I'm hoping one of you ladies can clarify this for me... or at least point me in the right direction. I was under the impression that I was entitled to 8 weeks of disability (because of my csection), plus an additional 12 weeks of FMLA leave. Making it a total of 20 weeks. I was just informed by my employer that these run concurrently so I can only take 12 weeks off total. Is that the case??? It doesn't make sense to me. They told me to look into it as they aren't really sure if that's the way it works.............can someone help me. I'm not ready to go back to work in 4 weeks.....especially since I thought I was going to be off for another 12 weeks.

It's my understanding that it is only 12 weeks total. Sorry

I had a vaginal birth with my dd and got 6 weeks for that (I used sick time). The next 6 weeks were referred to as time for "bonding with baby". I was not allowed to use any sick time for this even though I had it saved up. I could only use vacation time or time without pay.

Not saying you should do this but yes they are run concurrently but if you were to return back to work for say a week or 2 them you are entilted to the FMLA that is for 12 weeks. You have to have your 12 weeks compleated buy your childs 1st bday.

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This is my area of expertise, I deal with this daily.

Your employer is right. You are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a 12 month period. That means if you take 6 weeks off now for maternity, you only have 6 weeks left to use within the 12 months. It doesn't start over if you return earlier than 12 weeks.

It just depends on the company whether you are paid or not. With my company, we get a week paid (for the duration of disability) for every year of service. I would normally have 16 weeks, but for pregnancy, I will get 6 weeks paid by the company, the other 6 will not be paid, but I can take it off. If I had STD, I would still get the 6 weeks paid, but not from the company from the insurance.

It really sucks, but at least we get 3 months off.

You can go to U.S. Department of Labor: Compliance Assistance: Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for all the information on it.

I agree with all the previous posters. It is 12 weeks total. Under FMLA, you do not get paid for your time off. However, under short term disability, you can use short term disability to get paid for a portion of your leave - 6 weeks for a vaginal birth, 8 weeks for a c-section. Some employers also provide an extended leave policy where you can take more time if it is approved by the company - but I don't think they are under the same restricitions as under FMLA (assuring you have job when you come back) as it is a company policy. I would have extended my leave past the 12 weeks if I could afford it.

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Mom to Kaylee (10/2006)
Waiting on our second bundle of joy to arrive January 2009!

You didn't say where you were located, but SOME states have more Family Leave laws than the federal one. For example, in California you can take up to 16 weeks for pregnancy under the state law. This is very rare, but the website the previous poster linked to will put you in the right direction. State laws are still concurrent with FMLA, so you're probably out of luck.

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