I recently file a charge for discrimination of pregnancy on my boss,because my hours were reduced unexpectedly , they gave me not one good explanation on why they were giving me less hours the only thing they told me was that it was because i was 5 moths pregnant and tought i should work less. . the charge would take about 180 days to go through while they investigate. i decided to come to an agreenment and have a mediation meeting so hopefully all this could be over in a shorter period of time. All i plan to ask for is to get my hours reinbursed and paid for, and i also want to ask for maternity leave paid. I want to know whats the most i can ask for of paid maternity leave since the company i work for has about 20-30 workers.. is asking for 12 weeks to much? Also this company does not offer any benefits what so ever or is under an HR.
Sadly... Moms to be and Mothers are the worst group employers discriminate against.
I doubt you'll get any sort of paid maternity leave - America is one of 3 countries worldwide that does not offer some sort of federal regulated paid maternity leave.
My work pays 6 for vaginal delivery and 8 for
Csection under its short term disability plan. We have more than 50 workers so my job is protected as I am entitled to 12 weeks under FMLA...though the remaining is unpaid unless I have vacation remaining (which at my job cannot be carried year to year). None of my leaves have been fully paid- I have taken 3 in 4 years. Good luck!
.
There is no paid maternity leave or mandated short term disability in Texas.
The only way to get paid maternity leave is if you have Short Term Disability thru your employer. If you have Short Term Disability the coverage is only for 6 weeks for vaginal birth or 8 weeks for C section. Your employer is not required to pay you for maternity leave.
In companies where maternity leave is offered via short-term disability here is how it works:
The first 5 days are unpaid - you use any existing vacation, personal, sick etc. If you don't have 5 benefit days you would take up to 5 business days (one week) unpaid.
Short term disability then typically pays until you are released from a Dr to return to work.
For maternity if you have a vaginal birth that is 6 weeks after the birth of your child and if you have a caesarian delivery it is 8 weeks after the birth of your child (so 5 or 7 weeks of 'pay' after your 1st unpaid week). If you have complications (you, not the baby) and your Dr doesn't release you to go back to work most short-term disability can be used until your Dr releases you or up to 24 weeks. At that point Long-term disability would take over payments.
Typically short-term disability is paid at 60% of your regular salary. Some companies pay a certain % the first 2 weeks and then a lesser % the next 2 weeks etc etc. I've worked for companies that do all sorts of different payments.
HOWEVER - benefits (insurance, paid time off etc) aren't paid and don't accrue when you are collecting disability. So typically you write your company a check for the portion of your insurance THEY pay (ie - if your health insurance premium is $25/week paid by you and $100/week paid by them YOU would be responsible for paying the entire $125/ week).
As another poster said - you don't actually qualify for FMLA due to the number of employees. FMLA is unpaid anyway.... it just guarantees your job for up to 12 weeks (including the first 6 or 8 - so an additional 6 or 4 weeks off unpaid based on the type of delivery).
If you want to be fair, I would ask for 6 or 8 weeks (at whatever % is standard for your industry) depending on the type of birth and then your job guaranteed for a total of 12 weeks without pay. That's what is the standard and actually MORE than you deserve based on the size of the company and federal law.
I'm not sure about the discrimination suit - without details it's hard to give advice. If they paid someone else's maternity/paternity leave and then denied you.... you should get equal to whatever they paid the other person.
Hope that helps.
If your company has less than 50 employees you are not even entitled to unpaid FMLA.
If you are planning to take time off after the birth of your child and you do not have saved up vacation time, you employer can let you go without consequences. Sad isn't it?
Some states such as CA do have mandated paid Maternity leave, but I do not believe that Texas does. Some companies offer maternity benefits, mine did and I was able to take 6 months. It was unpaid but they did keep the benefits going (like health insurance). I really loved working for them for exactly that reason.
You could try working it out as part of your settlement, and they may agree to it because they want to avoid a further investigation of your discrimination complaint... but I would not count on it. If I were you, I would start looking for a new job.
Good luck.
