Maternity Leave Laws

Maternity Leave Laws:
7 guidelines on pregnancy discrimination law, state

maternity leave regulations, pregnancy disability
leave, plus a sample maternity leave policy
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Maternity Leave Laws:

7 guidelines on pregnancy discrimination law, state maternity leave
regulations, pregnancy disability leave, plus a sample maternity leave
policy
hen an employee announces she’s pregnant, her employer had better be

W aware of the federal pregnancy discrimination law, state maternity leave
laws and the employee’s right to take leave under the federal Family and Medical
Leave Act (FMLA). Make sure you have a legally sound maternity leave policy in
place and apply it consistently. Otherwise, you could be facing potential
pregnancy complications of your own.
It’s important to know what you must do—and what you can’t do (or say)—under
federal anti-discrimination and leave laws. Plus, it’s vital to double-check state
maternity leave statutes, which may provide more liberal leave benefits for
pregnant women and new parents.
While no federal law requires you to provide paid maternity leave, most
employers must comply with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) and the
FMLA. And even the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) may come into play
if pregnancy complications rise to the level of substantially limiting a major life
activity.
Here’s how best to comply with those laws, plus a sample maternity leave policy
you can adapt for your own organization.
Maternity Leave Laws: Guidelines #1
Pregnancy discrimination law
The PDA prohibits discrimination against employees and applicants on the basis
of “pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions.” Any employer that’s
subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (i.e., has 15 or more
employees) must comply with the PDA.
© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 2

Under the law, you can’t deny a woman a job or a promotion merely because she’s
pregnant or has had an abortion. Nor can you fire her because of her condition or
force her to go on leave as long as she’s physically capable of performing her job.
In short, the law requires you to treat pregnant employees the same as other
employees on the basis of their ability or inability to work. That means you must
provide the same accommodations for an expectant worker that you do for any
employees unable to perform their regular duties. For example, if you provide
other work for an employee who can’t lift heavy boxes because of a bad back, you
must make similar arrangements for a pregnant employee.
Caution: Employers that use light-duty programs to cut workers’ compensation

costs often make one big legal mistake: They haphazardly apply their policies,
allowing some employees to take light-duty jobs, but not others. That
inconsistency is the fastest way to trigger discrimination lawsuits from employees
who may need light-duty positions temporarily for other reasons, such as
pregnancy.
In addition, the PDA requires you to provide sick leave and disability benefits on
the same basis or conditions that apply to other employees who are granted leave
for a temporary disability. Women who take maternity leave must be reinstated
under the same conditions as employees returning from disability leave.
At the same time, you’re allowed to apply the same requirements that you impose
on other employees. So, if you usually require employees to obtain a doctor’s note
before allowing them to take sick leave and collect benefits, you can impose the
same rule on pregnant employees.
Other key PDA provisions:
 You can’t exclude single women from maternity benefits.

 You must provide the same coverage for pregnancy-related conditions as
you do for illnesses and disabilities.
 You can require a pregnant employee to use her vacation benefits
before she can collect sick leave or disability pay, as long as you have the
same requirement for employees absent for other types of disabilities or
illnesses.
 You can’t force an employee with a single-coverage policy to purchase
a family policy so as to be covered when she becomes pregnant. However,
she should be allowed to switch to the family plan after the birth so that her
child will be covered.

Note: The Affordable Care Act—the health care reform law that was enacted in
2010—prohibits health insurance companies from denying insurance based on
pregnancy as a “pre-existing condition” (i.e., a condition that existed when the
insured worker’s coverage took effect). This is the case even if the woman had no
prior coverage before enrolling in her employer’s plan.
Pregnancy discrimination cases
Charges of discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or related conditions are

difficult to fight in court. You will lose unless you can clearly prove that the
reasons for not hiring or for discharging the plaintiff were unrelated to her
pregnancy.
Three cases in point:
1. A sales manager for a telecommunications company secured a lucrative

contract in Eastern Europe under which she would be paid a percentage of all
sales. But before the products were shipped, she announced she was pregnant. She
was terminated almost immediately with no reason given. She sued under the
PDA, Title VII and several state laws. A jury awarded her $98,364. The employer
lost the appeal. (Houben v. Telular Corp., 7th Cir.)
2. A secretary at a real estate company was terminated while on maternity

