12-month mark at job is weeks after I give birth - how will FMLA work?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone here had a baby just shy of their 12-month mark at their job, and then you qualify for FMLA while you're already on leave?

My due date is 3 weeks before my 1-year anniversary at my employer. HR has been trying to figure out the answer to my question for weeks so in the meantime I'm trying to see if others experienced something similar. Basically I will qualify for DC Paid Family Leave to start after I give birth, and then I would become eligible for DC FMLA while on PFL. Assuming I don't lose my job while on PFL (since there's no job protection like there is for FMLA), and assuming I give birth on my due date (lol), would I essentially get 3 weeks (PFL) + 16 weeks (DC FMLA which overlaps with PFL for 5 weeks) = 19 weeks of leave? Or, once I become eligible for DC FMLA, would it retroactively count the previous 3 weeks towards the limit so that my entire leave doesn't exceed 16 weeks? Or would I not be allowed FMLA at all since the 12-month mark happens while on leave? (I don't think that last one is likely but my HR suggested it is a possibility and they were unsure on the spot because my situation is so "unusual"...).

[Anonymous]

Hmm - I did not have this situation, but I know my DC employer required me to take my various forms of leave concurrently, all from the same starting point. So, the company's paid maternity leave, short-term disability, and FMLA all started on the same day. This is absolutely just an educated guess, but I think it's the second scenario -- FMLA would not start at day 1 once you become eligible and would align with the date you began your PML.

[Anonymous]

You don't qualify for FMLA

[Anonymous]

Yeah you don’t qualify for fmla. But fmla is unpaid. If you’re asking about work benefits you should ask work. They can make changes to policy if they want to.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think any of your leave will be FMLA.

Your HR may not answer you, but you could contact an employment lawyer to find out.

[Anonymous]

You wouldn't qualify for the DC leave benefits either. Sadly, you didn't plan this very well.

Essentially you'll need to take only leave you've accured or are given and whatever paid leave you have or short term disability they provide. Otherwise it's unpaid and only the time they will allow you to take. So probably no where near 19 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Based on this from the SHRM website, you’d get the full FMLA plus whatever 3 weeks leave you take before you become eligible.
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/fmlaeligibilitymetduringleave.aspx
That’s for federal so you’d need to see if DC FMLA would be the same situation.

You need to have worked for 12 months and a certain amount of hours to qualify for FMLA. If you’re full time, you’ll easily have met the hours requirement so it’s just the 12 months part that’s an issue. I see no reason why you wouldn’t qualify for FMLA even if you’re on a different type of leave when you meet that time requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You wouldn't qualify for the DC leave benefits either. Sadly, you didn't plan this very well.

Essentially you'll need to take only leave you've accured or are given and whatever paid leave you have or short term disability they provide. Otherwise it's unpaid and only the time they will allow you to take. So probably no where near 19 weeks.

This was what I was thinking. OP will only acru the work hours needed to qualify for DC Paid or FMLA by working the entire three weeks she'll be out. Basically screwed. Don't qualify for either. The job will probably be nice about it - you take a combo of sick + unpaid leave for the first three weeks and then more unpaid leave up until 8. But they are not required to hold your job at any time.

Better beg your boss.

[Anonymous]

OP here- I do qualify for DC paid family leave. HR confirmed that no problem and beforehand I emailed the PFL office and this was their response:

“ As long as you have earned at least one quarter of wages from a covered employer prior to quarter in which your birth occurred you would be eligible to apply. Your prior employment wages can apply to your benefit calculation if you earned those wages during the base period of a claim. The base period for all PFL claims is the 5 quarters prior to the quarter in which a qualifying event occurs. The base period has been temporarily expanded to 10 quarters for all claims filed between 10/1/21-7/25/22.”

So I’d definitely get 8 weeks partially paid (though not job protected, I know).

I’ll definitely try to get in touch with the DC FMLA office and an employment lawyer before following up with HR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I do qualify for DC paid family leave. HR confirmed that no problem and beforehand I emailed the PFL office and this was their response:

“ As long as you have earned at least one quarter of wages from a covered employer prior to quarter in which your birth occurred you would be eligible to apply. Your prior employment wages can apply to your benefit calculation if you earned those wages during the base period of a claim. The base period for all PFL claims is the 5 quarters prior to the quarter in which a qualifying event occurs. The base period has been temporarily expanded to 10 quarters for all claims filed between 10/1/21-7/25/22.”

