How to Still Get Paid While on FMLA: All You Need to Know

FMLA, or the Family and Medical Leave Act, was enacted in 1993, and it requires employers to provide up to 12 weeks off of work while keeping the employee's job safe. Many people wonder how to get paid while on FMLA, as FMLA does not inherently provide paid leave to those who use it. Fortunately, some states do require companies to provide paid parental leave for employees, and many companies also choose to give parental leave benefits regardless of state requirements.

If you are welcoming a new child to the family, whether through pregnancy or adoption, find out more about how to get paid while on FMLA with DoNotPay below!

Can I Get Paid on FMLA?

FMLA does not give paid time off to new parents, and it does not require employers to provide paid days off. This doesn't mean you can't get paid time off following the birth or adoption of a child from your company, but it may mean that your company won't be able to pay you while you are using FMLA. The following states, however, require that employers provide some paid parental leave:

• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Massachusetts
• New Jersey
• New York
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• Washington (State and DC)

Other states not mentioned above are required to provide FMLA, but time away from using FMLA is not paid. Check out DoNotPay’s state guides about FMLA:

Some people also think they can get unemployment benefits while on FMLA to help make ends meet, but people on FMLA generally don't qualify for unemployment since they are still employed.

How to Get Paid Parental Leave on Your Own

When applying for paid parental leave in states that require it, you can usually log into an online portal to fill out forms and submit your application. In some states, you may also have the option to apply over the phone or with mail-in forms. Each state may require different pieces of information on your paid parental leave application, but you will generally need to include the following four items in your application:

1. Full name
2. Social security number
3. Driver's license number from the state you are applying for benefits
4. Current employer's contact information

Some other information you may have to provide includes paid time off or wages you expect to receive from your employer and a Physician/Practitioner's Certification of the need for paid family leave. Each physician completes the process differently, so it's important to plan ahead when seeking the proper documentation.

It's also helpful to give your employer at least 30 days of notice when possible. Because families can usually anticipate the arrival of new child months in advance, you should inform your employer as soon as you can. If you'd rather not deal with locating and filling out tons of forms, DoNotPay can do it all for you with just a few key pieces of information.

How to Get Paid Parental Leave With DoNotPay

The whole process of applying for and obtaining paid parental leave on your own can leave you stressed and overwhelmed, and it can take up hours of your precious time. DoNotPay can handle many of the hard parts for you, allowing you to focus on other preparations needed before the arrival of your new family member.

If you want to request parental leave but don't know where to start, DoNotPay has you covered in 6 easy steps:

1. Tell us which state you work in (if you work in CA, NY, NJ, MA, WA, or DC, your state has a paid family leave program).
2. Choose whether you want us to apply to the program for you or contact your employer with your leave request. If you want to apply for the program, we will walk you through the questions on the form and mail the application form for you.
3. If you want us to contact your employer, enter your leave details, including the starting date, number of weeks of leave, and how many weeks of paid leave you are requesting (for example, you may take a 12 week leave, but only request 8 weeks of paid leave to make the request reasonable).
4. Indicate whether you are the birth parent or not (birth parents have a few additional protections).
5. Enter the name of your company and the person to address this request to.
6. Select whether you want us to email the request to your employer on your behalf.

What Other Tasks Can DoNotPay Do for Me?

DoNotPay is the world's first AI Consumer Champion, and we can do so much more for you than just requesting paid parental leave. By using the power of artificial intelligence, we can help you with:

• Creating sick leave requests
• Obtaining burner phones
• Filing a complaint
• Reducing property taxes
• And much, much more!

If you have several tasks you need to get done, but you don't know where to start or how to do them, visit DoNotPay today to see if we can check them off your list for you.