Parental Leave: What It Means for Employers

What it means in practice

Parental leave covers time a parent takes off to be with a new child after a birth, adoption or foster care placement. It applies to any parent, not only the one who gave birth, which separates it from leave for pregnancy and recovery from childbirth, covered on our maternity leave page. The questions for an employer are whether a law requires the leave, who counts as a parent, when the leave must be used, whether it is paid, and what happens to the job and benefits.

The federal baseline. For private employers the federal source is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which covers employers with 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks of the current or preceding year, plus public agencies and schools (29 CFR 825.104). Eligible employees have 12 months of employment, 1,250 hours of service in the prior 12 months and 50 employees within 75 miles (29 CFR 825.110). Birth and placement are two of the reasons for up to 12 workweeks of leave in a 12-month period (29 CFR 825.200). Fact Sheet 28Q says mothers and fathers have the same right to birth and bonding leave.

Who counts as a parent and a child. For birth and adoption leave, a "son or daughter" is a biological, adopted or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward or a child of a person standing in loco parentis, under 18 or older but incapable of self-care because of a disability (29 CFR 825.122(d)). Fact Sheet 28B describes in loco parentis as day-to-day responsibility to care for or financially support a child, with no biological or legal relationship needed (see also 29 CFR 825.122(d)(3)). Fact Sheet 28B says an unmarried employee who will co-parent a partner's child may take birth and bonding leave, and that the FMLA does not restrict the number of parents a child may have.

Adoption and foster care. The source of an adopted child, such as a licensed agency or otherwise, does not affect eligibility (29 CFR 825.122(f)). Foster care is 24-hour care away from the child's parents or guardian, placed by or with the agreement of the state (29 CFR 825.122(g)), and Fact Sheet 28Q says no minimum or permanent placement is required. Leave can start before the child arrives when an absence is required for the placement to proceed, such as counseling, court appearances, meetings with an attorney or travel abroad to complete an adoption (29 CFR 825.121(a)(1)).

The 12-month window. Bonding leave entitlement ends 12 months after the birth or placement. If state law or the employer allows bonding leave later, that time is not FMLA leave (29 CFR 825.120(a)(2) and 825.121(a)(2)). The window runs alongside the employer's 12-month leave year: calendar year, fixed year, a year measured forward from first use, or a rolling year measured backward (29 CFR 825.200(b)).

Example: bonding leave across two leave years. Fact Sheet 28Q describes an employer with a July 1 to June 30 leave year and a baby born April 29. The employee takes 8 weeks of bonding leave through June 30. In the new leave year she takes 8 more weeks and, by agreement, 4 weeks of reduced-schedule bonding leave before the child's first birthday: 20 workweeks of FMLA leave tied to one birth. Under a rolling method, each use is measured against leave taken in the preceding 12 months (29 CFR 825.200(c)), so the total would be lower.

Spouses who work for the same employer. Eligible spouses employed by the same covered employer may be limited to a combined 12 weeks in a 12-month period for birth and bonding, placement and bonding, and care of a parent, even at worksites more than 75 miles apart. If one spouse is ineligible, the other gets the full 12 weeks. Each keeps the difference for other reasons: in the regulation's example, each spouse takes 6 weeks to bond and keeps 6 weeks for their own or a child's serious health condition. If the newborn has a serious health condition, each spouse may take 12 weeks to care for the child (29 CFR 825.120(a)(3) and (a)(6)).

Intermittent leave. After the birth or placement of a healthy child, leave in separate blocks or on a reduced schedule, such as part-time work after the birth, requires the employer's agreement. If the employer agrees, it may require a temporary transfer to an available alternative position that better fits recurring absences (29 CFR 825.120(b) and 825.121(b)).

How it works for an employer, step by step. (1) The employee gives at least 30 days' notice of leave foreseeable from an expected birth or placement, or notice as soon as practicable; the regulation notes little notice may be possible before an adoption placement (29 CFR 825.302(a)). The employer may require its usual request procedures absent unusual circumstances (29 CFR 825.302(d)). (2) The employer confirms eligibility and gives the FMLA notices described on the FMLA page. (3) It may ask for reasonable documentation of the relationship, such as a simple statement, a birth certificate or a court document, and must return official documents (29 CFR 825.122(k)); medical certification may not be requested for bonding (Fact Sheet 28Q). (4) It settles whether paid leave runs concurrently. (5) It tracks use against the 12-month window and leave year. (6) It restores the employee on return.

Pay during parental leave. FMLA leave is generally unpaid. The employee may choose, or the employer may require, to substitute accrued paid leave so it runs concurrently, under the employer's normal leave policy (29 CFR 825.207). That is how paid time off (PTO) usually interacts with bonding leave. The EEOC's pregnancy guidance separates leave for the physical limits of pregnancy and childbirth from parental leave for bonding, which must be given to similarly situated men and women on the same terms; its example of a violation is six months of paid bonding leave for new mothers and none for fathers.