I really don't think this is going to work out well for you. I'm not aware of the job you do but it's quite possible they felt you were not pulling your weight (pregnant or not). Your company doesn't offer any benefits? You are probably out of luck. You're still an employee and expected to perform a job to their standards. I had my spine fused and I simply could not do the same job until after I was repaired by surgery. I think you are barking up the wrong tree for twelve weeks paid leave. I suspect they are putting their ducks in a row to let you go. I would update the resume and start looking.
I wanted to clarify a post in regards to FMLA. Below are the requirements for eligibility for FMLA.
An employee can be eligible for FMLA if he or she has:
worked for an employer a minimum of one year;
worked a minimum of 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of the FMLA leave; and
is employed at a location where at least 50 employees are working within a 75-mile radius.
In Texas, FMLA is not paid. The only way to have paid maternity leave is a) vacation time or b) short term disability.
As you are aware, Texas is an employment at will state. I don't know what type of work you do but if it required you to do something that is harmful for a pregnant woman then they did have the right to lower the hours or change what you were doing. However, if that is not the case then they should pay you the money for the hours missed. They DO NOT have to pay for the maternity and I would recommend that you not ask for that. That is not what you filed the charge on.
Since, from your post, the company does not meet the criteria for FMLA, the company is not obligated to keep your job. However, since you have filed an EEOC pregnancy charge on them I would be surprised if they did something stupid. Keep in mind to be on time, do your job and not make any waves because they will be looking for a way to terminate you. That is a fact. A company is not required to offer benefits and I would suspect you knew that when you accepted the position. Good luck and congrats with the new addition.
Most places especially small places do not offer *paid* maternity leave unless you have a disability insurance policy. I took 12 weeks of *unpaid* maternity leave when I had my twins.
Hmm, I am guessing that you work for a small employer (less than 50 people) or you would be eligible for the Family Medical Leave Act, that would guarentee you 12 weeks off (but it doesn't have to be paid). Where I work, we have Short Term Disability for 6 weeks that are paid depending on how long you have been there, between 65%-100% of your salary. Following that you can be out up to the 12 weeks but you will have to use what is left of your vacation time and then go unpaid if you run out. Unfortunately in this country companies do not have to give you any paid time off at all.
Generally, in the US, maternity leave is unpaid, unless your company allows you to use accumulated sick/personal time (although I've never heard of or worked for a company that actually did this) or has internal policies governing maternity leaves above what is required by law.
When I had my children, I taught at a private school and I negotiated extended maternity leaves. Outside of my six weeks of disability pay, these were unpaid leaves. My husband worked an insane amount of hours to earn the money for me to be able to stay home so long.
I feel I was able to "get away" with this because 1) it was a private organization, 2) I was an exemplary employee and 3) I negotiated these agreements long before I even became pregnant. I'm not sure exactly what your boss has done to be discriminatory, but I'm fairly certain your charge will not inspire your company to do anything more than the bare letter of the law. A public school colleague of mine emphatically believes that she would never have been able to "get away" with what I did because a public school district could not be so accommodating. Interestingly, she never tried and did everything she could to NOT be forthcoming about her pregnancies. Her choice, of course, but I always wondered if she had been more upfront about things, if arrangements could've been made. I guess we'll never know.
In the end, I think honey works better than vinegar.
Good luck.
I don't really understand the situation. Maternity leave (if offered) is typically written (or not written) into your benefits package. If it isn't in your package, I'm not sure why you expect to receive it, though I assume that's what the mediation is about?
Usually maternity leave is not paid, and lasts six weeks, which is usually when your doc releases you to go back to work. Unless your boss is asking you to come in the day after you deliver, I don't think you have much to stand on.
First, I applaud you on filing a charge that was not right. As for paid maternity leave, I would not count on it.
By federal law, you have the right to take 12 weeks (Family Medical Leave Act). Your employer does not have to pay you. I work for a company that does not pay for maternity leave. So, each maternity leave I have taken was for the full 12 weeks and I received short-term disability for 8 weeks and I did save my vacation so I would get paid.
