DC UPLA and FMLA

[Anonymous]

Hello! Hoping to get some clarification as I received an offer for a new job and am confused about DC’s maternity leave policies. The company itself offers 4 weeks maternity leave (sad), though they mention DC’s UPLA and FMLA. I also understand that birthing mothers can apply for STD and use accumulated vacation/sick leave. Could someone clarify the differences for me (is it just FMLA protects my job and UPLA provides pay, dependent on salary) and then offer an approximation of the most time I could take off with all or partial pay?

[Anonymous]

Hi - four weeks is abysmal. Sorry to hear that. I am not a lawyer but have had three kids in DC.

FMLA protects your job. It requires employers to hold your job, but not provide any kind of leave.

DC paid leave offers you some pay, up to about 1000 dollars a week depending on your salary but this is the max, for up to 12 weeks. Some employers supplement this leave to provide additional pay but sounds like yours will not.

You should clarify that you will be able to stack your leave - that is, that you can use 4 weeks of the company leave, then 12 weeks of DC leave.

You mentioned STD. This can be used immediately following the birth, generally for 4-6 weeks depending on mode of delivery. Often this is partially paid leave (at my company it’s 66 percent of your salary). You also need to clarify if you can stack this leave because this will go beyond the amount of time that FMLA holds your job, but many employers allow this.

Best case scenario it sounds like you could be able to stack STD (4-6 weeks), DC paid leave (12 weeks at up to 1000 a week) and your company parental leave (4 weeks). Worst case these would all run concurrently and you’d be capped out whenever FMLA ends. Federal is 12 weeks, DC may be 16, I can’t remember.

You also need to check if there’s a waiting period required by the potential new employer to access benefits. Sometimes they are only offered to employees after one year etc.

Hope this helps

[Anonymous]

Sorry one other thing. I didn’t see you mentioned that you could use accrued leave. It sounds like you need to figure out the max time the employer allows you to be away on parental leave and work backwards from there on what options you have. It’s an annoying puzzle and most employers make it very difficult which is infuriating.