to donate. What do you all think?
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Re: Any lawyers in here??

  • Um, YES, contact a lawyer!

    That is ridiculous!

    "Elective"??? Amazing!!

     

  • I was a high school teacher when PG with my first and the school had the same policy.  I kinda understand it though because it could bankrupt the sick bank leave and how would you draw the line at when to come back or stop getting the donated days?  In my case, before I decided to quit and stay home, I just took the amount of leave I wanted and what I hadn't accrued was unpaid leave.  I would have rahter had paid, but it was my choice to take 5 months off and it wasnt like I had cancer, etc.  I just wanted to be home with my son.
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  • imagejenniferb123006:
    We have a donated sick leave policy as well (school teacher).  It is stated in the policy that it cannot be used for pregnancy except in the event of bedrest.  I believe that this is fairly standard practice.

    I'm an employee benefits consultant and I can tell you it's definitely not a standard practice or exclusion.

  • OMG, call a lawyer ASAP! That IS crap!

    Whether or not you plan to ask for donated time, he has NO RIGHT to decide that pregnancy is an "elective." Pregnant women should have the opportunity to ask. Wow, that makes me so mad.

    GL!

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  • My understanding is it's not saying the pregnancy itself is elective, but the extra time you choose to take off is elective. 

    IMO it makes sense - someone who doesn't want to return to work because they want to take more time with the baby versus someone who is unable to work because of illness.  

  • Extra info....the policy has always allowed women to use it for pregnancy until now and it's pretty much anything pregnancy related (bed rest, etc.) In an argument he said that it isn't even necessary for a woman to be off for 6 weeks after the birth...we just want to "bond" with our babies. Hmmmm I wish he'd have to give birth!
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  • I am not a lawyer, but I don't think this is a legal type question.
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  • I'm a lawyer, but I don't work in employment law.  I would take some time to get familiar with the employment laws in your state, which  you should be able to find on the internet. I would also look at internal policies for making such changes. 

     If I had to guess, I would bet there is no law broken in that change of policy, but again I'm not in that field and I don't know what state you're in.  I would think the best argument would be that it's pregnancy discrimination, but that might be a stretch and you would have to determine if that's even a claim in your state.  

     Sorry I don't have a better answer for you.  GL! 

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  • imagekate930:

    My understanding is it's not saying the pregnancy itself is elective, but the extra time you choose to take off is elective. 

    IMO it makes sense - someone who doesn't want to return to work because they want to take more time with the baby versus someone who is unable to work because of illness.  

     Im not a lawyer but this is exactly what Im thinking. At my last job we could donate time and I never heard of anyone using it for anything pregnancy related. I dont know if it was against policy or what...

    I would have no issue helping someone out that had to go on bedrest, or had a sick baby... but not to help someone stay out longer.

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