I am a contract employee with a very large NJ based company, being payrolled through an agency. What are my rights regarding leave after giving birth? Would the company that payrolls me have to honor the 12 week FMLA leave (unpaid) or even guarantee me another position? If I am hired directly to the client company during my pregnancy, would the hours that I have worked in order to meet the FMLA requirements count only from the time I become a perm employee or would they also consider the hours that I have worked as a contractor? I am 100% planning on returning and also plan on working up until I give birth, but want to know if there is any way that I would be entitled to additional leave beyond just the normal 6 weeks NJ State Disability.

Appreciate any assistance that someone can provide.

FMLA interpretations tend to be extremely liberal when dealing with co-employment. As long as you meet the 12 month and 1250 hour requirements, you should be ok.

Here is a the DOL link discussing joint employment. Take note to section e where it talks about job restoration.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_825/29CFR825.106.htm

I was also told that it was 1250 hours OR one year, whichever you hit first - sounds like you have to meet BOTH of those criteria in order to be eligible?

Many thanks for your insight.

FMLA requires that ALL of the eligiblility criteria be met, yes. It's not one or the other.

FMLA protects you for a total of 12 weeks. It does not specify how much is before and how much is after birth. The more time you take due to pregnancy issues beforehand, the less time you have available afterwards.

The NJ disability benefits are before- and after-birth specific, but that is income replacement and has nothing to do with how much time off you are entitled to.