The below post is taken from the Video Blog, the Subject Matter Minute. If it’s a little hard to read, it’s because it’s taken from the spoken word. You can view the episode on YouTube if you would like. Find it here: Episode #31 -Maternity Leave?
If YouTube is blocked for you or your agency, you can scroll to the bottom of this post to view it from Google Drive. (I would prefer you view in YouTube, so I know how many people have watched)
You can also listen to an audio version.
Hello and welcome to another episode of that work show that you keep hoping will get better, but, well…. Doesn’t. Hehehe…
I want to start off by thanking the folks at the Treasurer’s office. The last episode was about “unclaimed property” and we sent a bunch of folks onto their system, and everything went smoothly! I received several emails from happy people who discovered that they had unclaimed property of their own! I think the record was $566! Can you believe it? What a payday! We also heard from a person who had one penny. I don’t think they felt the need to go through the process.I was so happy to receive emails from folks about scoring some free money. And I’m sorry if you didn’t 🙁
Oh, and on that… I’ve been told that it makes sense to check back occasionally. The Treasurer’s office is actively searching for your money, so you may be surprised down the road.
Alright… So this episode is for all you new parents and parents to be! But before I dive in, I need to thank my subject matter expert, Debbie Russi of A&I Agency HR. I peppered her with a whole bunch of questions and she nailed them all. Thanks Deb.
Today we are going to cover Maternity Leave. (music)
Or, more precisely, the fact that we have NO maternity leave at the state. But, instead of dwelling on that, I’m going to cover what you can do to spend some quality time with your tiny little ball of rapidly dividing cells.
(We are also talking about Paternity Leave. The laws are the same for both mom and dad)
So, with the state of wyoming, it boils down to using FMLA for this situation. The Family Medical Leave Act is a federal law that allows you to take time off for certain things without the danger of losing your job.
I’m not going to cover all the details of FMLA in this video. I just want to cover it as it relates to time off for a baby.
So first of all, you need to be eligible for FMLA. This means you need to have been employed for at least 12 months. And…. you must have worked 1250 hours in the preceding 12 month period.
Next, you need to let your supervisor and/or your HR person know. The rule is 30 days advance notice is the leave is foreseeable, which would typically be the case with a new baby or, otherwise, as soon as practicable.
Then there are some details that will be worked out with you, HR, your doctor and your supervisor. Naturally there is a bunch of paperwork that needs to be filled out. The forms will be similar, but probably slightly different depending on what agency you work for.
So, what does FMLA do. FMLA allows you to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave for a new baby, adoption, or foster care of a child. Yes, unpaid. However, with the state you are able to use your annual and sick leave during that 12 weeks. Concurrently, as they like to say. This allows you to get paid… if you have enough banked.
Now if you’ve been looking into this, you may have heard about intermittent leave. This is a situation where you take chunks of leave spread out over time. Well…. This is not automatically allowed for the birth of a child or adoption. However, if you have a job that could allow it, and a supervisor that is willing to work with you, you may be able to do it. Just understand that it is not available except by agreement.
So, what if you want to take more than 12 weeks? It is possible to take time off without pay, but that would have to be worked out with your director. You would also need to understand that if you fall below a certain amount of work hours per month, you will lose the state’s contribution to insurance. So…. please talk to your HR person about that.
Here’s a little something that seems wrong, but is what it is…. If you and your spouse both work for the state, you have to split the FMLA 12 weeks. It would be awesome for the kid if you could each take 12, but the rules are what they are at this time.
(This is a Department of Labor rule. Not a State rule)
So, even though we don’t have maternity leave, per se, it could be worse. Apparently the state doesn’t have to allow us to use our vacation and sick concurrently with the FMLA leave. It could be pretty brutal to have to take leave without pay at a time when there are typically a bunch of bills that you don’t normally have to pay.
So, that should help you out in figuring out how to stay home with your new kid. Again, I left out some details, so please talk to your HR person so they can fill in the blanks and show you how to fill out all the paperwork.
That’s it for today, please join me again next month for another episode of the Subject Matter Minute.