FMLA Question...

Congratulations on being pregnant!
I do not know much about the FMLA but I took advantage of it when I was pregnant last time. It basically guarantees that you can take time off and have a job when you return. Where I was working, it didn't have to be the same job either, just a position with the same company. I had to pay my portion of my insurance that is usually taken out of my paycheck up front since I was not going to be getting paychecks and they just had me send the check to the company. Your company may not cover benefits if you are part time but they should cover their portion while you are on leave.

Your HR person will certainly know more than I do!

Good Luck!

N.

I had this same thing happen to me a few years ago. I ended up going on my maternity leave without saying a thing to them about coming back part time. About 2 weeks before I came back to told them I wanted to come back part time and luckily they granted it to me. The nice part is, I took about 6 weeks of my maternity leave looking for another job just in case my job did not pan out. I hate to be sneaky but you will lose your full time status if you tell them before hand. I wouldn't risk it.

I went throught he exact situation. It depends on how strict your HR dept is . I was able to come back and start part time right away, but had to have all the new paper work for the new position done before I started. I also think that they said I might have come back into my position and then right away switched or something. It just depends on your HR and how they operate.

I'm going on maternity leave next month and just filled out my FMLA paperwork last week. From what I remember reading, it just said if I did not return to work at all I would have to pay back my insurance premiums for the time they had paid them while I was on leave. But, as long as I returned to work after my leave was up then they still covered it. I don't recall my paperwork saying anything about full-time vs part-time.

I also had a coworker who had a baby a couple of years ago, and she knew that she wanted to quit and stay home with her baby, but she wanted to have her benefits (and short-term disability payments) continue while she was on maternity leave, so she returned to work after her leave just long enough to give her two-week notice, and she didn't have to pay anything back because technically she returned to work after her leave before giving her notice. So, I'm thinking that if your HR department says you have to return to the same position, perhaps you could try to work it out where you don't start the switch to the part-time position until after you return from leave.

D. - I worked for an employee benefit office for a while and we had to deal with FMLA. So, I know some about it.

First, the ruling states an employee has to have worked a specific number of hours during the previous year (I don't remember the exact number, but believe it to 1040 which is roughly 20 hours/week).

Second, your employer does NOT have to return you to the same position - they have to return you to a comprable position. However this all becomes moot if you and your employer agree to an altered schedule upon return from leave. This is what I did after I had #1. I arranged to use some of my FMLA and returned to work working 4 days/week instead of the 5. But that was arranged before I left for maternity leave.

The qualifying timeframe for FMLA is the 12 months prior to the requested time off. So future work schedule only applies to requests made 12 months from that specific date.

As for the insurance portion - well that's another story.

If you have more questions, let me know. I'll tell you all I can!

I was in the exact same situation as you -- working full time and transitioning to a part-time position after my leave. Our HR moveded me to part-time on the first day of my leave. I found out later that they shouldn't have, however I kept all my earned time off and sick leave and I was covered on my husbands insurance plan at that point so I didn't worry about it. You should be covered, but you might want to consult some free legal advice before meeting with HR to make sure you know your rights. For the insurance purposes, you may have to pay your insurance while on maternity leave (under the company plan) even if they are going to keep you at full-time status while on leave. If they move you to part-time, you should have access to the same insurance at that same cost to you through COBRA. Good luck, it's very, very worth it to be part-time (or even no time) when you have your first baby -- you don't want to miss a thing.

Hi D. - the best thing to do is to wait to request or make any changes in your job until after you return from maternity leave.

Well, I don't exactly know the 'rules', but when I went on FMLA I was told that I had 3 months to use however I wanted. I could come back part time for part of those 3 months or just use them in one fell swoop. Either way, when I wanted to return part time *after* FMLA leave I was let go. I imagine it depends on the company, etc - but you should be prepared for a 'no'. :(

First question is - is your employer subject to FMLA rules? Do they have 50 or more employees? Have you worked there at least for 12 months? If yes - they are required to hold A position for you - either your same one or one with equivalent pay and benefits. I would think if you choose to work part-time that could be negotiated but it would be subject to part time position being available. If they only want a full time person then you may be out of luck. A lot of employers are flexible or may be willing to make a job share situation work where you "share" a full time position with another employee who also wants part time. I just googles FMLA and got lots of info such as this : http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.pdf Hope this helps!