What you need to do is inquire not demand about maternity leave and whether or not it is paid. Also, you need to inquire on whether or not you have short-term disability insurance thru your company. If so, you will get some compensation thru this insurance for about 6 to 8 weeks depending upon your delivery.
I think six weeks would be the max a small business would offer.
Each company has the right to decide what their own policy is. Unless you have worked there a long time and have a lot of vacation time I don't think they have to pay you at all for the time you are gone.
The place you need to call is your state labor board, they make the labor laws and can tell you. They also don't have to hold your job for you. They can tell you they will but they don't have to. My daughter had a job she enjoyed and it suited her very well. She left to have the baby and they told her they were saving her job but hired a person to fill in for her.
When she came back she got odd hours where she could not find child care avail. She worked rotating shifts too, which basically made it impossible to get the baby cared for.
They told her she was more than able to give her notice if she was unhappy, they had given her the shifts that were avail. The other person was hired too and they didn't deserve to be let go just because she decided to come back to work.
Ask for what you want, but be prepared to have to compromise. So think about what you are willing to accept and what you arent, and stay firm about it.
FMLA allows for up to 12 weeks leave for personal or immediate family members health issue, birth or adoption of a child. It does not require it be paid leave and it only applies to companies with at least 50 employees within a certain mile radius. Since you have 20-30 workers it does NOT apply to you. Any leave time that you have (sick, personal, vacation) should be available to you.
They are required to treat your maternity leave the same way they would treat anyone else with a medical condition who was out of work (surgery, sickness, etc.). If your company provides for short term disability coverage (pays a portion of your pay while medically out...so from the time your doctor takes you out of work until you are released to return to work) then you should look into that option. Some starts immediately, some have a waiting period.
What are the circumstances that lead to you filing the discrimination charge? Just based on the little you shared, I am not sure if you had a true basis for that action (maybe you did and just didn't elaborate).
Why are you filing for discrimination?
You won't be covered by FMLA because there is a minimum of 50 workers required to be employed by your company. And even if you were covered, the 12 weeks provided by FMLA is unpaid. Some companies consider it sick time and will pay it, but you should know if this is offered by your company. I think 12 paid weeks is quite a bit and you should be willing to compromise.
You've received a lot of good advice. Just to add one more thing. Most maternity leaves are paid as part of a short term disability policy that your employer pays for. Short term disability pays a percentage of your salary for a specified number of weeks depending on the reason for leave. Mine short term disability allowed me 6 weeks off, the first 2 unpaid so I used my vacation. and I received 60% of my salary for the remaining 4 weeks. I then took 6 weeks unpaid per FMLA. Smaller companies may have their own benefits set up for these types of leaves.
It definitely sounds like you have a good case. I hope it works out for you and that they pay for some of your leave!
FMLA only protects your job when you go on maternity leave, it doesn't provide for paid leave, and I don't know of any laws that provide for it. So if it isn't in your contract when you started working or your employee handbook, you may not be entitled to paid maternity leave. Everywhere I worked didn't provide paid maternity leave, they just secured my job for 12 weeks, but I had to take the time unpaid. I also had to use up all of my sick and vacation time before taking the time upaid so I returned to work with no leave. However, I knew this going in because it was in the employee handbook and contract I signed.
I agree with the moms who said you would not be covered under FMLA, which is unpaid leave anyway.
You're not being terminated. I don't know the labor laws in Texas, but I think the most they would be required to do is keep you at your normal amount of hours if indeed the only reason your hours were lessened is due to your pregnancy.
Your employer doesn't have to grant you an extended maternity leave unless you had some type of tragic complication which rendered you too disabled to work, but your physician would have to document all of that and even then, your employer wouldn't be required to pay your wages during that time.
Were the only employee whose hours were reduced? You said they "gave you no explanation", but then you said the "told" you it was because you were five months pregnant. Those to statements alone may disqualify you for any valid charges.
If you stay on the job until your doctor places you on leave, you need to check with the state policy in Texas regarding leave. In California mothers and fathers are eligible for paid leave.
Blessings.....
