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No maternity leave = unemployment?
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No maternity leave = unemployment?
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
If we don't offer maternity leave can employees collect unemployment?
We are a small company- we do not come under FMLA (we have about 30 employees within a 75 mile radius.
One of our employees is p
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » No maternity leave = unemployment?
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No maternity leave = unemployment?
posted at 2/8/2011 7:30 AM EST
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Posts: 18
First: 2/3/2011 Last: 2/9/2011 |
Thanks nork4- I have already started creating a document of who is saying what. As i am not considered by a lot of people as HR, only the recruiter, people come to me in a more free capacity and are not as careful what they say and don't say. They see me more as an employee advocate than HR because I hired half of them.
But to save my own butt, I have documented what they say to me and what I say in response. |
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No maternity leave = unemployment?
posted at 2/8/2011 7:42 AM EST
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Posts: 18
First: 2/3/2011 Last: 2/9/2011 |
It is HR, but I think that my co-workers see me as more of an advocate than a policy pusher. Primarily because we have myself who does the recruiting and then another person who does the paperwork. We have left it this way because I have been the eyes and ears on the ground. Being a smaller company, roles are not as clearly defined and people where multiple hats. |
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No maternity leave = unemployment?
posted at 2/8/2011 7:57 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 2/8/2011 Last: 2/8/2011 |
Because your employer is not mandated to abide by FMLA, encourage him/her to match the precedent regarding time off -- with or without pay. The employee can file for unemployment while taking care of her new infant. Perhaps your state even has a shared work program, where the employee files for temporary unemployment which releases her from looking for another job while she is unemployed, up to her expected return-to-work date. We do this at my company due to the seasonality of our business. Remember that HR professionals are not in their role to solve the financial problems of employees, but rather to open up all possible solutions so that they can make sounds decisions on their own. You work for the company (company first). |
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No maternity leave = unemployment?
posted at 2/9/2011 3:04 AM EST
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Posts: 8
First: 5/29/2001 Last: 2/9/2011 |
Have you asked leadership what the policy will when an employee suffers a traumatic injury (perhaps car wreck) or has a heart attack? Will it be only 2 weeks pay and no job; even when the M.D. specifies 6 or 8 weeks to recover?
If a position will be held in those circumstances, when a person is medically designated as unable to work for a specified period of time; then a pregnant employee should be treated the same. Urge you to avoid the use of "maternity leave", it's not about a leave of absence for personal reasons, it is about an M.D. specifying that the person is in no condition to work. In closing, noted the use of "girl" in some posts. Expect that all employees are adults and not children; so the professional way to refer would be to use woman or man and not use girl or boy. |
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No maternity leave = unemployment?
posted at 2/9/2011 4:27 AM EST
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Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004 Last: 9/13/2011 |
Ok, I'm going to pray that a water cooler appears and squirts your CEO in the eye everytime he makes an insensative comment or a wrong-headed decision. In the mean time, lighten up, you can't save people from themselves. All you can do is advise them. |
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No maternity leave = unemployment?
posted at 2/9/2011 4:44 AM EST
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Posts: 18
First: 2/3/2011 Last: 2/9/2011 |
Thanks, you're right. I will advise or try to advise him to not make certain jokes that are directed at certain people. I don't assume it will stop, but at least I tried, if the pregnant woman decides to take legal action against how she feels she's being treated I will pass that to the HR director. I was just trying to handle it before it got to that.
I am in the mean time drafting a policy for short term medical leave. Wish me luck on it being approved! Thank you again everyone! |
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