Maternity Leave in VA

rspring1012

I just found out I'm pregnant and I work in a law firm where I am really the only main employee. We don't have short term disability offered either. My boss told me I could take as much time as I need, cut back, etc. My husband and I really can't got 12 weeks with no income from me. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this? Thank you!

jf198400

I think the best thing you can do is start saving as much money now as you can. You have 9 months to prepare. I would plan to take 6 weeks completely off and then maybe start back part time for a few weeks if you can arrange childcare. Since you are already pregnant, you will not be able to get private STD.

cecilyandgautam

Hi there! I'm also in Virginia and my employer doesn't offer STD either. I did look into getting an individual STD plan but you have to have been on for a year in order to be eligible for benefits AND the pay out you get for 5-6 weeks of STD is about the same amount as your year's worth of premiums, so I figured we could just set that same money aside in a different account and pay myself and skip the paperwork. 

Anyhow, to your question - does your employer provide sick days? vacation? I was able to hoard those up and use whatever I had saved for my leave. Since you're in a micro-firm, have you asked whether your boss would consider offering some amount of paid maternity leave? My dad just opened his own firm and has 1.5 employees - I asked him what he would do in this situation, and he said he'd probably offer 2 weeks paid ML - which is more than I get - and of course allow for that to be sandwiched with other leave the person has in her contract. 

Another option - if your boss is open to it - is that newborns nap 3-4 times a day. Once you're physically recovered enough to not have to nap a few times a day yourself - maybe around 4-5 weeks, depending on how things go for you - you could offer to be available to work from home for 2-3 hrs/day, and slowly work your way up as you feel able. So you could probably fit in 2-3 hrs/day on your own between naps, and then make up another hour or two when your husband comes home in the evening, say from 8-10pm. 

That way, if you get 1-2 weeks paid from your boss + 1-2 weeks of accrued sick & vacation, then you may not need many weeks of absolutely no pay, and you could transition back into work gradually. I know every one's experience varies, but personally, I felt physically and emotionally up for returning to work full time at 7 weeks pp. Of course I wanted more time, and took more time, for the sake of bonding with the baby, but I felt like those additional weeks were a choice, not a necessity. So if we had absolutely needed my income sooner, I could have gone back and been fine, as long as we found childcare - which you haven't asked about, so I'll assume you have that sorted out. 

snicksnack

Did your boss mention if you are going to be paid at all?  My husband shares office space with a firm that had one employee of child baring age they gave her 12 weeks paid, which was crazy and unheard of but said they could do it as long as she did not talk about it in the future because if they hired more employees and had them all go out at once they could not afford to pay everyone that and would have to write a policy.  She had been with them a long time.