UNDER
REVISION COUNTY OF SANTA
CRUZ
MATERNITY LEAVE
POLICY
There
are two distinct periods to a maternity leave: (1) a period of medi-
cal
disability; and (2) any leave taken for personal reasons.
MEDICAL
DISABILITY
The
period of medical disability is governed by State law which provides
that:
1.
Childbirth and related medical conditions should be treated as
any other medical disability.
2.
It is an unlawful employment practice...for any employer to
refuse to allow a female employee,
affected by pregnancy or re-
lated medical conditions:
a.
To take disability or sick leave or any other accrued leave
which is made available by the
employer to other temporarily
disabled employees; and
b.
To take a leave on account of pregnancy for a reasonable
period of time. Disability leave should be granted for the
period of time during which the
affected female employee is
medically disabled for
work. No employer is required to
provide a female employee
disability leave on account of
normal pregnancy, childbirth or
related condition for a
period exceeding six (6)
weeks. If the period of disability
is less than six weeks, the
employee should either return to
work or be granted another
category of leave. If complica-
tions result in the disability
of the affected employee
beyond six weeks, the maximum
period of leave the employer
must provide is four (4) months.
The six
week and four month periods noted in paragraph 2 (b) above, pertain
to the
entire period of absence for disability, and thus include both paid
leave
and leave of absence without pay.
The
provisions of State law cited above apply to all employees (e.g., pro-
visional,
probationary, permanent) regardless of status.
Disability
due to pregnancy or related medical condition applies only to
the
pregnancy condition itself. It does not
include provision for such
activities
as breast feeding or caring for an ill infant; time off for
these
activities would fall into the personal leave period.
Section 150-1 - Page
1
MATERNITY
LEAVE POLICY (continued)
It is
the policy of the County of Santa Cruz that employees be provided:
1.
six weeks of disability leave on account of normal pregnancy,
childbirth or related conditions.
Should the period of disability on
account of normal pregnancy
begin prior to the date of delivery,
employees are to provided a
maximum of six weeks of disability
leave from the date of deliv-
ery provided that there is a
physician's certification of the
employee's medical disability.
2.
up to four months of disability leave on account of complications
which result in the disability of
the affected employee as sup-
ported by physician's certificates.
Additional disability leave on
account of complications which
result in the disability of the
affected employee as supported by
a physician's certifications may be
granted at the discretion of
the appointing authority.
Disability leave requires a
physician's statement that the em-
ployee is unable to work under the
current medical condition and
continues only for the period of continued doctor's
certification
of employee medical disability. The employing department re-
serves the right to request a
doctor's certification of disabili-
ty at any point during the
leave. This certification is subject
to review by a County
physician. In cases of pregnancy and
re-
lated medical conditions, the
statement from the employee's phy-
sician should indicate the estimated
date of delivery, whether
the pregnancy is normal or not, and
if it is not, a statement of
the diagnosis and prognosis.
PERSONAL
LEAVE
Personal
leave associated with maternity may be granted at the discretion
of the
appointing authority in accordance with the provisions of Sections
164 and
165 of the Personnel Regulations of Santa Cruz County. A reason-
able
period of personal leave connected with maternity is two months. This
two
month period would include any requested time off which does not meet
the
medical disability requirements stated above, including time taken off
prior
to birth when the employee is not disabled, as well as time taken off
after
the disability period.
Section 150-1 - Page
2
MATERNITY
LEAVE POLICY (continued)
The
period of personal leave may include either or both paid leave and
leave
without pay.
OTHER
REQUIREMENTS
Disability
leave and non-disability leave requests should be submitted on
separate
"Request for Time Off" forms.
The reasons for each type of leave
should
be clearly documented.
Before
an employee can be granted a leave of absence without pay for a
temporary
disability such as pregnancy, childbirth and related medical
conditions:
1.
The employee in the Law Enforcement Representation Unit and all
management employees must exhaust
all sick leave and compensatory
time off balances. The employee and department may agree to the
use of vacation and/or administrative
leave prior to the granting
of leave without pay. After exhaustion of compensatory time off
and sick leave balances, management
employees may qualify to
receive Long Term Disability. (The Long Term Disability policy
for management employees provides LTD coverage for medical
dis-
ability after 30 days or exhaustion
of all sick leave, vacation
and compensatory time off balances,
whichever is larger.)
2.
The employee in the General Representation Unit must exhaust any
remaining sick leave balance and all
compensatory time off with
one exception. An employee may, after 30 days of
disability,
choose to receive LTD or to continue
to use any paid leave. The
separate LTD policy for the General
Representation Unit thus
requires use of paid leave through a
30 day "elimination" or
qualification period, after which
the employee can elect to re-
ceive LTD while on disability or to
use available paid leave.
Section 150-1 - Page
3