Leave of absence from work for maternity is considered disability, short term disability. And depending on whether the mother is having natural child birth or a c-section, the disability could cover either 6 weeks or 8 weeks. If your daughter's employer offers FMLA due to its size of business and your daughter has been employed for over a year, FMLA allows up to 12 weeks unpaid leave. Also keep in mind that depending on employer policy, the employer may require the employee to simultaneously exhaust all vacation, sick and other types of leave at the same time as the 12 weeks. To obtain short term disability, one has to pay in. So here, I am unsure why she is being charged $800.00 all at once, unless she is getting much more than that after the nonpayment period.