The Essential Guide to Family & Medical Leave

80 | the essential guide to family and medical leave
At times, it can be hard to distinguish between parenting leave and leave
for a serious medical condition, such as when an employee needs leave
because of a serious medical condition associated with her pregnancy or
childbirth or when a newborn becomes ill. This chapter shows you how to
draw this distinction in situations when you might have to do so.
Multiple Births in the Same Year
An employee who has more than one child in the same year does not get
more leave. For example, if an employee gives birth to twins, she does not
get 12 weeks of FMLA parenting leave for each child—just 12 weeks total.
As discussed further below, employees taking parenting leave are not
entitled to intermittent or reduced-schedule leave, so a parent can’t divide up
his or her leave time, either. For example, a father who had two children at
different times in the year (perhaps with two different mothers) can’t take six
weeks of leave for each birth—he would be entitled only to 12 weeks at once.
Conditions That Don’t Count
When an employee’s child is stillborn or the mother miscarries, the FMLA
does not provide for parenting leave. Of course, if the employee is the
mother, she may have serious medical and/or psychological conditions that
entitle her to take FMLA leave.
Tip
It’s okay to show compassion, as long as you are consistent. When
you know that an employee has suffered a loss or trauma, it is both
decent and natural to extend sympathetic treatment. Some companies
voluntarily offer bereavement leave, for example, even though it isn’t
required by the FMLA. If your company offers extra leave or benefits in
difficult times, such as relaxation of attendance or punctuality rules, just
be sure to offer such treatment to all employees in similar circumstances.
If an employee needs leave to care for a sick newborn or for a wife who
is suffering pregnancy-related illness, that’s a request for leave to care for a
family member with a serious health condition, not a request for parenting
leave. Leave for serious health conditions is covered in Chapter 4.