I have an employee who is pregnant. It is only the second time an employee has used STD for maternity (she used it with her first child).

She is out of sick time and vacation time. She is going to use STD (paid by employer 100%) to cover her time off to deliver the baby.

She wants to just "pick a date" to start taking her time off. I explained that she cannot do this... tried to explain that STD is from date of illness/injury/delivery for up to 90 days.

Are their laws that require us to offer unpaid leave of absence? Who usually pays for benefits if an employee is on LOA? Is an employee on LOA eligible for STD?

We do not have any written policy on LOA.

Thanks for any help!

If she wants to pick a date and go out and you want to let her, feel free. Just be prepared to offer the same to other employees who wish to do the same. Whatever terms you wish to place on it are up to you.

Now, if she goes out for a medical reason and qualifies for FMLA, FMLA would start running with the first day she is medically unable to work. If she decides she wants to take off now but doesn't have a medical reason to be off for another 2 weeks, those 2 weeks would not count as FMLA. Those two weeks would be at your discretion and subject to your own policies.

STD is independent of either the leave you opt to grant or FMLA. She would qualify only if she meets the terms of the policy. It is very possible that STD will only cover part of the time she is out.

Thanks so much.

We don't have enough employees for FMLA, so that is not a consideration.

We would prefer to have her work until she has a qualifying illness or injury and then use her STD. Hopefully, it will all work out for her and us!