The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

94 | the essential guide to family and medical leave
Mistake 2: Denying FMLA leave because the employee has already taken
parenting leave.
Avoid This Mistake By:
• Allowing intermittent parenting leave only if your company’s policies
allow it or the employee is entitled to separate increments of parenting
leave for multiple foster child placements in a single year.
• Recognizing the difference between parenting leave and leave for a
serious health condition. If a child becomes seriously ill, leave to care for
that child does not qualify as parental leave under the FMLA; it’s leave to
care for a family member with a serious health condition.
Mistake 3: Discriminating against fathers in granting or denying parenting
leave.
Avoid This Mistake By:
• Granting parenting leave to FMLA-eligible fathers for birth, adoption, or
foster placement, just as you would to female employees.
• Making no assumptions about who will or should actually be providing
care for a new child. Remember, an employee doesn’t have to show
that he is required to provide care for a new child, as he would have to
show to care for a family member with a serious health condition—
and you can’t deny parenting leave simply because the child’s mother is
already at home.