leave. During that time, her employer was experiencing financial problems, made
several staff cutbacks and later filed for bankruptcy. The plaintiff sued under Title
VII and New Jersey’s anti-discrimination statute. Both the Bankruptcy Court and
the District Court found in favor of the employer and held that she was terminated
for legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons. The 3rd Circuit affirmed the decision,
saying the reason for her firing was the plaintiff’s work record prior to taking
maternity leave, not the pregnancy. (Rhett v. Carnegie Ctr. Assoc., 3rd Cir.)
3. The clothing chain Motherhood Maternity provided an ironic example of

pregnancy discrimination. In 2007, the firm paid $375,000 to settle a pregnancy
discrimination and retaliation lawsuit. The EEOC suit alleged that when a former
assistant manager complained about discrimination against pregnant applicants,
the company retaliated and ultimately fired her. The settlement required the parent
company to pay the fired assistant manager $135,000 in compensatory and
punitive damages and $50,000 in back pay, plus another $20,000 to each of three
pregnant applicants. (EEOC v. Mothers Work Inc., dba Motherhood Maternity.)

Tell managers: Mum’s the word
Singling out pregnant employees for any reason can lead to a lawsuit. If
supervisors make little jokes about pregnancy and childbirth, rein them in.
In one case, when a top performer received an award at a luncheon, she was taken
aback when her boss casually said, “You’re not gonna get pregnant now, are
you?” In fact, she did become pregnant the following month. Then her boss began
calling her “Prego” and soon was criticizing her work. She complained to HR, but
the company didn’t investigate.
She sued, and the court concluded calling her “Prego” and making comments
about pregnancy amounted to a hostile environment. (Zisumbo v. McLeodUSA
Telecom, 10th Cir.)
Caution: In FY 2011, the EEOC received 5,797 charges of pregnancy-based

discrimination—resulting in damage of $17.2 million. For the EEOC’s Fact Sheet
on Pregnancy Discrimination, see
http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/publications/fs-preg.cfm.
FMLA maternity, pregnancy disability leave
When an employee becomes pregnant, her employer must also consider her right
to take leave under the federal FMLA. Eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks
of unpaid, job-protected FMLA leave for the birth, adoption or foster care of a
child; caring for a child, spouse or parent with a serious health condition; or
convalescence after an employee’s own serious health condition.
To qualify for FMLA leave, an employee must have worked for the same
employer for at least 12 months (not necessarily continuously) and clocked at least
1,250 hours of service (slightly more than 24 hours per week) during the 12
months leading up to FMLA leave.
Any organization with 50 or more employees working within a 75-mile radius of

the work site must comply with the FMLA.
New parents—both mothers and fathers—can take FMLA leave any time in the
first 12 months after a child’s arrival. But employees must conclude their leave
before the 12-month period ends. Presumably, the idea is that if a working mother

takes her 12 weeks and then returns to work, the father can care for the child for
the next 12 weeks.
What if both parents work for the same company? They’re entitled to a combined
total of 12 weeks’ leave after the birth or adoption. In this case, each parent would
have the difference between 12 weeks and the amount of leave they took for the
child to use for any other legitimate FMLA reason in that year.
Example: Bob and Linda Jones have a child and work for the same employer. Bob
takes four weeks’ leave, and Linda takes eight weeks’ leave for their child’s
arrival. Bob still has eight weeks of leave to use in that year for any other FMLA
purpose; Linda has four remaining weeks.
‘Serious health condition’
Employees can also use their allowable FMLA leave if they suffer complications
during pregnancy or prenatal care that constitute a “serious health condition.” (The
FMLA defines a “serious health condition” as “an illness, injury, impairment or
any physical or mental condition that requires inpatient medical care or continuing
treatment by a health care provider.”)
Case in point: Cindy Hiemer said her chronic lung problem was exacerbated by
her pregnancy. She asked her employer, Anthem Insurance, for FMLA leave.
After she was fired for failing to call in sick, she sued the company, alleging
interference with her right to FMLA leave. But Anthem Insurance said her
absence wasn’t a serious health condition—Hiemer had testified she couldn’t
come to work because she felt nauseous and lightheaded. The company said
FMLA didn’t cover that sort of problem. The court disagreed, concluding that—
since FMLA regulations say anything related to pregnancy automatically qualifies
as a serious health condition—nausea and lightheadedness might be enough. The
case could proceed to trial, giving Hiemer the opportunity to convince a jury that
her absence was indeed pregnancy-related. (Hiemer v. Anthem Insurance, SD OH)
Advice: When it comes to a pregnancy, follow the safest path: Approve any
absences that are even remotely related to the pregnancy as FMLA-covered leave.
Reasonable accommodation under the ADA

