When do I tell my employer I'm planning to take paternity leave?

January 19, 2021 10:13 PM

I work as a contractor for a large corporation. The contractor benefits (I've been hired through a second company) are unusually generous - 3 months PAID paternity leave, on a 6 month contract that just got renewed. My wife is currently pregnant (YAY!), and she's at the start of her second trimester. If this was a forever job, I'd imagine I'd let the company know when we started letting the world know, so they could make appropriate accommodations for my absence. Because it's a contract position, I think it makes sense to play things much closer to the chest, but obviously I can't wait until a week before I take off for three months to tell them. There's nothing in my contract about when to tell either company.
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (4 answers total)

Where are you? In the UK; I believe you need to tell your employer 15 weeks before the baby is due (though check on gov.uk). Even if you are a contractor, I would stick with that.
posted by einekleine at 11:28 PM on January 19, 2021

Does your contract say how much notice you have to give to quit? That can be another guide since in both cases your employer has to hire a replacement.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:44 AM on January 20, 2021

Also, I think you need to tell the company that actually employs you first, as they need to handle the relationship with the large corporation (who many not be aware of or like the provision).

Does your contract say what protection you get on returning to your job? In the UK a distinction is made between the right to return to your previous position and a right to return to an equivalent position. The second of those two might mean in your case that you still have a job with the contractor at the same pay and status, but not necessarily in the same role or even working with large corporation.
posted by plonkee at 5:53 AM on January 20, 2021

If you're in the US, whether or not the FMLA actually applies to your situation, it may be helpful to know that the FMLA requires employees to give their employers 30 days of advance notice when the need for leave is foreseeable (link is to U.S. Department of Labor fact sheet on employee notice). I think this has set up most employers to expect at least that much notice, when possible.
posted by pril at 1:32 PM on January 20, 2021