Maternity Leave - Classified Employees Policy

Policy Statement

Classified employees may use sick leave accruals for up to four weeks prior to the anticipated due date and six weeks following the actual delivery date. If your disability begins prior to this period or extends beyond it, you will need to provide specific medical documentation. Temporary employees are eligible for all benefits, except sick leave at half pay, until employment would otherwise terminate. For certain Management/Confidential classified employees, disability benefits are provided through the IPP (Income Protection Plan) after sick leave is exhausted.

Employees, without regard to gender, are entitled to childcare leave without pay for up to seven months from the date of delivery. The postnatal period of medical disability is included in this seven-month period. Once the medical disability period (stated above) has ended, the employee may no longer charge sick leave; however, absence may be charged to other credits such as vacation and personal leave at the employee’s option. Once these accruals are exhausted, employees are placed on leave without pay for the remainder of the seven months. You need not request leave for the entire seven-month period if you wish to resume work earlier. If both parents are state employees, several options may exist for them. One parent may elect to take the childcare leave, they may elect to split the seven-month leave, or they may request concurrent leave.

Note: FMLA runs concurrently with maternity/child rearing leave.

Definitions

There are no definitions for this policy at this time.

Policy Procedures

Pregnant employees may be asked or encouraged to report the existence of pregnancy, but they may not be required to do so. Where, in the opinion of the appointing officer, the nature of the duties performed may be particularly hazardous or burdensome during pregnancy, this should be pointed out in the letter of appointment and such employees should be urged to advise their supervisors of any pregnancy. In any case where the appointing authority believes the employee is unable to perform the duties of the position because of pregnancy, the employee may be required to undergo a medical examination at the expense of the department or agency, by a physician designated by the appointing authority. A pregnant employee who is determined to be medically disabled from the performance of job duties must be treated the same as any other employee similarly disabled insofar as disability leave benefits are concerned.

Sick leave and sick leave at half-pay may be used only during a period of medical disability. Under the state’s policy, disabilities arising from pregnancy or childbirth are treated the same as other disabilities in terms of eligibility for or entitlement to sick leave with and/or without pay, extended sick leave and sick leave at half-pay. Generally, the period of such disability is deemed to commence approximately four weeks prior to delivery and to continue for six weeks following delivery. While doctor’s certificates may be required for any period of the disability, agencies should request detailed medical documentation whenever disability is claimed to commence prior to or to extend beyond the period of disability described above.

An appointing authority may approve an employee’s request for leave without pay during pregnancy and prior to the onset of any medical disability as a matter of discretion. Absences during pregnancy and following childbirth may be charged to vacation, overtime or personal leave irrespective of whether the employee is disabled. While the use of annual leave, overtime and personal leave accruals prior to the onset of medical disability is discretionary with the appointing authority, employees must be permitted to use these accruals during a period of medical disability after sick leave with pay has been exhausted.

Employees, regardless of sex, are entitled to leave without pay for childcare for up to seven months following the date of delivery.

For purposes of computing the seven month period of child rearing leave, periods during which the employee was absent for “disability” or use of leave credits are included; the child rearing seven month period is not extended by the granting of disability leave or the use of accrued leave. During a period of leave for childcare, employees shall be permitted, upon request, to use annual leave, personal leave and overtime credits before being granted leave without pay. As is the case with other mandatory leaves without pay (e.g., military leave), agencies shall not require that employees exhaust all appropriate leave credits prior to being granted leave without pay for child care. Sick leave or sick leave at half-pay may be used only during a period of medical disability. Except in the case of continuing medical disability, any leave of absence beyond the seventh month following childbirth shall be at the discretion of the appointing authority. An employee who requests a leave for child care of less than seven months is entitled to have such leave extended, upon request, up to the seven month maximum and may, at the discretion of the appointing authority, have such leave extended beyond the seventh month. In certain situations, an employee may not be permitted to return from such leave until the expiration of the period that such employee requested and was granted. Generally, such restrictions on early return are limited to situations where such return would be disruptive of a project or where the termination of a replacement would occur.

During the seven-month period following childbirth, the granting of leave for childcare is mandatory upon request from either parent. If both parents are state employees, leave for child care is mandatory for one parent at a time and the parents may elect to split the mandatory seven month leave into two separate blocks of leave with each parent entitled to one continuous period of leave but not to exceed a combined total of seven months of leave and not to extend beyond seven months from the date of delivery.

Agencies may, in their discretion, approve other arrangements for shared leave including concurrent leave and may, as a matter of discretion, extend leave for childcare beyond the mandatory seven months. Furthermore, while one parent is absent on leave for childcare, agencies continue to have the discretion to approve requests from the other parent for periods of vacation or personal leave, and for family sick leave.

Temporary, provisional and probationary employees without any permanent status are entitled to leave with full pay and/or without pay as described above. However, these employees are not eligible for sick leave at half-pay nor are they entitled to leave beyond that date when their employment would otherwise terminate (e.g., temporary item abolished, permanent incumbent restored to item, certification of eligible lists, etc.). In general, the state’s policy on leave for pregnancy, childbirth and childcare shall not be construed to require extension of any employment (permanent, permanent contingent, temporary, or provisional) beyond the time it would otherwise terminate.

Links to Related Procedures and Information

Related Forms

• Appointment Form
• Leave Request Form
• D.O.L. Certification of Health Provider Form

References

• Civil Service Commission 

Contact Information

There is no contact information for this policy at this time.

History (in descending order)

Approval

There are no approvals for this policy at this time.