Asking HR..... WWYD

CowgirlK39

DH and I just started "not trying but not preventing," and it occurred to me that I have no idea what my company's maternity leave policy is. We have a corporate office in the Midwest, but I work for a group of branches here in NY. We have a local HR woman who I will call J. J is not a professional. She fell into this position over the years after having been with the company, and is pretty much the antithesis of HR. If you talk to her about something that should remain confidential, she will gladly broadcast it around the company, so if I were to ask about maternity leave, she would probably go around telling everyone that I am pregnant or something. A colleague of mine brought it up today because he was annoyed with something she did. He told me if I ever needed something seriously HR-related, to go to the corporate level and tell them why I cannot ask J (he has complained to them a few times about her). I feel sneaky doing that, and do not want to make it sound like I am trying to get this woman in trouble but I really want that information. How should I go about asking corporate without complaining too much about J?

Twinkie0612

Our ML policy is described in our employee handbook. Can you just ask for a copy of your employee handbook?

gogadgetgo

Ditto Twinkie. And if that doesn't have what you need, call/email corporate and say you'd rather not discuss it locally but can you have the info.

PunkyBooster

Again, the handbook.

If you can't get that then ask the HR person for a comprehensive benefits list.

CowgirlK39

Genius.... I guess I never thought of the handbook because when I started the job J dumped it on my desk and said "here's this." I gotta see if I can find it.

MMason12

I agree with PP -- ask for a copy of your company's policy book and try to find it yourself.  If there isn't a policy book then you have two choice - ask "J" and don't give a rats a$$ that she will spread rumors or call the corporate HR department and just ask them directly. 

Good luck! 

CowgirlK39

Well i just checked our handbook, and online resources and there is nothing about maternity leave, just FMLA. Id rather not talk to J but i also do not want to throw her under the bus.... it looks like i just may have to though. More reasons this job drives me nuts.

aeh72

CowgirlK39 said:

Well i just checked our handbook, and online resources and there is nothing about maternity leave, just FMLA. Id rather not talk to J but i also do not want to throw her under the bus.... it looks like i just may have to though. More reasons this job drives me nuts.

FMLA does cover the birth of a child and subsequent bonding period - although it is generally unpaid unless you received short-term disability benefits and/or are allowed to use your vacation time to cover any unpaid portion.  Are you trying to find out if your company also offers a paid maternity leave?  If you still have questions, do you know of any female coworkers who've had children recently? Perhaps you can ask them confidentially how it worked.

CowgirlK39

Unfortunately J is the only woman who has had a child recently. There are only a handful of us women on the local level. The book said its only 1 week FMLA, but goes on to say something about medical excuses can go up to 24 months. I just want it to be made a bit more clear. J just is the type of person who would blurt out "omg are you pregnant?????" And then go on to tell everyone she sees that we are TTC. I dont need anyone to know, especially nit coworkers.

huskymomma94

gogadgetgo said:

Ditto Twinkie. And if that doesn't have what you need, call/email corporate and say you'd rather not discuss it locally but can you have the info.

This

aeh72

CowgirlK39 said:

Unfortunately J is the only woman who has had a child recently. There are only a handful of us women on the local level. The book said its only 1 week FMLA, but goes on to say something about medical excuses can go up to 24 months. I just want it to be made a bit more clear. J just is the type of person who would blurt out "omg are you pregnant?????" And then go on to tell everyone she sees that we are TTC. I dont need anyone to know, especially nit coworkers.

If your company is large enough to be required to offer FMLA leave - it can't just allow 1 week.  FMLA allows for 12 weeks of unpaid leave for qualifying conditions (childbirth is one of them).  I think that's your legit excuse to go to corporate.  Just say you were confused about the wording in the handbook regarding FMLA and wanted to get some clarification.  I'm sure your local person did not write the handbook, right? So, I think it's reasonable to go to the source (i.e., corporate HR) to ask for clarification.  That's what you can tell them if they ask why you went to them instead of J. 

For your reference, here is a Fact Sheet on FMLA:

https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.htm

CowgirlK39

The corporate lady responded to my email by saying there is no formal maternity leave. She said women end up on short term disability for as long as the doctor says, which is usually six weeks. She said if something serious happens and more time is needed they handle that as needed then. Makes sense, but the disability pay is about half what I normally take home. Charming.

DebateThis

CowgirlK39 said:

The corporate lady responded to my email by saying there is no formal maternity leave. She said women end up on short term disability for as long as the doctor says, which is usually six weeks. She said if something serious happens and more time is needed they handle that as needed then. Makes sense, but the disability pay is about half what I normally take home. Charming.

Be happy you get any paid leave - only 11% of private industry workers get some sort of paid maternity coverage.

Twinkie0612

DebateThis said:

CowgirlK39 said:

The corporate lady responded to my email by saying there is no formal maternity leave. She said women end up on short term disability for as long as the doctor says, which is usually six weeks. She said if something serious happens and more time is needed they handle that as needed then. Makes sense, but the disability pay is about half what I normally take home. Charming.

Be happy you get any paid leave - only 11% of private industry workers get some sort of paid maternity coverage.

I agree with DT. 

Many companies have no paid leave at all outside of any PTO you have and most that do offer STD which is usually 6 weeks of partial pay (most people I know got 50-75%).  I am fortunate that my company has a really good ML policy (I qualify for 12 weeks at 50% pay and have enough PTO and sick bank time to cover the remaining 50%, giving me 12 weeks at full pay). 

CowgirlK39

Oh I understand that... I wasn't expecting that much time in the first place. I was expecting maybe two weeks.