Maryland Pregnancy Disability Act: Effective 10/1/2013 Md. Code Ann., State Gov't § 20-609

Covered Employers: Employers with 15 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year

Employee Eligibility : All pregnant employees

Entitlement: If an employee requests a reasonable accommodation, the employer shall explore with the employee all possible means of providing the reasonable accommodation, including providing leave. Written and unwritten employment policies and practices involving matters such as the commencement and duration of leave, the availability of extensions of leave, the accrual of seniority and other benefits and privileges, reinstatement, and payment under any health or temporary disability insurance or sick leave plan, formal or informal, shall be applied to disability due to pregnancy or childbirth on the same terms and conditions as they are applied to other temporary disabilities.

Employer Notice : Employers must post a notice of the rights provided under the Act in a conspicuous location and include in the employer's
employee handbook information on reasonable accommodations and leave available for a disability caused or contributed to by pregnancy.

Employee Notice: Not specified

Obligation to Provide Certifications or Documents Supporting Need for Leave: Yes. An employer may require an employee to provide a certification from the employee's health care provider concerning the medical advisability of a reasonable accommodation to the same extent a certification is required for other temporary disabilities. A certification shall include: (i) the date the reasonable accommodation became medically advisable; (ii) the probable duration of the reasonable accommodation; and (iii) an explanatory statement as to the medical advisability of the reasonable accommodation.

Paid: Not specified

Benefits: Written and unwritten employment policies and practices involving matters such as the commencement and duration of leave, the availability of extensions of leave, the accrual of seniority and other benefits and privileges, reinstatement, and payment under any health or temporary disability insurance or sick leave plan, formal or informal, shall be applied to disability due to pregnancy or childbirth on the same terms and conditions as they are applied to other temporary disabilities.

Reinstatement: Not specified, but an employer may not interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any right provided under this section.

Other important definitions/requirements: None

Relationships with other Leaves: May run concurrently with Federal FMLA

Absence Specifications