Silicon Valley Pregnancy Leave Lawyer

California Employment Law Attorney Providing Counsel to Clients with Pregnancy Leave Cases

If you are an employee who needs to request pregnancy leave, or if you are an employer with questions about your rights and responsibilities when it comes to pregnancy leave, an experienced Silicon Valley pregnancy leave lawyer can speak with you today.

Pregnant employees often have concerns about whether they are permitted to take job-protected pregnancy leave, and whether an employer can terminate them for becoming pregnant. For California employees, there are multiple laws that provide protection for pregnancy leave from a job. While employers are not required to pay employees who take pregnancy leaves, most employees are entitled to job-protected leave in a variety of circumstances.

Silicon Valley Employees May Be Eligible for FMLA and CFRA Leave Related to the Birth of a Child or to Bond With a Newborn

Under both the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), covered employees in Silicon Valley who become pregnant are eligible for up to 12 weeks during a 12-month period of unpaid, job-protected leave to bond with and care for a newborn baby after a birth. Generally speaking, most California employees tend to go through the CFRA as opposed to the FMLA because it applies to more employees.

The FMLA covers employees who currently work for an employer with at least 50 employees within a 75-mile radius of the employee’s worksite. The FMLA allows a covered employee to take a leave for a pregnancy-related disability, while California has its own law, the Pregnancy Disability Leave Act, that provides similar coverage.  This means that an employee who has taken FMLA leave for a pregnancy-related disability may still have CFRA leave available to use for baby bonding, even if that employee has exhausted her FMLA leave. Also, CFRA’s requirement that employers provide baby bonding leave applies to employers with 20 or more employees within a 75-mile radius.

Pregnancy Disability Leave in Silicon Valley

Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) is a California law that provides an employee with up to four months of leave time for a pregnancy disability. PDL is in addition to other leave time that an employee may be entitled to under the Fair Employment in Housing Act (FEHA) and the CFRA.

Nearly all employees in Silicon Valley are covered when it comes to PDL. While certain laws like the FMLA and CFRA require that an employer work for a relatively large employee to be eligible for leave, any employee who works for an employer with at least five employees is eligible for PDL, and there is no minimum requirement for total time worked or hours worked per week in order to be eligible.

Silicon Valley employees and employers should also recognize that PDL does not need to be taken all at once. To be sure, employees can take PDL “intermittently.” In other words, employees can take PDL “in small increments, which can be hours, days, weeks, or months.”

Pregnancy Discrimination Prohibitions in Silicon Valley

If an employee does take pregnancy leave, she also has the right to be free from discrimination or retaliation in the workplace. An experienced Silicon Valley employment law attorney can explain how the FEHA and other states laws prohibit discrimination and retaliation.

Contact a Silicon Valley Pregnancy Leave Attorney

Whether you are an employee or an employer with questions about pregnancy leave and the California workplace, an experienced Silicon Valley pregnancy leave attorney can assist you. Contact Minnis & Smallets LLP today to learn more about the services we provide.