I work for a small firm (8 employees) in Minnesota. Our employee manual states that expectant mothers may choose to take a maternity leave of absence without pay for up to three months. Such leave of absence will not include sick leave or vacation compensation, nor will vacation and sick leave credits accrue during such leave of absence. My question is...Is is legal for them not to pay me my vacation time I have accrued before leave? Also male employees are allowed to take and use their vacation time when their wives have children. Is this discrimination?

I'm not aware of any law that REQUIRES them to pay you your vacation time before you take leave.

Are males who take medical leave (or females who take medical leave for purposes other than maternity) allowed to take vacation time as part of it? How much time are they granted?

How much time are males allowed to take when their wives have children?

In the 5 years I have been with the firm no one had taken leave without pay. The male employees that take time off when they have children have taken any where from 2-7 days and used there vacation time. They didn't call it leave just vacation.

The two situations are not comparable. There's a difference between taking 2-7 days of vacation, even if you don't call it that, and taking three months of unpaid time.