A normal pregnancy is not considered a disability under the ADA. The law defines
a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or
more major life activities.”
But if a woman experiences pregnancy complications that substantially limit a

major life activity, she may be considered disabled under the ADA and, therefore,
entitled to reasonable accommodation to perform her job.
Example: If a new mother is still unable to return to work after exhausting her 12
weeks of FMLA leave, you should evaluate her condition under the ADA to
determine whether additional time off is a reasonable accommodation for her.
(Also, be sure to check your state law because some states provide more than 12
weeks of parental leave.)
All employers that have 15 or more employees must comply with the ADA.
Double-check state maternity leave laws
Several states mandate more generous maternity and family leave than the FMLA
(and some state laws apply to smaller employers). Here are a few examples:
 Tennessee: Public and private employers that have eight or more workers
must grant female employees 16 weeks’ leave for childbirth.
 Rhode Island: Public employers of 30 or more employees and private

employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer 13 weeks of
leave in any two calendar years for the birth or adoption of a child or the
serious illness of a child, spouse or parent.
 California, Hawaii and New Jersey: Employees temporarily disabled for

medical reasons, including pregnancy and childbirth, receive partial wage
replacement in the form of temporary disability insurance benefits.
California’s provisions on pregnancy disability leave cover employers with as few

as five employees. The leave is capped at four months. But it’s important to note
that pregnancy disability leave comes in addition to leave taken under the
California Family Rights Act (covering employers with 50 or more employees).
So, an employee covered by both laws could take four months of pregnancy
disability leave and then 12 weeks of family leave to care for a new child.

Tip: You can find more information on state maternity leave laws, at the National
Conference on State Legislatures’ website: http://www.ncsl.org.
Maternity, paternity leave policies
Not many employers choose to offer paid maternity leave aside from what’s
covered in their short-term disability policies. In a 2011 Employee Benefits
Research Report by the Society for Human Resource Management, about 70% of
HR professionals polled said their organizations offer short-term disability
benefits. But only 16% said they have a separate, paid maternity leave policy
(compared to 12% in 2006). Only 16% said they provide paid paternity leave
(versus 13% in 2006).
Sample maternity leave policy
Here’s sample policy language that you may want to adapt to your
organization’s needs, subject to review by your attorney:
[Your organization] is firmly committed to protecting the rights of expectant mothers

and complying with Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act as amended by the Pregnancy
Discrimination Act of 1978. [Your organization’s] policy is to treat women affected by
pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions in the same manner as other
employees unable to work because of their physical condition in all employment
aspects, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotion and benefits.
Further, [your organization] fully recognizes eligible employees’ rights and

responsibilities under the Family and Medical Leave Act, applicable state and local
family leave laws, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Paid leave may be substituted for unpaid maternity leave in accordance with [your
organization’s] paid-leave substitution provisions of [your organization’s] FMLA
policy.
Pregnant employees may continue to work until they are certified as unable to work by
their physician. At that point, pregnant employees are entitled to receive benefits
according to [your organization’s] short-term disability insurance plan.
When the employee returns to work, she is entitled to return to the same or equivalent
job with no loss of service or other rights or privileges. Should the employee not return
to work when released by her physician, she will be considered to have voluntarily
terminated her employment with [your organization].

