FMLA

kt012885 · May 2013

Just a question for you ladies. The bank I work for just came out with a new employee handbook stating that we have combined with the insurance company and now we have more than 50 employees so we have FMLA. (before this...they let women off for 12 weeks anyways). My question is: with this new policy, we have to use all vacation and PTO prior to using the leave.

Do you have too use all your vacation/PTO, if you are using FMLA?

Before FMLA here- they didn't require you to use your vacation or PTO- they gave you the 12 weeks unpaid and if you wanted to you could. Now we have too- and it's still unpaid. I'm fine with using my vacation but I've worked so hard to keep the 6 daysof PTO I will have in July (doesn't sound like much but when you get 1/2 day a month- it takes a while).

JilllyBean · May 2013

No, you don't have to use vacation instead of FMLA. FMLA doesn't mean you get paid anything though.

Dani428 · May 2013

Every company works differently. For example, at my company FMLA covers job security for 12 weeks maternity. My company only pays me 6 weeks full and after that I need use my days...vacation & sick time & then unpaid for whatever I don't have enough days for. That's only because I have been with the company for over 5 years...if I wasn't, I would only get paid full for 3 weeks and after that what I would get paid goes down by percentages. It's confusing.

MrsMcC.10409 · May 2013

My company makes you use your saved time too, but then they have a 6-8w paid maternity leave. You have to use your vacation to get the mat leave, but neither of those have anything to do with federally mandated FMLA. I would put a call in to your HR manager. I'm no expert by any means, but I don't think they can force you to use your vacation/sick time if you don't want to.

kt012885 · May 2013

etoille:
kt012885:
Just a question for you ladies. The bank I work for just came out with a new employee handbook stating that we have combined with the insurance company and now we have more than 50 employees so we have FMLA. (before this...they let women off for 12 weeks anyways). My question is: with this new policy, we have to use all vacation and PTO prior to using the leave.
Do you have too use all your vacation/PTO, if you are using FMLA?
Before FMLA here- they didn't require you to use your vacation or PTO- they gave you the 12 weeks unpaid and if you wanted to you could. Now we have too- and it's still unpaid. I'm fine with using my vacation but I've worked so hard to keep the 6 daysof PTO I will have in July (doesn't sound like much but when you get 1/2 day a month- it takes a while).
You're confusing two things.
Paid time off and FMLA.
The ONLY thing FMLA says is that they have to hold a job for you for up to 12 weeks. Whether you get paid or don't get paid during that time etc has nothing to do with FMLA.
Whether a company makes you use a combination of paid and unpaid leave and in what amounts DURING those 12 weeks is something that differs from company to company.
So you'll get a WIDE variety of answers to this question because PTO has nothing to do with FMLA policies.

I understand that. I meant do each of your companies require you to use all pto/vacation before using FMLA? Under FMLA in our handbook it says we have to use ALL PTO/Vacation before-therefore if we have it- we take it while off on FMLA.

kt012885 · May 2013

MrsMcC.10409:
My company makes you use your saved time too, but then they have a 6-8w paid maternity leave. You have to use your vacation to get the mat leave, but neither of those have anything to do with federally mandated FMLA. I would put a call in to your HR manager. I'm no expert by any means, but I don't think they can force you to use your vacation/sick time if you don't want to.

In our employee handbook it states under FMLA section- that we have to use all PTO/Vacation before using FMLA- so if we still have it which I have 7 days vacation and 6 personal days...which I don't have time to take before FMLA- I'll get paid for that time and the remainder is unpaid. Just curious to what other companies require.

cmaiorana · May 2013

My company runs FMLA concurrent with paying you for any personal, then vacation time up to 12 weeks. So basically FMLA is twelve weeks and if that's what we are taking we will get paid out whatever we have accumulated up to that amount. If we don't have enough paid time off, we can stay out unpaid / if we have more than 12 weeks paid time off we could tack it to the end or save it.

kt012885 · May 2013

etoille:
kt012885:
etoille:
kt012885:
Just a question for you ladies. The bank I work for just came out with a new employee handbook stating that we have combined with the insurance company and now we have more than 50 employees so we have FMLA. (before this...they let women off for 12 weeks anyways). My question is: with this new policy, we have to use all vacation and PTO prior to using the leave.
Do you have too use all your vacation/PTO, if you are using FMLA?
Before FMLA here- they didn't require you to use your vacation or PTO- they gave you the 12 weeks unpaid and if you wanted to you could. Now we have too- and it's still unpaid. I'm fine with using my vacation but I've worked so hard to keep the 6 daysof PTO I will have in July (doesn't sound like much but when you get 1/2 day a month- it takes a while).
You're confusing two things.
Paid time off and FMLA.
The ONLY thing FMLA says is that they have to hold a job for you for up to 12 weeks. Whether you get paid or don't get paid during that time etc has nothing to do with FMLA.
Whether a company makes you use a combination of paid and unpaid leave and in what amounts DURING those 12 weeks is something that differs from company to company.
So you'll get a WIDE variety of answers to this question because PTO has nothing to do with FMLA policies.
I understand that. I meant do each of your companies require you to use all pto/vacation before using FMLA? Under FMLA in our handbook it says we have to use ALL PTO/Vacation before-therefore if we have it- we take it while off on FMLA.
No - that's what I'm saying you're confusing.
Its not "before" using FMLA.
You use FMLA from the first day you're out. Period. Whether you're using PTO, sick, vacation, or unpaid leave.
Your company policy is just saying that while on FMLA you have to use PTO to cover the time out until that's expired at which point it converts to unpaid leave.
So its not 'before' FMLA - its concurrent.

