Mass. Court Limits Job Protection For Unpaid Maternity Leave To Eight Weeks

On Monday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that women are entitled to eight weeks of unpaid maternity leave without risking job loss under state law but that they are not protected after that time, the Boston Globe reports.

The decision was praised as a victory for business interests by John Barter, a lawyer representing telecommunications firm Global NAPs, Inc. A woman sued the president of the company in 2005 after she was fired upon returning from about 10 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. The woman claimed that her employer gave her permission to take more than eight weeks of unpaid leave.

The ruling is limited to women whose maternity leave falls under the state law, generally those who work for small businesses with at least six employees. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 allows up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave and job protections for people who work for employers with 50 or more employees. Monday's ruling does not affect federal leave protections.

The court ruled 4-3 that the 1972 Massachusetts Maternity Leave Act guarantees eight weeks off to women who give birth or adopt a child, after which they are legally allowed to return to their job or a comparable one. However, "[o]nce a female employee is absent from employment for more than eight weeks, she is no longer within the purview of the [law] and, consequently, is not afforded the protections conferred by the statute," Justice Francis Spina wrote for the majority (Saltzman, Boston Globe, 8/10). Women who are promised longer maternity leaves by their employers can sue for breach of contract if they are later fired for taking more than eight weeks, the ruling said (AP/Boston Herald, 8/9).

The ruling clarifies some uncertainty about interpretation of the law. Business advocates had argued that the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the state agency that enforces the law, had given workers flexibility in applying the law, exposing businesses to lawsuits. MCAD countered that a firm cutoff at eight weeks could allow employers to offer women longer leaves and fire them when they returned (Boston Globe, 8/10).

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Margot Botsford also argued that the ruling could allow employers to renege on leave offers after employees return by citing the eight-week limitation in the state law. "An employer following such a course is using the statutory limitation as a shield to 'affect' -- that is, to ignore -- its own agreement to offer a longer leave and a job on return, a course of action plainly prohibited by the statute's third paragraph," Botsford wrote (AP/Boston Herald, 8/9).

State Senate Approves Postpartum Depression Bill

Meanwhile, the state Senate on Monday gave final approval to a bill (S 527) that aims to help women with postpartum depression, thus sending the bill to Gov. Deval Partick (D), the Boston Globe reports. The bill would require Massachusetts health insurers to submit annual reports on their efforts to screen for postpartum depression. The bill also would create a special commission tasked with determining the most effective ways to prevent, detect and treat postpartum depression, and making recommendations on public policies. The Department of Public Health also would develop policies and regulations to address postpartum depression, including the use of screening tools and the creation of public and professional education programs (Boston Globe, 8/9).



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