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Ask the Expert: Finding Balance Natalie Gahrmann is a success coach and owner of N-R-G Coaching Associates, a private coaching company that specializes in helping working parents achieve mastery of work and life. Her clients experience more clarity, direction and alignment while reducing stress in their busy lives.
Family & Medical Leave ActJoann writes, "I am a new professor at a university. Although the university policy says that employees can take an up to 12 week maternity leave, my dept. chair says that she thinks that four weeks is certainly enough leave if I have a child during fall or spring term, and if I don't agree, I should time my pregnancy better for a summer birth. Is the FMLA for 12 weeks guaranteed? Next year, I will have worked there for over a year. Or is it up to the discretion of the dept. chair. Can she deny my leave or determine how much leave I should take? I am the only woman in the dept. who is considering having a child and my biological clock is running out and my husband and I haven't had much success "shooting" for the summer."Answer: To answer your question properly, I've researched the FMLA law extensively. What I've found is that there are some differences in terms of how the FMLA law applies to private and public sector employees or employers. The 50-employee coverage test does not apply to public sector employers or to public or private education agencies (schools). However, the public agency or school system must employ 50 employees within a 75-mile area around the work site in order for an employee to be "eligible" and entitled to FMLA benefits. Special rules apply to instructional employees of "local educational agencies," including public school boards and elementary and secondary schools under their jurisdiction, and private elementary and secondary schools. Generally, these rules provide for FMLA leave to be taken in blocks of time when the leave is needed intermittently or is required near the end of a school term. It doesn't sound like these exceptions apply to your circumstances. I recommend that you contact your local or regional wage and hour office or visit the Department of Labor online at www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/fmla/faq.asp to get personally familiar with the law. Generally, employees are eligible to take FMLA leave if they have worked for their employer for at least 12 months, and have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months, and work at a location where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles. If you are an "eligible" employee who has met FMLA's notice and certification requirements (and you have not exhausted your FMLA leave entitlement for the year), you may not be denied FMLA leave. You cannot legally be fired for complaining about a violation of the FMLA; nor can the University take any other adverse employment action on this basis. It is unlawful for any employer to discharge or otherwise discriminate against an employee for opposing a practice made unlawful under FMLA. The Wage and Hour Division has written materials about FMLA, including copies of the law itself and of the regulations, which you can get for free. These and other helpful materials are available on the Labor Department's web site at www.dol.gov/dol/esa/fmla.htm At this time, about half the states have passed legislation that deals with parental leave. Some states provide disability insurance if you have to leave work because of pregnancy or birth. State laws differ, so check with your state labor office or consult the personnel director in your company's human resources department You may also obtain a summary of state laws on family leave from:
The Women's Bureau Publications, As far as your department head's attitude about your impending pregnancy and leave, my first reaction was "...the audacity of your department head to tell you when you should get pregnant---when it would be convenient for her!" If the University policy is clearly stated in writing, it must be applied consistently. Get a copy of the University's policy and read it thoroughly before proceeding. At this point, you're making an issue of something that may not occur. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee if and when you'll become pregnant.
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