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IX. Bed Rest and Maternity Leave
Getting the “bed rest” directive from your obstetrician can be very scary. It’s not something to mess around with, that’s for sure. If you need to be in bed, stay in bed. No job is worth your health and the health of your baby.
That being said, real life and real bills don’t get put on hold for bed rest. A bed rest directive can cause some panic while you’re figuring out how to keep your baby, keep your job and pay your bills during the time you’re stuck in bed.
First, you may want to discuss with your doctor and with your employer the exact restrictions of your doctor’s orders. Are you required to lie flat on your back 24/7? Can you sit on the couch and refrain from moving around and doing any lifting?
That being said, real life and real bills don’t get put on hold for bed rest. A bed rest directive can cause some panic while you’re figuring out how to keep your baby, keep your job and pay your bills during the time you’re stuck in bed.
First, you may want to discuss with your doctor and with your employer the exact restrictions of your doctor’s orders. Are you required to lie flat on your back 24/7? Can you sit on the couch and refrain from moving around and doing any lifting?
These details may be important because they could very well allow you to do your job or a good portion of it from home. Laptop computers and telephones at home can facilitate a lot of work for the right job. And the pay would presumably be your full salary or some negotiated percentage thereof, if you aren’t able to perform your full list of job responsibilities.
If you are unable to arrange for a work-from-home scenario that is acceptable to you, your employer and your health-care provider, you are stuck considering your leave options.
Second, take a look at the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. If you work for an employer with more than 50 employees and have worked there for 12 months and at least 1,250 work hours, you are eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave due to your pregnancy-related disability.
However, note that this is the same pool of leave from which you will be able to take your post-childbirth recovery and parental leave. If you take six weeks of FMLA leave prior to the birth due to bed rest, you will have only six weeks of FMLA leave left after the birth.
Third, take a look at your state’s family and medical leave laws. An Appendix to this text reviews such laws in each state – find your state to determine if there has been a broader state-level leave statute passed that applies to you and your employer.
If the law in your state is more beneficial to you (for example, it requires leave to be granted by all employers with more than 15 employees rather than 50 employees), it supersedes the federal FMLA for you. Some of the state statutes will allow disability leave (i.e. bed rest leave) to be “stacked” on top of maternity leave (i.e. after the baby is born) – ultimately allowing 24 unpaid weeks of leave, 12 weeks for disability and 12 weeks for baby.
These leave statutes will allow you to take time away from work because of your medical condition and restriction from work. However, these statutes will not require your employer to pay you – even a percentage of your salary – while you are on bed rest.
In order to get paid while on bed rest, you will have to look in three additional places: company maternity policy, company sick, personal and/or vacation leave policy and short-term disability coverage.
Talk to your company’s human resources representative (or your boss/supervisor if your company is small). Ask about the company’s maternity policy. Some companies provide paid maternity leave – and some will allow a portion of that paid leave to be taken prior to the baby’s birth. You are not likely to expand the period of paid maternity leave because of your medical condition however. So, any paid maternity leave used for bed rest is leave that won’t be available for parent leave after the baby is born.
Your situation will, in all likelihood, qualify you to use whatever accrued sick leave you have. You may also wish to use some or all of your vacation time during your bed rest. Again, this time is unlikely to be renewed and therefore won’t be available after the baby is born – so you may be faced with unpaid leave after childbirth if sick leave and vacation time is burned for prenatal medical reasons.
One final option – and possibly the best one – is to use your short-term disability benefits while on bed rest.
Our chapter on short-term disability above outlines the use of Short-Term Disability benefits for both pregnancy-related disabilities and recovery from childbirth. In most cases, short-term disability payments will not be equal to your full salary or wage – but something’s better than nothing! The specifics of your Short-Term Disability coverage are contained in your plan documents.
Can you take leave for bed rest and still take maternity leave?
Yes. Depending on how you choose to structure your leaves, portions of leave taken before birth may impact the amount of time you may take off after the birth. It may also impact what funds are available to make your post-natal, parental leave a paid leave. In any event, careful planning and thorough research of your options will maximize your income and your leave during this stressful time.
Proceed to - Getting the Most Time & Money During Maternity Leave
