MENUMENU
  • FREE RESOURCES
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • HR DEEP DIVES
        • Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for HR Professionals
          Employment Law
          Labor Law Posting Requirements: Everything You Need to Know
          Recruiting
          businesswoman selecting future employees on digital interfaces
          Recruiting Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
          Performance Management
          vector image of young female making star rating
          Performance Review Resources
          Employment Law
          Understanding Equal Employment Opportunity and the EEOC
          Recruiting
          Onboarding Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
  • CORONAVIRUS & HR

  • LOGIN
  • SIGN UP FREE

HR Morning

MENUMENU
  • FREE RESOURCES
  • PREMIUM CONTENT
        • SEE MORE
          PREMIUM RESOURCES
  • HR DEEP DIVES
        • Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for HR Professionals
          Employment Law
          Labor Law Posting Requirements: Everything You Need to Know
          Recruiting
          businesswoman selecting future employees on digital interfaces
          Recruiting Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
          Performance Management
          vector image of young female making star rating
          Performance Review Resources
          Employment Law
          Understanding Equal Employment Opportunity and the EEOC
          Recruiting
          Onboarding Resources for HR & Hiring Managers
  • CORONAVIRUS & HR
  • Employment Law
  • Benefits
  • Recruiting
  • Talent Management
  • Performance Management
  • HR Technology
  • More
    • Leadership & Strategy
    • Compensation
    • Staff Administration
    • Policy & Procedures
    • Wellness
    • Staff Departure
    • Employee Services
    • Work Location
    • HR Career & Self-Care
    • Health Care
    • Retirement Plans

Establishing a solid paid parental leave policy: 4 keys

Jared Bilski
by Jared Bilski
February 3, 2017
2 minute read
  • SHARE ON

Is paid parental leave right for your company?  
An increasing number of employers are offering paid parental leave benefits – and an even greater number are thinking about doing so in the near future.
If you fall into the latter category, you’ll need to draft a solid policy for providing the paid parental leave benefits.
To help, FMLA Insights founder Jeff Nowak offers some best practices on what the policy should take into consideration before adding the benefit:

Decide when it kicks in

Because employers get to decide the eligibility requirements of this benefit (instead of the feds), they can require employees to work a certain number of hours before it kicks in.
This would be similar to the way many firms require workers to accrue a certain amount of vacation before they can take time off.

Watch for discrimination traps

Based on the EEOC’s recent pregnancy discrimination guidance, it’s perfectly OK to provide better medical benefits to new mothers than new fathers when it comes to recovery from childbirth.
That makes sense. After all, women physically give birth.
However, employers can’t treat men and women differently when it comes to bonding leave.
So if your company offers bonding leave to female employees with a newborn – instead of leave for pregnancy-related conditions (pregnancy, childbirth and related conditions) – you have to offer the same amount of leave to men.
Otherwise, you could leave yourself open to a discrimination claim.

Consider other paid leave

Employers can require staffers to use their other paid leave (vacation, sick, PTO) before taking advantage of the paid parental leave benefits.
While this strategy is perfectly legal, it could hurt morale.
And improving morale is one of the major reasons employers offer benefits like paid parental leave in the first place.
An alternative option: Requiring employees to use paid leave before parental leave but allowing them to “hold back” a set amount of that vacation time for other points in the year.

Use FMLA accordingly

As Nowak points out, employers have a legal right to run parental leave and FMLA leave concurrently.
Running these two things together make administration much easier for HR and benefits pros.
Adapted from “Should Employers Make Paid Parental Leave a Basic Employee Benefit?” by Jeff Nowak.

Get the latest from HRMorning in your inbox PLUS immediately access 10 FREE HR guides.

I WANT MY FREE GUIDES

Keep Up To Date with the Latest HR News

With HRMorning arriving in your inbox, you will never miss critical stories on labor laws, benefits, retention and onboarding strategies.

Sign up for a free HRMorning membership and get our newsletter!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
HR Morning Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linked In
  • ABOUT HRMORNING
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
  • WRITE FOR US
  • CONTACT
  • Employment Law
  • Benefits
  • Recruiting
  • Talent Management
  • HR Technology
  • Performance Management
  • Leadership & Strategy
  • Compensation & Payroll
  • Policy & Culture
  • Staff Administration
  • Wellness & Safety
  • Staff Departure
  • Employee Services
  • Work Location
  • HR Career & Self-Care

HRMorning, part of the SuccessFuel Network, provides the latest HR and employment law news for HR professionals in the trenches of small-to-medium-sized businesses. Rather than simply regurgitating the day’s headlines, HRMorning delivers actionable insights, helping HR execs understand what HR trends mean to their business.

Privacy Policy Terms of Service
Copyright © 2021 SuccessFuel

WELCOME BACK!

Enter your username and password below to log in

Forget Your Username or Password?

Reset Password

Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.

Log In

During your free trial, you can cancel at any time with a single click on your “Account” page.  It’s that easy.

Why do we need your credit card for a free trial?

We ask for your credit card to allow your subscription to continue should you decide to keep your membership beyond the free trial period.  This prevents any interruption of content access.

Your card will not be charged at any point during your 21 day free trial
and you may cancel at any time during your free trial.

preloader