{"id":915,"date":"2016-11-22T08:00:57","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T08:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/?p=915"},"modified":"2021-12-29T19:58:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-29T19:58:33","slug":"mother-files-lawsuit-for-nonpayment-of-maternity-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surrogacy-lawyer.com\/zh\/mother-files-lawsuit-for-nonpayment-of-maternity-leave\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother files lawsuit for nonpayment of maternity leave"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Verizon employee filed a lawsuit against her employer alleging the company\u2019s refusal to pay for her maternity leave benefits. Marybeth Walz required a surrogate to carry her child after losing her uterus to cervical cancer in her late twenties.\"walz-verizon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2013 Walz\u2019s sister-in-law carried and delivered her twin sons. Born premature, the first boy passed away within 24 hours, and the other, at six months of age.<\/p>\n

According to Kathleen O\u2019Brien of NJ Advanced Media<\/a>, \u201cWalz\u2019s lawsuit said Verizon officials were initially congratulatory in 2013 when she told them she was expecting twin boys. When they learned the pregnancy was carried by a surrogate, however, they said she wouldn\u2019t qualify for a paid leave, the lawsuit alleges,\u201d O\u2019Brien reports. She continues, \u201cWalz said the ultimate irony was that if she had adopted a child, Verizon would most likely have given her not only a paid maternity leave, but also $10,000 toward her adoption expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The type of lawsuit Walz filed isn\u2019t unusual. Other plaintiffs have alleged nonpayment of maternity leave benefits after their child was born via surrogacy, including a Massachusetts case which was settled in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe case raises intriguing questions about how businesses handle atypical pregnancies, according to legal experts,\u201d O\u2019Brien reports. \u201cShould someone whose eggs produce a child born of another woman be eligible for a paid maternity leave? And is the inability to become pregnant considered a pregnancy-related disability?\u201d<\/p>\n

In an age where individuals can become parents through alternative reproductive techniques, \u201cmaternity leave\u201d should be properly viewed as a time for parent-child bonding. To deny a new parent and their baby of this privilege because of \u201chuman resources department policies\u201d is nonsensical.<\/p>\n

As the United States continues to catch up in granting benefits and rights for progressive family building, other countries are strides ahead. \u00a0In 2015, the United Kingdom granted intended parents a type of \u201cparental leave\u201d similar to that available to those who have become parents through adoption. In Australia, a new parent through a surrogacy arrangement can be eligible to receive paid parental leave if they are deemed the child\u2019s long term \u201cprimary carer\u201d and became one before their child turns one-year-old.<\/p>\n

As for the Walz case, Verizon has not issued a public comment nor filed a response to her lawsuit.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Verizon employee [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,14,1],"tags":[146,173,224,251],"class_list":["post-915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assisted-reproduction","category-infertility-2","category-surrogacy-2","category-uncategorized","tag-maternity-leave","tag-paid-leave","tag-surrogacy-benefits","tag-verizon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t