So I’d definitely get 8 weeks partially paid (though not job protected, I know).

I’ll definitely try to get in touch with the DC FMLA office and an employment lawyer before following up with HR.

The DC FMLA website is pretty clear you have no protected right to leave. So at that point your employer policies stand. What is their leave policy besides FMLA? What does your boss say (because ultimately he or she would be the one to fire you of you take more leave than they wish)?

[Anonymous]

Good Lord. Why didn’t you wait another six weeks to conceive? Anyway, I wonder if you could take vacation or sick leave time and get to the 12 month mark that way. I don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good Lord. Why didn’t you wait another six weeks to conceive? Anyway, I wonder if you could take vacation or sick leave time and get to the 12 month mark that way. I don’t know.

The baby could have still been born early - same issue. I would have waited until I'd been at the job 8 months but I'm not OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I do qualify for DC paid family leave. HR confirmed that no problem and beforehand I emailed the PFL office and this was their response:

“ As long as you have earned at least one quarter of wages from a covered employer prior to quarter in which your birth occurred you would be eligible to apply. Your prior employment wages can apply to your benefit calculation if you earned those wages during the base period of a claim. The base period for all PFL claims is the 5 quarters prior to the quarter in which a qualifying event occurs. The base period has been temporarily expanded to 10 quarters for all claims filed between 10/1/21-7/25/22.”

So I’d definitely get 8 weeks partially paid (though not job protected, I know).

I’ll definitely try to get in touch with the DC FMLA office and an employment lawyer before following up with HR.

The DC FMLA website is pretty clear you have no protected right to leave. So at that point your employer policies stand. What is their leave policy besides FMLA? What does your boss say (because ultimately he or she would be the one to fire you of you take more leave than they wish)?

+1. I personally have never been very worried about how much "protected" leave I have. If you are doing something within the normal standards of your company, I'd just take a chance. (I mean, what are your other choices anyway?) I would assume the job protection aspect isn't there, so just calculate your leave duration to be consistant with what others get. So, 16 weeks? It might be risky to go to 19 weeks. Or not, if you have a great boss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I do qualify for DC paid family leave. HR confirmed that no problem and beforehand I emailed the PFL office and this was their response:

“ As long as you have earned at least one quarter of wages from a covered employer prior to quarter in which your birth occurred you would be eligible to apply. Your prior employment wages can apply to your benefit calculation if you earned those wages during the base period of a claim. The base period for all PFL claims is the 5 quarters prior to the quarter in which a qualifying event occurs. The base period has been temporarily expanded to 10 quarters for all claims filed between 10/1/21-7/25/22.”

So I’d definitely get 8 weeks partially paid (though not job protected, I know).

I’ll definitely try to get in touch with the DC FMLA office and an employment lawyer before following up with HR.

Do you have 3 weeks of paid and/or sick leave not associated with FMLA or DC paid leave? If yes, then wouldn't you be able to use the 3 weeks paid/sick leave regardless of FMLA and then initiate FMLA/DC paid leave once you hit 12 months?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- I do qualify for DC paid family leave. HR confirmed that no problem and beforehand I emailed the PFL office and this was their response:

“ As long as you have earned at least one quarter of wages from a covered employer prior to quarter in which your birth occurred you would be eligible to apply. Your prior employment wages can apply to your benefit calculation if you earned those wages during the base period of a claim. The base period for all PFL claims is the 5 quarters prior to the quarter in which a qualifying event occurs. The base period has been temporarily expanded to 10 quarters for all claims filed between 10/1/21-7/25/22.”

So I’d definitely get 8 weeks partially paid (though not job protected, I know).

I’ll definitely try to get in touch with the DC FMLA office and an employment lawyer before following up with HR.

The DC FMLA website is pretty clear you have no protected right to leave. So at that point your employer policies stand. What is their leave policy besides FMLA? What does your boss say (because ultimately he or she would be the one to fire you of you take more leave than they wish)?

+1. I personally have never been very worried about how much "protected" leave I have. If you are doing something within the normal standards of your company, I'd just take a chance. (I mean, what are your other choices anyway?) I would assume the job protection aspect isn't there, so just calculate your leave duration to be consistant with what others get. So, 16 weeks? It might be risky to go to 19 weeks. Or not, if you have a great boss.

This.