Do you know of any Federal laws that would require an employer to include time off after the birth of a child in their "sick" pay policy? Our sick pay policy does not cover time off after the birth and it is not covered under any other section - such as disability, etc. The person is granted "leave" but no pay is allowed. (our manager feels the pregnancy was a choice, therefore the time off was "elective.")

You are not required to provide paid sick leave for pregnancy or any other illness by federal law. I do not know of any state laws that requires this. California is considering a law that would allow this for the FMLA, but it would be funded by the employees.

Bob McComas
Human Resource Regulatory Compliance Officer

I was always told that the bank has to allow the same benefits for pregnancy as it would for surgery. i.e., if the bank pays me (or allows me to use sick pay) for back surgery, it has to do the same for pregnancy leave.

Bob,
I believe that was signed by the Governor this week. But I am not sure of its implementation date.

I too thought you have to consider pregnancy leave the same as other illnesses, especially if you are subject to FMLA. You can't discriminate against pregnancy as to leave, job security, medical benefits, etc. You may want to check the EEOC website for more info.

At my bank pregnancy leave (after birth) falls under our medical leave policy (we are not subject to FMLA). With so many businesses paying for all types of medical leave nowdays, it would seem to me this could be an employee retention issue.

This is correct. If you have a paid sick leave policy for illness or accident it must also cover pregnancy. If you do not have a policy, then you do not have to pay for time off. But again, the government does not require an employer to have a paid leave policy.

Also be aware of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 that applies to employers with 15 or more employees.

It provides:
·Pregnancy is a disability that must be treated the same as any other disability.
·Although employers may require workers to give notice of a pregnancy, such a requirement must serve a legitimate business purpose and must not be used to restrict a worker's job opportunities.
·Employers are prohibited from discriminating in hiring, promotion and firing decisions on the basis of pregnancy or because of an abortion.
·Employers cannot require pregnant workers to exhaust vacation benefits before receiving sick pay or disability benefits unless all temporarily disabled workers are required to do the same.
·The decision as to whether payment for pregnancy disability leave will be given must be in accord with policies governing other forms of disability leave; if paid leave is provided for workers with other disabilities, the employer must provide pregnant workers with paid leave for their actual disability due to pregnancy and related childbirth.
·Time restrictions placed on pregnancy-related leaves (i.e., that pregnancy leaves not exceed four months) must be reasonable and job related; if not, they may be illegal.
·It is illegal to place pregnant workers on involuntary sick leave if the company has no policy of placing workers with other forms of disability on involuntary leave; if a worker is physically able to work, the company cannot force her to leave merely because she is pregnant.
.Employers must hold open a job for a pregnancy related absence the same length of time jobs are held open for employees on sick or disability leave.

Bob McComas