Bonding Leave
Forvis Mazars Bonding Leave program is designed to give parents time to bond with their new child, support their partner and other immediate family members during this time and to adjust to this exciting, major life changing event, without impacting their growing career. In addition to Bonding Leave, Birth Parents will also be eligible for additional time off and compensation under the Short-Term Disability benefit for their own medical needs related to the birth, including medical recovery time.
Bonding leave is available for the birth or adoption of a child. The leave must be used within a 12-month period following the date of birth or adoption. Unused Bonding Leave will not be paid out to the employee upon termination and does not apply to the adoption of stepchildren. Where applicable, leave under this policy will run concurrently with other available leave, including but not limited to, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and applicable state and local laws.
All requests for FMLA, short-term disability or Bonding Leave are managed through MetLife.
- Eligibility begins on the same day as the health-related benefits
- Be actively employed with Forvis Mazars
- Eligible employees must work at least 20 hours per week (1040+ hours per year). The benefit will be prorated based on hours worked, i.e., if an employee’s standard workday is four (4) hours, they would enter four (4) hours per day of Bonding Leave.
Interns, seasonal or temporary employees are not eligible
Eight (8) weeks firm-paid Bonding Leave (must be taken within 12 months of the birth or adoption of the child)
If a paid firm holiday falls during your paid bonding leave, you will be paid bonding leave instead of holiday pay, unless otherwise required by law. The holidays are not eligible to be carried over or used at a later date.
The first two-week (14 day) elimination period for short-term disability will be paid 100% regular pay by the firm.
The remaining short-term disability period (either 4 or 6 weeks) will be paid directly by the short-term disability carrier (and is not supplemented by paid leave by the firm).
The short-term disability period is dependent upon the medical certification and is typically 6-8 weeks total, including the elimination period.
After the short-term disability benefit ends, eight (8) weeks firm-paid Bonding Leave begins (and must be taken within 12 months of the birth of the child).
If a paid firm holiday falls during your paid bonding leave, you will be paid bonding leave instead of holiday pay, unless otherwise required by law. The holiday is not eligible to be carried over or used at a later date.
