It never ends does it?

[Yin Yang]

Well hear this ladies! My husband was planning FMLA ( leave for the baby) after she is born. He wanted to stay at home with me for 1-2 months.

BUT

he just found out he might not qualify for it because I am having a homebirth!!! The HR needs a doctors signature that I am pregnant and recieving their care!! :irked: :angry


I am speachless! I have to go breath this one out. :(

[ksjhwkr]

So what if you were seeing a CNM?? That is rediculous!! I would FIGHT it! You are still getting prenatal care from your midwife right? That is absolutely absurd. Does your midwife have a back up doc, or someone who is homebirth friendly that might sign off for you?
ARGH :bang:

[Yin Yang]

So what if you were seeing a CNM?? That is rediculous!! I would FIGHT it! You are still getting prenatal care from your midwife right? That is absolutely absurd. Does your midwife have a back up doc, or someone who is homebirth friendly that might sign off for you?
ARGH :bang:

I will fight it. I will fight this one. It's getting way to radiculous. I will have to do some research. But I am trully getting tired of this....

[ksjhwkr]

I don't blame you at all!!! I would be getting tired of it too! Absolute insanity! :irked:

[luckymama]

well, i don't know for sure, but i've been perusing the department of labor's info about FMLA, and i can't find any reason why they could require a doc's note or deny your husband leave. if he were requesting leave to care for a sick family member, then they do state medical certification is required. a company can get in trouble for NOT granting eligible leave to an employee, though.

An employer may not:

* Interfere with any rights provided by FMLA, including:

* refusing to authorize FMLA leave.
* discouraging an employee from using FMLA leave.
* transferring employees among worksites to keep worksites below the 50 employee level.
* changing the essential functions of the employee’s job to preclude the taking of FMLA leave.
* reducing hours of work to avoid employee eligibility.
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/fmla/eb5.asp

i've been looking at U.S. Dept. of Labor FMLA section on compliance:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/

and the FMLA advisor site:

http://www.dol.gov/elaws/fmla.htm

geesh - it just makes me irate that they're giving you a tough time on this ... good luck to you! i'll keep my eyes open for more info.

[Max'sMama]

Have him get the paperwork. My husband brought it home and the only way I read it to require a med signature was for prenatal appts or if he needed to stay home before the birth, ie you on bedrest and toddler needing care, or something. The way it's written, (let me go grab our really quick) it says, on my copy,

Definitions
A 'serious health condition' means an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves one of the following:
#1...
#2...
#3 Pregnancy
Any period of incapicity due to pregnancy, or for prenatal care.
...etc etc

To me, birth of a child is not pregnancy and the way the form is written, the reasons for leave are

1 Serious health condition (employee)
2 Care of spouse or child of employee with serious health condition
3 birth, adoption or place of foster care child.

so #3 is not the same as #1 or #2 and not a 'serious health condition'.
We just filled out the 'Request for Family/Medical Leave' and not the certification by health care provider.

If they give you a lot of trouble and you are in a state that MWs are less than legal for birth, there is nothing that says that can't provide prenatal or women's care, so you could ask if they would sign for that. If my husbands employer decides to be difficult (which I will update and let you know our outcome) I was planning to ask our MW first and if they aren't comfortable signing, I was going to ask my Chiro to sign for me.

Good luck!

[bfoster2000]

He should still be able to take FMLA, even if you have a homebirth. His HR person does not understand the situation. Get the paperwork. I didn't wind up filling it out when DJ was born but I did look at it. There was a part for us to fill out and a part for the doctor but I'm not sure if the doctor part was actually required for birth. If it is, your midwife should be able to sign it, or your family doctor, or pediatrician. I know that in our state, if we have a homebirth, we have to have the baby checked by a pediatrician or family doctor and have them sign a form to get the birth certificate. Whoever does that for you should also be able to complete the FMLA paperwork. If you can't get satisfactory answers from the HR person, call the Labor Dept. and get advice from someone there. I believe there are contact numbers on their website for different types of questions.

Good luck!!
barb

[gumby74]

I agree with barb. I looked in my employee handbook about FMLA and it never differentiates between homebirth or hospital birth. HR person probably doesn't understand. Doesn't make any sense at all why they would discrimate.

[Yin Yang]

Thank you everyone for your advise! We will look into it. We talked about it with my DH over lunch and I told him that I think that they can not deny him the right for FMLA. It just does not make sense. And if I have to go to a doctor for this one I certainly will. Even if it's just a family doctor I am sure anyone can sign the papers.

My DH mentioned our chiro as well. :wink

[writermommy]

This is stupid. There has to be a way around it. I mean, what if you were delivering in a birth center with a midwife? She'd be able to sign then, right? I would look into it further. A birth certificate should be the only proof they need. Sometimes companies have no sense at all. They will be covering the baby on insurance, right? So they know she was born and when. I'd get the paperwork and fill it out. They shouldn't be able to discriminate against your dh based on where the baby is born.

[Yin Yang]

My DH brought the paperwoork home and he said they have to give it to him because it is a federal law. My midwife has to sign it, that's all we need. :thumb
Ok, glad this turned out to be ok after all. :lol