A:There are two issues involved here: 1) Family and Medical Leave; and 2) Maternity Leave.
FMLA
Schools (and all U.S. employers) with 50+ employees are required to comply with the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In general terms, FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of time-off to employees with 1+ years of service under several circumstances—two of which are pregnancy and personal illness.
Maternity is a unique case under FMLA because it reflects not only the time of actual physical disability (usually six-eight weeks) but also "bonding time" with the child. Thus, FMLA allows parents up to 12 weeks of job-protected time-off in a 12-month period for maternity/paternity and bonding time.
For teachers and other school personnel who do not work during the summer, the summer break does not count against the 12-week limit. Therefore, if the employee gives birth in the spring and misses the last six weeks of the semester on FMLA leave, they are still entitled to six more weeks leave when they would ordinarily return to school in September.
Please note: This is not necessarily true for other FMLA issues—such as leave due to personal illness. For example, if an employee breaks an ankle and misses the last four weeks of the semester in the spring, they will only be eligible for additional leave when school returns if they're still disabled.
Maternity Leave
Schools are not required to provide "maternity leave" that goes beyond the requirements of FMLA, though some do so. If your school offers maternity leave, it is important to clarify:
- if this leave is paid or unpaid (i.e., some schools choose to offer four weeks of paid maternity leave)
- if this leave runs concurrent with FMLA leave (as most do), or if it is in addition to leave available under FMLA (e.g., four weeks maternity plus 12 weeks FMLA)
- what maternity or FMLA provisions are required by your state
Each of these three conditions will affect whether an employee has additional maternity leave time available (and whether this time will be paid).
