Can my employer not allow me time off to get pre-natal care?
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Can my employer not allow me time off to get pre-natal care?
I am 18 weeks pregnant. I informed my employer at 12 weeks and what my expected due date was. I have taken off the exact same amount of time for one previous appointment. For this appointment I sent in a request to my home office 6 days in advance with appointment information. I received a call from my supervisor stating I couldn’t take off just to go get vitamins. Can they legally keep me from getting prenatal care?
Asked on March 1, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Oklahoma
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
They are not legally preventing you from getting pre-natal care--they are refusing to allow you to be absent from work for this reason; you still can get the pre-natal care, but may not be able to work at this employer while doing so. That is, unfortunately, most likely legal: the law does not actually require employers to allow employees to take any time off for illness or medical care--unless, that is, the Family and Medical Leave Act or a like state law is involved, which I do not believe is the case here. (For example: FMLA allows qualified employees from covered employers to take time off for child birth or to take care of a newborn--but not for prenatal care.)
It is voluntary on the part of employers whether they provide sick days or make any accomodations for sickness or medical care, such as allowing even unpaid time for a doctor's visit. Since it is voluntary to do these things, employers are essentially free to set whatever policy they like--including not permitting an employee to go to a doctor's appointment during work hours, unless he or she has and is using a sick day for that purpose.
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