Walmart urges associates to use leave toolkit for maternity and parental leave
The first mistake on Walmart maternity leave is waiting to file. Associates are told to start with Sedgwick, because timing drives approval, pay and job protection.
Walmart’s maternity and parental leave path runs through the Leave of Absence toolkit and a Sedgwick filing, and associates who skip that path can pay for the mistake in delayed approval or delayed pay. The safest move is to use the Leave of Absence toolkit, get the right leave guide, and file with Sedgwick as soon as possible. For hourly workers, that timing matters even more because maternity pay is calculated from information collected during intake.
Start with the leave toolkit, not a guess
Walmart treats maternity leave, parental leave, family-care leave, and even military leave as part of the same Leave of Absence framework. Manager guidance directs associates to get the appropriate leave guide from the toolkit and file with Sedgwick right away. That sequence matters because a leave request that sits too long can create gaps in approval and leave a worker waiting for pay that should already be moving.
For department managers and assistant managers, it is a process step that can keep an associate from filing under the wrong program or missing a form that Sedgwick needs to calculate benefits. Managers should hand over the correct guide, point to the leave request process, and make sure the associate understands that the intake information is what drives the next step.
How maternity leave pay is calculated
Walmart combines maternity benefits with short-term disability benefits, so the request follows the leave-and-disability process instead of a separate one-off system. The approval path, the paperwork, and the pay calculation all flow from the same intake.
For hourly associates, pay is based on the information provided during intake, including the past 26 weeks of pay information averaged to determine leave pay. Maternity leave can start two weeks before the due date, which makes advance filing especially important when a worker wants to protect both time off and paycheck continuity.
What the current leave benefits cover
Eligible associates can get 10 weeks of paid maternity leave and up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave under Walmart’s current benefits language. Birth mothers can take up to 22 weeks of paid time off when maternity and parental leave are combined.
The parental leave benefit covers birth, adoption, and foster-care placement. Walmart’s 2023 parental leave job aid provides up to six weeks of protected paid time away for hourly and driver associates and up to 12 weeks for salaried associates. Walmart’s 2018 leave expansion promised 10 weeks of paid maternity leave and six weeks of paid parental leave for full-time hourly associates, and the parental-leave expansion also applied to salaried associates and parents who adopt.
What managers should do when an associate asks for leave
Managers should treat a leave request as a checklist. The associate needs the right leave guide, the right filing path, and the understanding that Sedgwick is the intake gatekeeper. If a manager improvises, the result can be a stalled request, a delayed determination, or confusion over whether the leave is maternity, parental, or another type of absence.
1. Give the associate the correct leave guide from the toolkit.
2. Tell them to submit the request to Sedgwick as soon as possible.
3. Make sure they know which leave type matches the reason for the absence.
4. Remind them that the intake information, including pay history, affects leave pay.
5. Keep copies of what was submitted so there is a record if questions come up later.
Walmart’s maternity guidance ties pay to the intake file, not to informal promises made on the sales floor. When a leave request is filed late, the delay can affect money, approval timing, and the return-to-work timeline.
The broader pregnancy support stack
Walmart has also layered in pregnancy support beyond leave itself. Its Life with Baby program includes no-cost nurse coaching, a pregnancy and parenting app, breastfeeding supplies, and lactation counseling visits. In June 2022, Walmart expanded doula coverage beyond Georgia to Louisiana, Indiana, and Illinois, with up to $1,000 covered for doula services during pregnancy. In 2023, Walmart expanded the doula benefit nationwide.
In a 2023 announcement tied to a Georgia maternal-health pilot with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health and CareSource, Walmart cited a maternal-health crisis: Black women are three times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy- or childbirth-related issues, Georgia has the second-highest maternal mortality rate in the U.S., more than 30 labor and delivery units have closed in the state since 1994, and more than half of Georgia counties have no OB-GYN care or services.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
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