It just says an employee must use all paid vacation and PTO prior to being eligible for unpaid leave. It says PTO may be run concurrently with FMLA. Basically I'm saying they will not let me take 12 weeks unpaid- which that was the case as of last week. Now we have to take whatever time we have before we can take unpaid. I was just wondering what everyone else had to do.

ECATX · May 2013

We get two weeks of paid parental leave. After that, we can use a combination of vacation and sick time, or we can take it as unpaid. FMLA begins on the first day off and runs concurrently.

Stina2012 · May 2013

Mine says if I want to get paid during FMLA then I use 2 weeks maternity paid, 6-8 STD with a paid 40% element to make me "whole" and then available PTO. I do not HAVE to use the PTO, but if I want to get PAID I have to use the PTO for the remaining weeks of FMLA.

blueturkey12 · May 2013

Yes, at my company you must use all of your PTO during your 12 weeks of FMLA leave. After your PTO is used up, you are unpaid for the rest but your job is waiting for you when the 12 weeks is up.

bunnie712 · May 2013

My company policy leaves it up to my manager on whether I have to use my vacation as part of FMLA time. I do not get PTO. I do get paid STD for 6 or 8 weeks depending on delivery method; the rest of my time off up to 12 weeks is unpaid and I retain my vacation days.

If the verbiage is open enough, you might be able to negotiate. Until my manager got things figured out when pg with DD, I started taking vacation days in case it was use it or lose it. That got him to get his butt in gear quite quickly since they needed me working as long as possible before delivery.

bobcee · May 2013

FMLA allows for 12 weeks unpaid leave while still ensuring you have a job to return to. Period. The rest is dependent on the company.

At my place of employment I have the option of taking as much of it as unpaid leave as I wish or using up to 6 weeks of sick leave for a vaginal birth and up to 8 weeks of sick leave for a c-section in order to get paid. I can use vacation time for the rest of the time up to the 12 weeks if I want to be paid.

YellowLily2013 · May 2013

Spartanmomma:
I opted not to take FMLA, which seems illogical, but ultimately will hopefully work to my benefit. At my office, unpaidnbsp;FMLA starts as soon as your last day does, for whatever reason. I have anbsp;STD policy through my office, which starts that day as well. According to our handbook, we also need to use any accrued PTO and vacation time at the beginning of our leave as well. So as PPs have mentioned, all of this is occurring under the umbrella of those 12 weeks of FMLA.
In my case though, I decided not to do the FMLA leave because you only get 12nbsp;weeks total. So while yes, my job is protected, it also means I would have to go back WAY earlier than 12 weeks, since I was pulled from work at 30 weeks. Assuming I make it all the way to 37 weeks, I would be required by FMLA to return to work only 5 weeks after delivery. I want more than 5 weeks at home with my LO, especially if she ends up in the NICU and isnt home until later. Instead I'm using my STD pay right now, and will get up to 6 weeks STD pay postpartum bc of the csection. I can then use my accrued vacation time after that. My company says they'll allow me my full 12 weeks of requestednbsp;maternity leave,nbsp;but I know that if they want to terminate/change my job because I did not use FMLA that's the risk I take. Fortunately I feel valued by my company and find this unlikely, but if they did, I'm also fortunate to have a career where I could find a new job elsewhere very quickly.

Are you unpaid now them? What about benefits? 401k, health insurance?

That's another reason to file for FMLA. They don't have to give you paid leave, but they have to continue your benefits while you are on FMLA.

YellowLily2013 · May 2013

I think pp covered everything pretty well!

It is very dependent on your employer. For me, I have to take one week of PTO, if I don't have enough this will be unpaid. The next week will be csick, which is a special group of days my company offers for catastrophic events. The following 4 weeks will be paid by STD.

If I want more paid time off I can exhaust the csick balance and PTO balance. I could opt for unpaid leave but it doesn't really make sense to IMO.

I will use FMLA protection to work part time while maintaining my full time benefits, until I have made a decision to come back to work part time or full time.

If I switch to part time I will lose benefits like vacation, 401k and insurance. So it will be a big decision for our family.

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