Reply to Employee Asking for Mat Leave Extension for 2nd Time

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, she could be experiencing a serious mental health crisis. I had a colleague who extended her maternity leave and ended up committing suicide. Tread very carefully in your conversations with her and lean on HR for guidance.[/quote]

+1. I had a sick premie in the early 2000s and severe PPA and was forced back into my job before I was ready and able. I was a terrible employee and felt like a terrible parent and after four months tried to kill myself.  Because I was a Big Law Associate and they said no to my request for one year of reduced billable hours (something that would have put me at a stable 40 hour workweek)/reduced compensation.  Looking back, I should have held my ground and insisted on an ADA reasonable accommodation process. But, at the time it was too much and PPA/PPD was more stigmatized.

Be careful OP. You seem very cavalier with “assume it’s PPA”  like that’s NBD. It can be life threatening.  You don’t need to know the details. It’s better for you if HR silos it. But if they say she has a legit medical issue— assume it’s as serious as cancer and don’t treat it as less a physical illness than because you think it’s mental health.

Also, this is a good time for you to reach out to HR to reach out to her about whether she is requesting ADA accommodations and to consider whether they are appropriate here. There may well be a half day for 3 months, then 30 hours then FT, or shuffling of certain job responsibilities for her first few months solutions that gets her back in the office faster and performing well when she is there. 
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