Since you don't know how/if things might change while you are on maternity leave, I would tell HR that you are intended to come back to work once your maternity leave is over. I wouldn't mention part-time yet - who knows, your family/financial situation might be very different at the end of the year.

At the end of your leave, if you still want to work part-time, I would address it with HR then.

Hi D.,
Oh I wish it were so... I too wanted to return part time. The short answer is NO. They do not have to give you part time. They can, as my employer did, insist that you return to work full time with NO flexibility whatsoever, or nothing. (And then when I did that, I literally had no work to do, and even now I often sit at my desk idol, surfing the web 3 months into my return.) In my case the decision was left to my manager (oddly enough, I work in the HR department) whether I was allowed a flexible work arrangement to return to. So that is worst case.

The longer answer is that FMLA and insurance are seperate things except in that FMLA requires the employer to mantain insurance coverage during leave for you, with you still responsible for your normal contribution, until you return. BUT then company policy can kick in, and if you do not return, or you return in a different capacity (part time with no benefits, lower benefits, or increased premiums) they can force you to pay them back the money for your benefits during leave. This is company policy, not insurance policy - no matter what they tell you. You will need to ask about this for your company.

Here is the pertinent paragraph from the FMLA:
JOB RESTORATION
Upon return from FMLA leave, an employee must be restored to the employee’s original job, or to an equivalent job with equivalent pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. An employee’s use of FMLA leave cannot result in the loss of any employment benefit that the employee earned or was entitled to before using FMLA leave, nor be counted against the employee under a “no fault” attendance policy. If a bonus or other payment, however, is based on the achievement of a specified goal such as hours worked, products sold, or perfect attendance, and the employee has not met the goal due to FMLA leave, payment may be denied unless it is paid to an employee on equivalent leave status for a reason that does not qualify as FMLA leave.
An employee has no greater right to restoration or to other benefits and conditions of employment than if the employee had been continuously employed.
This is the only FMLA you should read: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/
The above comes from that website "Fact Sheet 28".

Here is my advice: Assess the previous flexibility of your employer - have they made flexible return to work arrangments for others in a similar capacity to yours? Ask what the policies are if you did decide you wanted to return with a flexible schedule - who is the decision maker? I would not tell them you have a specific plan - I would only ask "just in case" and as though you don't know for sure what you are going to do. No conversation with HR is ever off the record, so I would be very careful if you aren't sure that they will support this (because you may end up with a whopping insurance premium bill if you don't return on their terms). In my case, I could quit and not suffer any financial penalty, so that is also possible. Just gather information, and take your leave. Then, what I recommend, and what I did was a month before I returned, I called a meeting with my manger (and brought the baby in for a visit) and explained to my manager that I would like to return and part time. She said she would think about it. During that meeting, I outlined my date of return, and any expecttions I had, and asked about any changes in my absence. This way, everyone is ready, and it gives them some time to make arrangements for you (a room to pump or someone to job share with, whatever that might be). It was at that time that I actually asked about any insurance implications I might have if I decided not to return.

I wish you the best of luck. In my case, I tried for a month - kept asking higher levels of people, kept going at it from different angles (my husband was on paternal leave during this time) and just kept asking... finally, I decided to resign, and the last day of my 2 week notice they told me I could work from home 2 days a week. This was my minimum to stay with my employer, so I took it to try it out. Working from home is ablessing if you can do it, especially when the baby is still young and you are breastfeeding. (that may be another option for you) I am still continuing to try to go part time. They still won't allow that, but I am hopeful that I can get it worked out in a few months time. Meanwhile I am taking it day by day. I am in a unique situation where I could not work at this employer again if I left, in all likliood, and my employer is a very unique place. I don't want to lose my job overall because of that, so I am trying to make it work and hoping I either geta new manager sometime soon, or find another opportunity within the organization that allows me part time work.
GOOD LUCK!!!