This is going to sound like a weird question, but it came up in a discussion with my employer over equal provision of maternity leave to bio- and adoptive moms...
If a woman is pregnant and chooses to give up the baby for adoption at birth, does she still qualify for FMLA?
The Dept of Labor website says FMLA can be taken for these reasons:
- for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
- for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care;
- to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
- to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition
So, on that first bullet - is it really birth AND care? That would imply to me that a bmom who gives up a child at birth doesn't qualify for FMLA? I understand that she would still qualify for Short Term Disability...all of this assuming that she was employed FT at a large enough company for at least a year, etc.
My employer is saying that the purpose of the maternity leave is for recovery from birth... But they also say that you must qualify for FMLA to get maternity leave.