It’s also up to each employer to decide how many weeks of paid leave to offer. For
example, one accounting firm with an 80-person staff provides new moms and
dads who are full-time employees 30 days’ paid leave and an additional 60 days’
unpaid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child. By contrast, a large
broadcasting corporation gives moms with one year of service eight weeks of paid
maternity leave on top of two weeks of paid pre-maternity leave, while new dads
get two weeks’ fully paid leave.
The SHRM survey showed that larger organizations are significantly more likely
to offer paid leave benefits than smaller organizations (whether they are for-profit
or non-profit). Also, government organizations are more likely to offer paid
benefits.
If you decide to adopt a formal maternity/paternity leave policy, make sure it

complies with both federal and state regulations. Since some state laws grant
employees more generous leave—and apply to employers with fewer employees
than the FMLA requires—have your attorney review your policy (and/or any
updates) before you disseminate it to employees.
Frequently asked questions on pregnancy discrimination law
The EEOC has developed a series of questions and answers that clear up most of
the ambiguities in the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. The law requires
that companies (with 15 or more workers) cover maternity benefits if they cover
other health benefits.
Hiring and on-the-job rules
Q. Are you obligated to accommodate an employee who can’t, because of her

pregnancy, perform her usual assignments?
A. That depends on the type of accommodation you usually make for other
employees who are unable to perform their usual jobs. For example, if you provide
other work for an employee who cannot do any lifting because of a bad back, you
must make similar arrangements for a pregnant employee.
Q. What procedures can you use to force a pregnant employee to take a leave

of absence or to stay on the job if she wants to leave?
A. The EEOC says emphatically that you cannot single out pregnant employees
for special procedures to determine their ability to continue work. However, you
can apply the same requirements that you impose on other employees. Thus, if you
usually require employees to obtain a doctor’s note before allowing them to take
sick leave and collect benefits, you can impose the same rule on pregnant
employees.
Q. Can you bar a woman from returning to work for a predetermined period
after she gives birth?
A. No. You cannot have a rule, for instance, that a woman must wait a month
following childbirth before returning to work.
Q. If a pregnant employee goes on maternity leave because she’s ill and then
feels better and wants to return to work, can you require her to stay on leave
until she gives birth?
A. No. An employee can return to work anytime during her pregnancy as long as
she can perform her job.
Q. Must you keep the job of a pregnant employee open until she’s ready to
return to work following the birth of her child?
A. Generally, yes. Unless you are informed that she will not return to work, you
must keep the job open on the same basis as positions that are held open for
employees on sick leave or disability leave for other reasons.
Q. Are you required to hire a woman who, because of her pregnancy, can’t
perform only one of a job’s necessary functions?
A. You can’t refuse to hire a pregnant woman who is capable of performing most
major job functions. Furthermore, you can’t refuse to hire her just because co-
workers, clients or customers prefer that the job not be filled by a pregnant worker.
Q. Can an organization transfer a pregnant employee to a position of less

earning power?
A. No, according to a decision by a U.S. Appeals Court. The decision singles out
two pitfalls for companies in regard to pregnant employees:

 A supervisor’s question to an employee about her family and childbearing

plans has no place in hiring, promotion or other employment decisions.
 An employer may not usually ask a pregnant employee to choose between a
lower-level job and resignation.
Health and disability insurance
Q. Must you provide benefits for pregnancy-related conditions even if you

have a predominantly female work force or if you employ all women for a
specific job classification?
A. Yes. You must provide benefits for pregnancy if you offer benefits for other
medical conditions.
Q. Can your company limit pregnancy disability insurance benefits to only

married employees?
A. No. Single women who become pregnant also must be covered under your
disability plan.
Q. How long are you required to pay disability benefits for pregnancy if you
provide income maintenance benefits for other temporary disabilities?
A. Generally, you must provide benefits for as long as a pregnant woman is unable
to work for medical reasons; however, you may set certain time limits if you
impose them on other temporary disabilities.
Q. If you comply with a state law that requires disability insurance for a
specific period before and after childbirth, are you automatically in
compliance with the federal pregnancy law?
A. Not necessarily. Under federal law, you must treat employees who are
temporarily disabled due to pregnancy in the same manner as you would
employees temporarily disabled by other conditions.
Q. Can you require a pregnant employee to use up her vacation benefits

before she can collect sick leave or disability pay?
A. Yes, but only if you have the same requirements for employees absent for other
types of disabilities or illnesses. You should state this in your FMLA policy.
Q. Must your health insurance plan cover the pregnancy-related expenses of

spouses of your male employees? Of other dependents?
A. If an employer’s plan covers medical expenses of spouses of female employees,

