Human Resource Blog

What is the 12 mos?

Does an employee have to be with the company for 12 months before she gets pregnant to qualify for maternity leave in Colorado? Or would she qualify if she got pregnant say 3 months in to anew position then she still worked during the 9 month pregnancy? In that case she would have been at the position for a total of 12 months before taking that leave.

The problem here is that the term *maternity leave* can mean different things at different companies. Most of the time, *maternity leave* means unpaid, job-protected leave under FMLA, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Under FMLA, an employee must have worked for the company for 12 months before taking the first hour of FMLA leave. In addition, the employee must have worked at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months for the company.

Pregnancy is always a serious health condition covered by FMLA. Normally a pregnant employee can take FMLA intermittently for prenatal appointments, etc. However, an employee who had not been with the company for 12 months would not qualify. In your example above, the pregnant employee would not qualify for even one hour off until her one-year anniversary with the company. At that point, she would be entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave (combined) for baby bonding, pregnancy and childbirth disability.

Some companies offer additional *maternity leave* such as paid time off. In that case, company policy determines who does and does not qualify.