Maternity Leave/FMLA Leave question

[BabbyO]

Does anyone know if you are on leave under FMLA and a regular holiday occurs during your leave, does your company have to pay you for that holiday?

I'm a salaried employee in a company that falls under FMLA. I will be on leave over the Thanksgiving holiday. Does my company have to pay me for that holiday since it is normally a paid holiday, or doesn't it matter because I'm on unpaid leave?

I think I know the answer, but just curious.

[Gena]

What does it say about holiday pay in your employee handboook?

Every company I have worked for has stated that in order to be paid for the holiday, you need to be paid for the day before or the day after the holiday. Meaning that you must either work one of those days or be on a paid day off (ie vacation day, sick day, paid disability leave). So in that case, an employee on unpaid leave would not be paid for the holiday.

[lowrioh]

What does it say about holiday pay in your employee handboook?

Every company I have worked for has stated that in order to be paid for the holiday, you need to be paid for the day before or the day after the holiday. Meaning that you must either work one of those days or be on a paid day off (ie vacation day, sick day, paid disability leave). So in that case, an employee on unpaid leave would not be paid for the holiday.

:yeahthat:

If you have any paid leave, you might be able to use those hours for the day before or after the holiday. My co-worker had 4 or 5 paid days saved up and used them instead of unpaid leave around the holidays in order to get them to be "paid" days.

[luckytwenty]

Yes, but only during the part of your leave that's "sick leave," which is 6 weeks for a vaginal delivery and 8 weeks for a c-section. At least that's how it was explained to me at work. I was out from Oct. 28-Jan. 24 and got paid for Thanksgiving and Christmas but missed NY's because it was beyond the 8 weeks.

[BabbyO]

We don't have the stipulation that you must have paid days before or after holidays (my previous employers did) and that is what made me question it. However, I just found that our holidays are not paid if you are on a Leave of Absence (paid or unpaid).

[marymoo86]

Holidays are paid through STD disability but are not 'additional' - Thanksgiving would just be another day like Monday would be. You do not get paid holidays under FMLA they count as normal days so vacation would have to cover those days as well.

[pb&j]

DD was born the week before Thanksgiving. I did not get paid for the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's holidays as they all fell during my 8 wks of (paid) mat leave. During that time, I was on an "unpaid" status. I had to be in a paid status to get paid for a holiday, so I either had to be using vacation or sick time the day before.

ETA: I should clarify that I got paid for the holiday b/c it fell during my co paid mat leave. But I did not get to extend my leave by that number of days, or bank them in any way.

[drwg21]

I took off Labor day until after New Years. I had to use a "sick day" for Labor Day (as part of my 5 day roll into STD) and then had to use my vacation time for Thanksgiving. I was unpaid for both Xmas and New Years. I think companies can make exceptions but the law does not require them to paid for holidays while on leave.

[sewarsh]

At my old company, it depends if you are on your paid STD at the time or your unpaid FMLA.

[barkley1]

At my company, while I was on unpaid leave, I assume I didn't get paid for holidays....BUT, the cool thing was that the holidays didn't count towards my time, so I got that many more days to stay at home. Also, the whole time I was on unpaid leave, I was accruing vacation. *Sweet*!

[eh613c]

You should check with your HR Rep. Every company is different but most will NOT pay someone who is on leave for a holiday.

[BabbyO]

Thanks, everyone. As I mentioned in my second post, I found out that our company doesn't cover holidays during leave regardless of whether its during the paid or unpaid portion.

I thought that was the case...but couldn't find it initially.