it must cover the expenses of spouses of male employees, including pregnancy.
Insurance coverage for pregnancy need not be extended to include other
dependents as long as it excludes pregnancy benefits for dependents of both male
and female employees.
Q. Can an employer limit payment of costs resulting from pregnancy-related

conditions to a specific dollar amount stipulated in an insurance policy,
collective bargaining pact or other statement of employee benefits?
A. Yes. Maximum recoverable dollar amounts can be set for pregnancy-related

conditions, provided the amounts are specified for other conditions and the
specified amounts in all instances cover the same proportion of actual costs. Note
that an employer must pay additional costs for pregnancy-related procedures if
additional payments are made for other procedures.
Q. Can you establish a different deductible for pregnancy-related conditions

than you do for the costs of other medical conditions?
A. No. You may not tack on an additional deductible or increase the usual
deductible for coverage of pregnancy, either as a condition for inclusion of
pregnancy costs or for the payment of costs when incurred.
Q. If a health plan specifically excludes conditions existing at the time when

the insured’s coverage takes effect (pre-existing condition clauses), can the
same rule apply to pregnancy existing at the time insurance coverage takes
effect?
A. No. Pre-existing conditions cannot be applied to pregnancy, according to the

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. This is the case even
if the woman had no prior coverage before enrolling in her employer's plan.
Q. If you offer employees a choice between enrolling in one of two health

insurance plans, must both cover pregnancy-related conditions?
A. Yes. An employee with a single-coverage policy can’t be forced to purchase a

family policy in order to be covered when she becomes pregnant.
Q. How must an employee be reimbursed for medical expenses incurred

because of pregnancy-related conditions?

A. Again, the rule is that expenses arising from pregnancy must be reimbursed on
the same basis as expenses for other medical conditions.
Abortion policies
Q. Can you refuse to hire, discharge or in any other way discriminate against
a woman for the sole reason that she’s had an abortion?
A. No. A woman who has had an abortion must be treated the same as other
employees.
Q. If an abortion leads to complications, such as excessive hemorrhaging,

must your health insurance plan cover the additional costs attributable to
these complications?
A. Your plan must pay costs arising from complications resulting from an
abortion—but not necessarily for the abortion itself.
Q. Can you decide to have your insurance program cover abortion, even if
it’s not required?
A. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act specifically says that employers can provide
insurance for abortion, either directly or through a collective bargaining
agreement. However, employers are warned that if they do include abortion in
their health insurance plan, they must do so in the same manner as they cover
other medical conditions.
However, the debate surrounding the Affordable Care Act of 2010 revived the
debate over abortion coverage, which has led to many states passing new laws
limiting abortion coverage. You should check the law of your particular state for
limits on abortion coverage. By mid-2011, five states had passed laws banning
abortion coverage in the private insurance market (Idaho, Ky., Mo., N.D., Okla.).
In all, some 20 states now prohibit insurance plans for public and/or private
employees and/or private-sector individuals from covering abortion services.
You can find more information at the National Conference on State Legislatures’
website. Visit http://www.ncsl.org and search for “abortion insurance.”
Final tip: Keep in mind that a pregnancy discrimination claim can’t succeed if
there’s no evidence that the employer had knowledge of the pregnancy. (Prebilich-
Holland v. Gaylord, 6th Cir.)

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trademark entertaining style, she dissects an important employment law court ruling and provides essential
employment law advice via three "Lessons Learned." Topics include: ADA guidelines, age discrimination cases, sexual
harassment laws, EEOC cases, FMLA requirements and more.
www.businessmanagementdaily.com/CIPYearbook
The Bully Boss Strikes Again! How to deal with bosses who make crazy
requests
And you thought your boss was unreasonable? Bet he never asked you to perform oral surgery or fill in for the bomb
squad. Talk about “other duties as assigned!” Even if your direct supervisor swamps you with petty tasks and doesn’t
appreciate all you do, you can always “manage up” to make sure the boss’s boss knows your worth. This report
includes practical advice on how to manage a toxic boss along with dozens of outrageous stories about bully bosses.
http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/BullyBoss

