Pregnancy Leave and Accommodations

Employee’s own disability related to pregnancy that makes the employee unable to perform any one or more essential functions of the employee’s position or requires accommodations to work while pregnant.

Please see the below information to assist you with the Leave of Absence (LOA) process.

Applicable Regulations and Definitions

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) – federal law that provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year (rolling 12-month period) for their own serious health condition

Eligibility – 12 months total service with employer, 1250 productive hours in the last 12 months

California Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) – state law that provides eligible employees up to 4 months (17.3 work weeks) of leave per pregnancy

Eligibility – pregnancy

***FMLA and PDL will run concurrently when applicable***

Serious Health Condition – inpatient care, incapacity plus treatment, pregnancy, chronic conditions, permanent or long-term conditions, and conditions requiring multiple treatments. Click here for more in-depth information.

Qualifying Health Care Provider – not all health care professionals are considered qualifying for the purposes of FMLA/PDL. Here is a list of all health care providers that are accepted.

Employee Process

Pre-Partum Accommodations:

It is not required to notify your supervisor or department HR team when you are pregnant. However, once your pregnancy requires accommodations to perform your job functions, it is important to notify your supervisor. In most circumstances, obvious pregnancy “modifications” will not require medical documentation. For example, increased or more frequent bathroom breaks, food or drink within easy reach, different safety gear sizing, sitting (for those whose job requires standing), etc. Work with your supervisor to find reasonable accommodations for these requests.
If your limitations are not “obvious” or require modifications to the essential functions of your position, inform your supervisor and contact your department HR team. Medical documentation will likely be required and the department HR team will notify you if so.
If required, obtain medical documentation from your qualifying health care provider. Medical documents should include the name, title, and contact information of the health care provider authorizing the time off. The County of Fresno Medical Certification form is available here(PDF, 161KB), however, other medical certification is sufficient if the documentation is explicit regarding:
- expected duration (start and end dates) of limitation,
- what the limitation/restriction is (ex: unable to lift more than 5 lbs, unable to stand for more than 50% of shift, etc.),
- frequency of need if for things like appointments, etc. (day per week/month, hours per day, etc.), and
- reason for limitations (“pregnancy-related”, “due to pregnancy”, etc.). Please do not provide any diagnosis.
Your department HR team or supervisor will contact you to discuss reasonable accommodations.
- If the restrictions/limitations can be reasonably accommodated to allow continued work in your position, and you agree, nothing additional is needed except to implement the accommodations.
- If the restrictions/limitations cannot be reasonably accommodated to continue working, you can request to be placed on a leave of absence for the duration of the medical note. (See next section regarding LOA processes).
If your documentation exhausts and needs to be extended or if the restrictions/limitations provided change, please contact your supervisor or department HR team and obtain additional medical documentation.

Pre-/Peri-/Post-Partum Leave of Absence:

Once you become aware that your pregnancy may require time off work, contact your supervisor and your department’s HR team.
Once your HR team is notified of the possible need for leave or intermittent time off, they will provide you with your rights and responsibilities via Notices I and II and will notify you via Notice III (found in the Leave of Absence packet) about:
- if you are eligible for FMLA/PDL,
- what documentation is needed to determine if the leave is FMLA/PDL qualifying, and
- when documentation is due.
Get medical documents from your qualifying health care provider. Medical documents must include the name, title, and contact information of the health care provider authorizing the time off. The County of Fresno Medical Certification form is available here(PDF, 161KB), however, other medical certification is sufficient if the below criteria is met.
- If the request is for continuous leave, the documents must include:
  - period (start and end dates) of incapacity, and
  - pregnancy language (pregnancy-related, due to pregnancy, etc.). Please do not include the diagnosis.
- If the request is for intermittent leave, the documents must include:
  - duration (start and end dates) of incapacity,
  - frequency of need (days per week/month, hours per day, etc.), and
  - pregnancy language (pregnancy-related, due to pregnancy, etc.). Please do not include the diagnosis.
If the medical documents submitted are sufficient to determine FMLA/PDL eligibility, your department HR team will notify you via Notice IV if your request is covered under FMLA/PDL.
- If medical documents submitted are not sufficient to determine FMLA/PDL qualification, the department HR team will resend you Notice III with information on what is needed to determine eligibility.
Complete the Leave of Absence packet. The full packet can be found here(PDF, 5MB) or provided by the department HR team. Your HR team can instruct you on which pages need to be filled out or click here(PDF, 2MB) for the employee-only pages. Please read the pages carefully to ensure understanding before signing. If you have any questions about the packet or how to complete any portion, contact your HR team.
Submit the completed pages to the appropriate people.
- Most pages can be submitted to your department's HR team. Some pages (23-29(PDF, 461KB)) in the packet will need to be submitted to HR Employee Benefits, if applicable. Please carefully read the instructions on each page to ensure documents are submitted as indicated.
Contact HR Employee Benefits at 559/600-1810 for any questions related to health benefits while on leave.
Once all documents are submitted and accepted, your department HR team will be able to assist you with:
- the specifics of your leave,
- what documents are needed before any return to work,
- when documents are due before any leave extensions (generally one week before current medical documents are exhausted),
- approximately when you will go unpaid (depending on disability integration status).
A “release” to return to work is required before you can report back to work. The County form is available here(PDF, 98KB) or your doctor can release you using their forms.
- You are not required to return to work before beginning your bonding leave. See instructions here or talk to your department HR team.

Post-Partum and Pumping Accommodations:

Post-partum medical accommodations will fall under the same instructions as pre-partum accommodations upon your return to work. Along with medical accommodations, you are entitled to “pumping” accommodations for up to a year after giving birth.
Your work facility is required to provide a private place to allow you to pump as necessary as well as provide you with the time required to do so. Please see Management Directive 270(DOC, 570KB) for more details.
Inform your supervisor of your need. They will work with you to allow a private space as well as break time to do so. If your pumping time exceeds your allowed break times, you will be required to use any existing annual leave to supplement the time. Examples:
- You have two 15-minute breaks and a 1-hour lunch daily, but need 30-minute breaks for pumping. Each break would be 15 minutes of paid break time and 15 minutes of annual leave.
- You have two 15-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch daily, but need three 30-minute breaks outside of your lunch and an extra 15 minutes on lunch for pumping. Each break would be 15 minutes of paid break time and 15 minutes of annual leave. The last extra break would be a full 30 minutes of annual leave.
- Work with your supervisor to help determine the best way to accommodate your specific situation.

Pay Options

As part of your LOA, you must also decide how you will be paid. You may be eligible to apply for disability insurance. You can choose to:

only receive disability pay (after applicable waiting period),
integrate your own leave bank balance with disability pay, or
only use your own leave bank without disability pay.

Disability Insurance – State Disability Insurance (SDI), Police Officer’s Research Association of California (PORAC), Mutual of Omaha, Standard Insurance

Leave bank – Annual Leave, sick leave, comp time, etc.

Donations – must meet the criteria per Salary Resolution 618. Contact your department HR team for more information. Donation forms can be found here(PDF, 304KB).

Examples

(PDF, 433KB)Here(PDF, 942KB) are some examples of how FMLA/PDL can interact with different pay options depending on a couple of generic situations. Please keep in mind, these are examples and do not reflect what can happen in all situations.