Maternity Leave

[lawaholic]

My husband and I are trying to start a family, so I, for my part, have been reading all the parenting and baby-friendly material that I can get my hands on. One magazine I recently bought a subscription to states that the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) calls for 12 weeks of maternity leave for any pregnant employee that works for a company with more than 50 employees. Well, what about if the company has less than 50 employees? If I work for a small company of say, 25-30 employees and my boss denies my request for maternity leave, what can I do? What rights do I have?

[Dogmatique]

No, that's not quite right.

FMLA provides 12 weeks' worth of (unpaid) job protection for any qualifying ailment/condition/close family member's caregiving. But given that you appear to be working for a company with less than 50 employees it's moot anyway.

But, there might be other remedies - and to go further requires that we know which state you're in.

[cbg]

FMLA is not exclusively for maternity leave, but one of the uses to which it can be put is maternity leave. However as Doggie says, if your employer does not have a minimum of 50 employees, the point is moot.

As well as the state you live in, we need to know whether your employer has more than 15 employees before we can effectively answer what leave you may be entitled to beyond FMLA.

[Betty3]

It seems per several other threads you started, you might be in Ga. - please verify.

We still need to know if your employer has 15 or more employees.

Thanks.