Maternity leave

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nj_skm

Registered Users (C)
My wife is on an H1B visa and working as an hourly employee i.e she ONLY gets paid for the hours that she works at the client place.

We're expecting a baby in April and we want her to take a 6+ month break.

What is the rule regarding this? What is the maximum break that she can take without jeopardizing her H1B status?

Also we have filed for the I-485 on her name in May 2006 and our case is stuck in namecheck which means that we don't have any realistic hopes of getting it approved before she goes on the break, hence the importance of not losing the H1B as our GCs depend on it.

Thanks,
nj_skm
 
Hi,
Did you get an answer to the question regarding Maternity Leave. I am in the same boat would like to know more..
Thanks,
 
You can take up to 12 months (FMLA) as long as the company allow. In the mean time you can claim SDI (California, New York). your SDI account need to be at least $300 when filing the claim. They will pay you in according with your income. The remaining will be match by the company. Typically, for the first 6 weeks you will get 75% of your full income, and 55% for another 6 weeks. After that you will not get paid. As long as you return within 12 months period, you will resume the salary and position as before you took the leave. By law, the company can not fire or lay you off. When you take more than 12 months, you are not protected by law. Even you are protected by law for the first 12 months, if the company really want to lay you off or fire you, they still can do that. They just allow you to come back to work couple of days and fire or lay you off.
By taking FMLA and claiming SDI will not jeopadized your greencard process or H1-B status as long as is within company policy. Hope this help
 
nj_skm said:
My wife is on an H1B visa and working as an hourly employee i.e she ONLY gets paid for the hours that she works at the client place.

We're expecting a baby in April and we want her to take a 6+ month break.

What is the rule regarding this? What is the maximum break that she can take without jeopardizing her H1B status?

Also we have filed for the I-485 on her name in May 2006 and our case is stuck in namecheck which means that we don't have any realistic hopes of getting it approved before she goes on the break, hence the importance of not losing the H1B as our GCs depend on it.

Thanks,
nj_skm
Click to expand...

maternity leave is very guinine leave of absence. generally 6 months leave of absence for these cases will not trigger any problem. it should also be ok with uscis if there were any serious medical reasons or any complication in pregnancy. the only requirement is she should be on leave of absence from work and her employer should be able to give you a letter supporting that in case uscis request such evidence.

dont worry much. advanced wishes.
 
2lc2 said:
You can take up to 12 months (FMLA) as long as the company allow. In the mean time you can claim SDI (California, New York). your SDI account need to be at least $300 when filing the claim. They will pay you in according with your income. The remaining will be match by the company. Typically, for the first 6 weeks you will get 75% of your full income, and 55% for another 6 weeks. After that you will not get paid. As long as you return within 12 months period, you will resume the salary and position as before you took the leave. By law, the company can not fire or lay you off. When you take more than 12 months, you are not protected by law. Even you are protected by law for the first 12 months, if the company really want to lay you off or fire you, they still can do that. They just allow you to come back to work couple of days and fire or lay you off.
By taking FMLA and claiming SDI will not jeopadized your greencard process or H1-B status as long as is within company policy. Hope this help
Click to expand...


maternity is not disability. SDI will not protect such cases. ofcourse SDI is state dependant. if any state authorize maternity under SDI then its definitely great state to live in.
 
Hello All,
Please advise:
My wife is currently on an H1B visa and was working as, on an hourly paid employee till April/2015. i.e she ONLY gets paid for the hours that she works at the client place.

She is a "High Risk Pregnancy” and the doctor recommended not to work for the entire duration of the pregnancy(April – Jan 2015). The doctor had also provided a letter stating the same.

With this said, she had started her "Unpaid Leave of Absence" from April/2015 with her Manager’s & HR approval – Note: Did not run a pay check since then(April/2015- 10/13/2015). FYI – She is on my health insurance
She had waited this long to see if she can go back to work if incase she feels better, but that did not work. Now, we have decided to do COS from H1B to H4.

Q - Is there going to be an issue, even with adequate proof of documentation, H1B – H4?
  1. Pay slips till April/2015
  2. Employee leave absence from April/2015 – Oct/2015
  3. Letter from the doctor
  4. Leave of absence approval letter from employer
  5. Proof of employment
  6. And other required documents
 
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