Extending Family Leave

The FMLA provides 12 weeks for adoption as long as it is within the first year of placement. You may not get paid but at least you would have that time.

Family leave 12 weeks without pay. You then go back to old job. Any longer and you lose your position. Check on your state. Connecticut lets you have an extra four weeks. My DIL was able to be home for 16 weeks. Call HR they will give you all info. Congratulations. I have had two friends that had adoptions happen like yours! What a whirlwind. What a gift.

I would agree with the other posters to check with your employer. Here is also a link for your state. It looks like a copyright of 2013. http://workfamilyca.org/resources/pdf/ca_family_leave_gui...
I would also suggest to your husband to check with his employer for time off-if that is an option as well. Congratulations-how exciting!

You need to talk to your employer. FMLA does not apply to small firms and you didn't mention size. Your employer will know what leave is or is not available.

Our employees can have up to four weeks vacation, if they have that they can roll over one year's vacation to have 8 weeks and they have one month short term major medical though that would not apply to adoption. Of course we are also big enough that you can take the 12 weeks unpaid FMLA

FMLA leave is up to 12 weeks total. You may have to use all vacation and the TOTAL time out can only be 12 weeks max.
It's unpaid and they don't have to hold your job if you're out longer than that.
I've never heard of an adoption happening this fast!

You need to talk to your HR department.

I don't know about adoption leaves, but if you have been with the compnay for 1 year or more, you qualify for FMLA. That is 12 weeks unpaid.
You typically use up your vacation time before that. Then you get the 12 weeks via FMLA and it is unpaid.
That is what I did when I went on maternity with my firstborn.

But talk to your HR person.
That is the only way, to find out.

Check with your employers HR department, not the supervisor of your department.

You can discuss with them, but don't rely on them having all the answers.

I used my sick time, vacation time, and then FMLA. It applies to adopted children too, as that is now your child, as good as blood.

What does your employer say? It doesn't matter what we say at all. Your employer is the only one that can answer this.

I know that businesses typically give 6 weeks for a person that gave birth to be off work, that's because a doctor doesn't release that person back to work.

There are many times that a company cannot absorb that person being off work that long without hiring someone else to take their place. They can't hire someone for a temporary job so when that person is released they may not have a job to come back to or they may not have the same job/hours.

This has happened to my daughter twice and not one attorney would do anything about it. They said an employer will make up any excuse to let them go if they force the issue. So they just advised her to look for another job.

Is it unfair? Yes.

Is it fair to an employer to have no staff for 6 weeks and be expected to hold that person's job? No.

For instance. If a child care worker takes off 6 weeks who is going to provide care for those kids while that worker is gone. The director/owner or the cook. There are no extra staff just hanging around ready to step in and take over a classroom they've never been in before. That particular classroom requires specific training, anyone off the street cannot come in and just get a new job, they have to have CPR/First Aid, 20 hours of introductory job training done by the state, they have to have background checks done and paid for by the employer, so many things they have to do.

So the employer is stuck without a teacher. They can't just hire a substitute, a sub can only work 20 hours before losing that status. Plus that's hard on the kids to have a different person every day.

When my daughter worked in a call center they put her on nights when she came back to work after having a baby. There are no overnight child care places for newborns...so she basically didn't have a job. She did have days before going on maternity leave.

She worked the front desk at a National hotel chain. She worked days. When she came back from having a baby they had moved the evening desk person to days and a housekeeping person to the evening shift. So if she wanted to come back to work she had to work evenings and do housekeeping.

Life isn't fair. I think it's very nice for employers to give people time off when they adopt a newborn. This baby can't go to child care until they are 6 weeks and they need time to bond with their parents, so it's vital they have that time.

If you worked for me I would tell you if you wanted more time you'd not be able to do that because I needed my employees at work or I had to hire someone to replace them.

If your employers allow you extra time please be grateful, they don't have to.

If your firm has 50 or more employees in a 75 mile ratios, you would be eligible for FMLA. California is a little more liberal in their FMLA so I believe some would be paid. However, I do not service California as an HR professional so I strongly recommend that you contact your HR department. Also, if you have an employee handbook please review and see. The FMLA policy should be in there. Just so you know, its 12 weeks of unpaid leave. You should qualify because adoption is a qualifying event.

Congratulations!!!