Pregnancy Leave — Tip of the Week

In a recent Slate article, Sharon Lerner rips both federal and state governments for the paucity of leave given women after the birth of  a child. The article also discusses leave laws across the country. I will avoid joining the philosophical debate on pregnancy leave (which is what Lerner’s article is mainly about), but the article will serve as the basis for this week’s tip.

Lerner’s article was provoked by a Massachusetts court decision. Massachusetts has a leave law giving an employee who has a baby eight weeks of leave. According to the employee in this case, her supervisor said she could have more than eight weeks if she was required to have a C-section, which she was. (Apparently, the Family and Medical Leave Act wasn’t applicable — maybe not enough employees, or maybe not enough hours worked).

The employee took 11 weeks of leave. When she came back to work, she found that she had been fired. The Massachusetts’ law said eight weeks, ruled the court, and there was nothing in writing about taking more than the required eight weeks. The employee had no case.

The tip is that HR should be involved when pregnancy (or other) leave is taken by an employee. Sometimes, supervisors don’t fully understand a leave policy, much less a state or federal law. HR should be very clear with the employee about how much leave she has. Supervisors should be trained not to advise employees about leaves — but to send them to HR.

One more thing. Another law that, for some reason, wasn’t part of this case is the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (which is part of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act). Be careful about firing an employee after she’s had a baby Several laws can be in play, and if you’re sued, you may win the case, but you’ll spend a lot of money doing so.