I would try to relax the RTO. That's a PITA for everyone and proven to not increase and even reduce productivity.

Anonymous wrote:Support your teammate and grant it. It will reward you later.

It’s already been granted. I’m asking about what HR will do or advise me to do if she continues to request leave after she finishes with her 8 months of leave. I assume there is some point, probably around 10-12 months, when HR will say ‘ok, we either need this person back in the role or we need to let them go.’ I haven’t heard back from HR, which is why I’m asking here.

Well, this is what you get for demanding RTO. She'd probably be more ok with coming back if she could work from home, at least hybrid. 5 days in the office is much more intimidating to go back to when you are a new mom. There ya go. Have fun covering for her or replacing her.

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.

Support your teammate and grant it. It will reward you later.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you paying her for extended leave? It should be either covered under the STD plan (if medial related), or should be unpaid. What is HR saying about holding the job?

She is on STD right now for what I assume is postpartum anxiety. I inquired with HR last week, but they haven’t provided guidance yet.

Well stop assuming it’s post partum anxiety because that’s affecting your view. Pretend she’s out because she’s hemorrhaging or she has dangerously high blood pressure. Then treat her accordingly.

We would only extend unpaid leave and even then. 26 weeks is very nice by American standards. I went back after 16 weeks unpaid. It's really hard to come back to 5 days a week RTO with a 6 month old too. They are just starting to be fun.

Her leave could become an ADA issue. I’m pretty well versed in this, but not my area of practice. ADA can be used in certain circumstances to extend job protections offered through FMLA. It’s not indefinite but it can extend for awhile.

What it turns on is that it can’t be indefinite. So a doctor has to specify that return to work is medically anticipated by a set date.

IME as a manager you have to stay on top of it and press your HR to end the leave and issue termination. A lot will depend on your company’s culture.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you paying her for extended leave? It should be either covered under the STD plan (if medial related), or should be unpaid. What is HR saying about holding the job?

She is on STD right now for what I assume is postpartum anxiety. I inquired with HR last week, but they haven’t provided guidance yet.

I don’t think HR can give medical details to you. Regardless, supporting a mother to return to her position seems like it’d be less cumbersome than trying to find and train someone new.

Just fire her.She sounds annoying.

Anonymous wrote:Why are you paying her for extended leave? It should be either covered under the STD plan (if medial related), or should be unpaid. What is HR saying about holding the job?

She is on STD right now for what I assume is postpartum anxiety. I inquired with HR last week, but they haven’t provided guidance yet.

Anonymous wrote:Can you not offer her the additional time unpaid? The cost of the temp and her unpaid salary should balance out, so everyone’s happy,

Contractors come out of a different departmental budget (separate from the headcount budget) so we can’t recoup the funds.

Why are you paying her for extended leave? It should be either covered under the STD plan (if medial related), or should be unpaid. What is HR saying about holding the job?

Can you not offer her the additional time unpaid? The cost of the temp and her unpaid salary should balance out, so everyone’s happy,

Promoted one of my directs to VP right before she went on her first mat leave. My company allows 20 weeks of parental leave + 6 or 8 weeks of STD for either 26 or 28 weeks. This employee requested a medical related extension of 1 month after 3 months of leave. It was approved and I thought she was going to be out for 28+4 weeks. She is 2 months away from coming back and just requested another month of leave, so will be out for 28+8 weeks. We have been paying a contractor to cover for this direct and didn’t budget 8 additional weeks. We’re going to have to continue to claw money away from other projects to keep the contractor, which is not ideal.

My direct reached out to me after making the second request and said she was concerned about job security and that she was experiencing lots of anxiety, including about coming back. I am sympathetic (I have three kids and postpartum with my first was very tough) and said that her job was safe, but I don’t know how this will handled if she keeps extending. My manager, also a mom, is incredulous and doesn’t know how things could play out if additional extensions are requested.

Has anyone BTDT? If this employee were to keep requesting month long leaves is there a point at which HR will tell me that they won’t or can’t grant more leave? We are RTO 5 days, which is challenging for parents, but in response people either quit or attempt to make it work.