Many employers are required by federal law to allow their employees (both men and women) 12 weeks of UNPAID family leave after the birth or adoption of a child under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). At the end of your leave, your employer must allow you to return to your job or a similar job with the same salary, benefits, working conditions, and seniority. Although FMLA leave is unpaid, many employers permit employees to take utilize their paid time off concurrently with the FMLA leave.
An employee is generally eligible for FMLA leave if he/she meets both of the following conditions:
•The employee works for the federal government, a state or local government, or any company that has 50 or more employees working within 75 miles of the employee's workplace
•The employee worked for his/her employer for at least 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours during the previous year (which comes out to 25 hours per week for 50 weeks)
There are a few exceptions: An employer can deny FMLA leave if the employee is in the highest paid 10 percent of wage earners at the company and can show that the employee's absence would cause substantial economic harm to the organization. In this case, the employer isn't required to keep the job open for for the employee while he/she is out on leave. Another exception is if the employee and his/her partner both work for the same company. In this case, the employee is only entitled to a combined 12 weeks of parental leave between the two parents.
The employee can use his/her FMLA leave in any way he/she wants during the first year after the child is born. That means the employee can take it all at once or, as long as the employer agrees, spread it out over the child's first year by taking it in chunks or reducing the employee's normal weekly or daily work schedule.
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