HR Hotline: Are Both Parents Eligible for 12 Weeks Bonding Leave?

Q: Two of my employees are in a committed relationship and they’re expecting a baby. They both would like to take 12 weeks of FMLA leave when the baby is born.

This would severely impact my business. Do I have to allow both of them to take 12 weeks at the same time?

A: Yes. Connecticut’s Family and Medical Leave Act provides eligible employees with 12 weeks of job-protected leave in a 12-month period. 

Bonding leave—the time that a parent spends with a newborn baby or newly-adopted child—is one type of leave covered under the law. 

Bonding leave must be taken (and conclude) within a year of the child’s birth or adoption placement.

Shared Leave

You may have heard that spouses who work for the same employer must share their bonding leave. In other words, two spouses are only entitled to take a combined total of 12 weeks of bonding leave. 

This “sharing rule,” however, applies only to spouses who are legally married. Where, as in your case, the parents are not married, each parent is entitled to 12 weeks of bonding leave. 

The understandably significant impact on your business does not change the fact of your employees’ entitlement to a leave of absence. 

The “sharing rule” only applies only to spouses who are legally married.

There is no “undue hardship” exception that would allow an employer to deny leave.

Note that the parents do have 12 months to take their leave of absence. Though you could never discourage them from taking leave at their preferred time, you could remind them that, if they wish, they could stagger their time away from work.

For example, one parent could remain home for the first 12 weeks, and the other could bond later in the year, giving the child more time with at least one parent. 

Employer Options

In addition, employers may offer (but are not required to provide) intermittent bonding leave or reduced schedule leave, allowing a parent to bond with a child in shorter segments of time, rather than 12 weeks all at once.  

Keep in mind Connecticut paid leave is a monetary income replacement benefit that is separate from the unpaid, job-protected leave of absence that employers must provide. 

Connecticut paid leave is a monetary income replacement benefit separate from unpaid, job-protected leave of absence. 

The Connecticut Paid Leave Authority administers those benefits, and spouses who work for the same employer are never required to share them. 

For example, a husband who takes a six-week bonding leave of absence will receive benefits during that time, and will also have six weeks of monetary benefits remaining for a later qualifying event, such as his own serious injury. 

The fact that his wife also took a bonding leave of absence and received benefits does not change his own entitlement to benefits.   

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HR problems or issues? Email or call CBIA’s Diane Mokriski at the HR Hotline (860.244.1900) | @HRHotline. The HR Hotline is a free service for CBIA member companies and is intended to provide general information and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult with legal professionals for specific guidance for your specific situation.