Reply to Federal employee FMLA - Post-birth leave questions

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[quote=Anonymous]Congrats OP! Unfortunately this question is hard to answer because it really depends on agency interpretation. Both agencies I've been at do not allow you to use sick leave for more than the amount of time a dr signs a note for actual recovery from birth. This is usually 6 weeks for vaginal birth and 8 for c-section. My dr put 8 before the birth probably as just a just in case of c-section on the FMLA paperwork which I appreciated so that could help. But you're unlikely to get 12 weeks unless you have a unique situation and I'm pretty sure being older isn't one of them but hey you can ask. But I HAVE heard through the grapevine some coworkers at agencies who didn't enforce this recovery rule for sick leave, so I would try to see if there is any way to get around that at your current agency. You need to ask coworkers first, not HR (in my experience. Get a lay of the land first). What I've heard from the agencies I've been at though is that sick leave can't be used for "bonding" which is anything after the recovery period designated by your dr.

Here is the basic way FMLA works: All FMLA does is protect your job for 12 weeks of unpaid leave. You're actually not even required to "enact" FMLA after the birth, you could theoretically just take sick leave and annual leave if your supervisor is on board. The pros of this is that you only get 12 weeks of this protected FMLA leave a year, so say if your baby got a serious illness at 9 months and you've already used your FMLA, you won't have it until they are 12 months (usually the feds will work with you though if we're being honest). The pros of using the FMLA for those first 12 weeks or at some point is it does just give you a level of protection and I think generally most people recommend going ahead and taking it. But it's most helpful if you need to take some unpaid leave so for you it might not be necessary if your supervisor is cool with it.

You have the 12 weeks protected unpaid leave, but in terms of taking more time that is at the discretion of your supervisor for the most part in my experience. I took a total of 17 weeks, I did submit for FMLA, took about 6 weeks sick leave (all I had) and then the rest was a mix of annual leave and unpaid leave. I know people at my current agency (new agency to me since my maternity leave) that took 6 months or more. Technically there is some risk after your FMLA ends as legally your job is not protected, but if you have a supportive work environment and supervisors who are supportive most people are able to work it out. There is some level of trust involved on your end that your job will be there when you get back. but let's be real, supervisors know they can't get a new person in faster to replace you anyway :) I took the extra 5 weeks and I wasn't "protected" during that time legally if something had happened but it was worth it to me. I"m so glad I did, FWIW. I know I am very lucky and privileged to have been able to take 4 months even if a good bit of it was unpaid and next time I'm actually aiming for 6 months.

You only get this time at most a couple times, it's a hard but special time and since you have the leave I would take it!! Save some for baby illness etc but honestly you rack it back up reasonably quickly. And taking the unpaid time hit us less than we thought and was well worth the extra weeks.

Good luck! I have no idea about use or lose... [/quote]

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