My corporate office is located in MN where the maternity leave is for 6 weeks only (They use the MN laws as part of their employee handbook as well). I work in IA and am under the understanding that in IA the maternity leave is 8 weeks. Which state wins out on the number of weeks of leave I can take? (The other piece of information - my employer does not meet the criteria for FMLA as my location only has 6 people in the 75 mile radius.)

I am having some complications with my pregnancy (I'm due in June), if my doctor puts me on full time bed rest now and assuming that when my 6 or 8 weeks is up and I can't come back to work, is my employer obligated to hold a job for me?

My HR department says that if I cannot return at the end of my 6 weeks, as I will have used all of the time that they have given me, that they are not required to hold my job for me.

Can you confirm what my HR department is saying?

We need some questions answered first.

Does your employer have at least 50 employees at your job site or within a 75-mile radius of your job site?
How long have you worked there?
Have you worked at least 1,250 hours in the past year?
How much time have you missed so far relative to the pregnancy (including doctor's appts., etc.)?

It is up to the employer whether or not to require that paid time off be utilized before going on unpaid leave.

To the best of my knowledge, neither Iowa (whose laws would apply) or Minnesota have a state-mandated "maternity leave" law; very few states do. My educated guess would be that the policies that you describe are merely company policies, and not mandated by law.

I've been working half days for the last 2 weeks. There is only 6 employees at my location. The next nearest location is over 75 miles away. I have been employeed with this company over a year.

I hope this answers your questions.

So, you are not eligible for unpaid leave and job protection under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, because your employer is not big enough. And to my knowledge, Iowa does not have a state equivalent. Therefore, your employer is not legally required to provide time off for your pregnancy/birth or job protection when you return. What the company chooses to provide is what you are eligible for. Sorry.

Actually Iowa does have a state equivalent that applies ONLY to pregancy, childbirth and legal abortion. It applies to employers of 4 or more employees and provides for eight weeks of unpaid leave.

Sorry about the delay getting to this but I've been on a client site most of the week.

Ah, thanks for the correction. :)