Out on maternity leave/disability during probationary period California

[hrcalgal]

We have a new employee who is in her probationary period and we fully intend to make her a permanent part of our staff at the end of the probation. My questions is this...we hired her when she was expecting and for two months during her probationary period (for our organization it's 6-months) she went out on maternity/disability leave. Does that stop the clock or do we have to include the two months as part of her 6 month probation? Is it discriminatory to not count the time she was on disabilty?

[Morgana]

What would you do for another employee who had a broken leg and had to be out? Whatever you do in that situation, you should do in the case of pregnancy.

In my company, probation would stop while the person was out on leave and then start up again when the person returned. The time out would not count toward the probation period. It is written in our policy manual that way so we handle all cases like that.

[hrcalgal]

Thx. It's actually never happened before, babies, broken legs or otherwise. We are doing a total revamp on our policies and we'll be sure to address this because it's not in our policies now. My inclination is to stop the clock but I thought it might be unlawful since she was on short term disability.

[Betty3]

No, there is nothing unlawful about stopping the clock while out on disability.

[hrcalgal]

thx all.

[Betty3]

Sure, you're welcome.

[Legaladvocate]

Policies should be laid out and known to employees. Like if you intend to not count the days or months your employee was on leave then it should be contained in your employee's manual.
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Employment Lawyers