Anyone know how paternity leave works??

farrellashleigh · March 2011

I am clueless, is this just a special bonus that some companies offer or is it mandated by the state or is it part of something like the health insurance or what? DH's company doesn't really have an "HR" type department and I have no idea how any of it works. Anyone??

dmndsr4eva · March 2011

If his company has over 50 employees he might be eligible for family medical leave. If they don't have over 50 employees they aren't required to give him any time off under the law. However, you would think they would offer him off a week or so to spend time with the new baby.

DEBBIE33CASEY · March 2011

I don't think anything is state mandated at this point unfortunately. If there's no HR dept he'll probably just have to talk to his boss about getting time off. I don't think anything is covered under health insurance. Depending on how big is company is then he should qualify for a short amount of paternity leave through FMLA. In my state it's a company of 50 employees or more has to cover FMLA leave and the birth of a child I think is coverd. But it just "holds" your job, doesn't pay for anything, so DH took 2 weeks and used PTO.

hersheykiss · March 2011

In CA, it is state required for any company with 50+ employees to offer leave to fathers for the birth or adoption of a child. You may want to call the state dept that handles Employer Benefits to get your state regulations. Many companies do offer it even if it isn't state mandated, but you would have to refer to his company's employment handbook (if they have one).

Mrs.S-S · March 2011

If your DH's employer is subject to FMLA and your DH qualifies (based on hours worked, etc) then he could take FMLA leave for the birth of a child.

As for actual "paternity leave" I suspect that some employers might have a policy if they have one for maternity though I have never seen this. Most manternity leave is just a combo of FMLA, vacation/sick days with maybe STD for income replacement (if the employer offers this and you have enrolled in it).

nealbl · March 2011

At our work the Dad is allowed to take two weeks per FMLA. It is not paid but they can take paid vacation at that time.

xtencornfield · March 2011

Very much depends on your state and your DH's employer. DH gets two weeks paid paternity leave for every child and he can also choose to take leave after that via FMLA using PTO. I believe his employer offers 12 weeks FMLA to everyone. He planned to take a month off with DS after I went back to work but he got a promotion and wasn't able to take off an entire month. Since I will go back at 6 weeks this time around, I think he's planning on taking a month off for #2.

farrellashleigh · March 2011

Ok that all makes perfect sense, thank you ladies! He's been self employed until lately so we've never had to deal with it. I know they have over 50 employees so I'll have him ask whoever is "kind of" considered in charge of that type of thing (the company structuring is a bit disorganized).

m0132 · March 2011

I have no idea and am going through the same thing. DH had heard if the company offers maternity leave then they have to offer paternity leave, but he wasn't sure if it would be paid or not. His job has a small group of people and works for the city, but the actual company is corporately owned out of state..its super confusing and no one in his office seems to know the policy. He did request some time off recently though and saw a spot to check off for maternity/paternity leave, so now I have been on his butt about calling SOMEONE and finding out what the policy is (every time he tries no one is in the office). Lucky for us he has vacation time built up he plans to use some of and he also has a best friend working with him who's wife is due two days after me..he has not been there as long and has no PTO built up, so their boss is just going to pay him for the days he needs off anyway and offered to do a few days like that for DH too, we need all the days he can get at this point.

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