Legal Question in Medical Leave in Florida

Re: maternity leave

First, congratulations and good luck! It sounds like your doctor might want to induce birth at any moment, so leave sounds sensible for medical reasons, but only you and your doctor can decide that.

FMLA does not guarantee pay. You only get that if you are covered by vacation, sick leave or some other short-term leave pay offered by your employer.

If you want to take part-time leave or intermittent, such as 4 hours per day, and the doctor agrees that is medically sensible to protect you and the baby, then the FMLA allows for that. If you can work at all, you can try to work it out with your employer as to which hours make sense for you both, but medical considerations take precedence.

I don't understand what you mean when you say the employer told you you have to work 40. You can take prenatal care and pre-birth leave under the FMLA so they can not force you to work 40. (Assuming they have 50 employees or more so are subject to the FMLA, and you are eligible - you have to have worked for them for at least 12 months total, and for at least 1250 hours in the 12 months immediately before the leave.)

As for the best time to take leave, obviously you should take medical leave as needed - for doctor's appointments, when the doctor tells you it's time to stop working, if you need to avoid the late hours or long drive for heath and safety reasons, etc. Then you can use maternity leave after the child is born to stay home as long as you need.

But you can only use up to 480 hours of FMLA-protected leave in a 12-month period.

Jeff Sheldon

Jeffrey L. Sheldon

The Sheldon Law Firm

CAVEAT: This is only general advice based on limited facts and knowledge of the situation. It thus can not be relied upon as legal advice nor is the author responsible or liable for any actions by the parties involved in the matter.