Microsoft Email: Outlook Tips & Training: How to improve productivity by
effectively employing under-used features already at your fingertips
We all use Outlook. It’s easy. You can answer email, keep your appointments and your calendar, and save your files in
various folders. But are you using it to manage your entire workflow? You can. Melissa P. Esquibel combines her 25+
years of experience in information technology with a background in training, technical writing and business risk
analysis to move beyond email and help you understand Outlook’s amazing workflow benefits. You’ll discover how to
get more out of Outlook than you ever dreamed possible with this hands-on road map to Outlook that can send your
productivity skyrocketing.
http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/MicrosoftEmailOutlook
17 Team Building Ideas: The team building kit for managers with team
building exercises, activities and games to build winning teams today!
With employees still reeling from workplace budget cuts, now’s a great time for new team building ideas. No, you don’t
need an expensive round of paintball to gain the benefits of team building exercises, but you do need to squeeze the
most out of them. This report provides teamwork examples, exercises and tips for leading winning teams. Go from
being a manager who oversees people to a leader who molds them into winning teams with these 17 team building
ideas.
www.businessmanagementdaily.com/TeamBuildingIdeas
10 Time Management Tips: A how-to guide on efficiently managing your time

through effective delegating, calendar management and using productivity tools
In this era of downsizing and the quest for efficiency, businesses of all sizes are asking employees to take on extra tasks
to boost productivity. Has your job turned into one of those “stretch jobs”? If so, you may be looking for a better way
to get more done in less time, reduce stress and stop burning the midnight oil. Read about calendar management,
keyboard shortcuts, running productive meetings, setting up agenda templates and using tech tools for project
management with these 10 time management tips. Learn to prioritize your tasks and stop working in a crisis mode all
the time
www.businessmanagementdaily.com/TimeManagementTips
.

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Business Management Daily is a free news website of the Capitol Information Group,
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Maternity Leave Laws:

7 guidelines on pregnancy discrimination law, state

Special Report from www.BusinessManagementDaily.com

EDITOR EDITORIAL DIRECTOR ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER PUBLISHER

Kathy A. Shipp Patrick DiDomenico Adam Goldstein Phillip A. Ash

Maternity Leave Laws:

hen an employee announces she’s pregnant, her employer had better be

Maternity Leave Laws: Guidelines #1

Pregnancy discrimination law

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 2

Caution: Employers that use light-duty programs to cut workers’ compensation

Other key PDA provisions:

 You can’t exclude single women from maternity benefits.

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 3

Maternity Leave Laws: Guidelines #2

Pregnancy discrimination cases

Charges of discrimination on the basis of pregnancy or related conditions are

Three cases in point:

1. A sales manager for a telecommunications company secured a lucrative

2. A secretary at a real estate company was terminated while on maternity

3. The clothing chain Motherhood Maternity provided an ironic example of

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 4

Tell managers: Mum’s the word

Caution: In FY 2011, the EEOC received 5,797 charges of pregnancy-based

Maternity Leave Laws: Guidelines #3

FMLA maternity, pregnancy disability leave

Any organization with 50 or more employees working within a 75-mile radius of

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 5

‘Serious health condition’

Maternity Leave Laws: Guidelines #4

Reasonable accommodation under the ADA

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 6

But if a woman experiences pregnancy complications that substantially limit a

Maternity Leave Laws: Guidelines #5

Double-check state maternity leave laws

 Rhode Island: Public employers of 30 or more employees and private

 California, Hawaii and New Jersey: Employees temporarily disabled for

California’s provisions on pregnancy disability leave cover employers with as few

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 7

Maternity Leave Laws: Guidelines #6

Maternity, paternity leave policies

Sample maternity leave policy

[Your organization] is firmly committed to protecting the rights of expectant mothers

Further, [your organization] fully recognizes eligible employees’ rights and

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 8

If you decide to adopt a formal maternity/paternity leave policy, make sure it

Maternity Leave Laws: Guidelines #7

Frequently asked questions on pregnancy discrimination law

Hiring and on-the-job rules

Q. Are you obligated to accommodate an employee who can’t, because of her

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 9

of absence or to stay on the job if she wants to leave?

Q. Can an organization transfer a pregnant employee to a position of less

© 2012 Business Management Daily www.BusinessManagementDaily.com 10

 A supervisor’s question to an employee about her family and childbearing

Health and disability insurance

Q. Must you provide benefits for pregnancy-related conditions even if you

Q. Can your company limit pregnancy disability insurance benefits to only

Q. Can you require a pregnant employee to use up her vacation benefits