Overtime and exempt salaries. Pay for occasional absences close to normal earnings may be excluded from the regular rate and cannot be credited toward overtime due; the regulation lists "attending adoption or child custody hearings" and "family medical leave" as examples (29 CFR 778.218). For exempt employees, an employer may pay a proportionate part of the salary in weeks with unpaid FMLA leave (29 CFR 541.602(b)(7)).

Example: an exempt employee on a reduced bonding schedule. As a hypothetical, an exempt employee paid $1,500 a week normally works 40 hours, and the employer agrees to a 24-hour week as unpaid FMLA bonding leave. The 16 unpaid hours are 40 percent of the week, so the employer may deduct $600 and pay $900. The regulation's own example is 4 hours of FMLA leave in a 40-hour week, a 10 percent deduction. Outside FMLA leave, partial-day deductions for personal absences are not allowed (29 CFR 541.602(b)(1)).

Health coverage and the job. During FMLA leave the employer must maintain group health coverage as if the employee had kept working (29 CFR 825.209(a)), and if the plan allows a change from single to family coverage when a child is born or added, that change must be available during leave (29 CFR 825.209(d)). On return, the employee gets the same or an equivalent position (29 CFR 825.214). Employers may not discourage leave or use it as a negative factor in promotion or discipline (29 CFR 825.220).

Example: a placement before eligibility. As a hypothetical, an employee adopts a child 10 months after being hired, so leave at that point depends on employer policy or state law. Once the employee meets the 12-month and 1,250-hour tests, leave for a qualifying reason is FMLA leave, even if the employee is already on non-FMLA leave (29 CFR 825.110(d)). Because the window runs from placement, up to 12 weeks of FMLA bonding leave could fall between month 12 and month 22 of employment.

Federal employees. Federal agencies follow separate rules. OPM says employees covered by the title 5 FMLA provisions may substitute up to 12 administrative workweeks (480 hours for a full-time schedule) of paid parental leave for unpaid FMLA leave for each birth or placement on or after October 1, 2020. It may be used only after the birth or placement and within 12 months, cannot be carried over or paid out, and requires a written agreement to work 12 weeks after the leave ends. Federal spouses are not limited to a combined 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

Where states differ: New York. The FMLA does not override state laws giving greater rights, and leave qualifying under both counts against both (29 CFR 825.701). These three states are examples, checked November 2026. New York Paid Family Leave covers most private-sector employees, eligible after 26 consecutive weeks at 20 or more hours a week or 175 days if part-time. For 2026 it pays up to 12 weeks at 67% of average weekly wage, up to $1,228.53 a week, and employees contribute 0.432% of wages, up to $411.91. Bonding leave is taken in full-day increments within 12 months. Employers cannot require PTO during PFL, parents at one employer may take PFL at the same time unless the employer objects, and an employer may run PFL and FMLA concurrently with notice.

Where states differ: California. The Employment Development Department says Paid Family Leave pays up to 8 weeks of benefits in a 12-month period, about 70 to 90 percent of wages up to $1,765 a week, but not job protection, which comes from the FMLA or the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). The Civil Rights Department says CFRA covers employers with 5 or more employees and up to 12 weeks, including to bond with a new child. CFRA regulations require bonding leave to end within one year of birth or placement, with a two-week basic minimum except on two occasions; an October 2026 proposal would remove the two-week increment and is not final.

Where states differ: Washington. Washington Paid Family and Medical Leave pays up to 12 weeks of family leave, including for a birth or placement, to workers with 820 hours in their qualifying period. For 2026 the benefit is up to 90 percent of weekly pay, maximum $1,647, with no waiting week for bonding. From January 1, 2026, job protection and health insurance maintenance apply at employers with 25 or more employees for employees with 180 days of employment, dropping to 15 employees in 2027 and 8 in 2028.

Recordkeeping. FMLA-covered employers keep, for at least three years, the dates of leave, hours of partial-day leave, written notices, leave policies, premium payments and designation disputes, and may not designate state or employer leave as FMLA leave unless it is also FMLA-covered (29 CFR 825.500). For the wider picture, see leave of absence.

Questions employers ask. Can bonding leave be taken after the child's first birthday? Not as FMLA leave. Is a grandparent raising a grandchild covered? Fact Sheet 28B says an employee with ongoing responsibility for raising a grandchild may take FMLA leave for that child's serious health condition, and in loco parentis status also supports bonding leave. Can we require employees to use PTO? Under the FMLA, yes, with notice (29 CFR 825.207), but not during New York PFL. Can both parents be out at once? Yes, though spouses at one employer may share a 12-week FMLA limit.

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