Writing My Maternity Leave Plan-Please Help!

kimberlysara

Hello,
I wrote here seeking advice back in August, and everyone was so helpful and supportive, so here goes...
I am due on March 27th and work for a very small start-up company (15 employees) in a leadership position, and I am the first employee to become pregnant. Our office has no official policy on maternity leave, but we do not qualify for FMLA here, as we are too small. Additionally, I have been with the company since August-they only opened in February. I have become an invaluable part of the team, and much of my job can be done remotely. I report directly to our CEO, and she told me to come up with a fair plan of action and present it to her for review and subsequent discussion. As a NJ resident, I believe I can take 4 weeks partially paid prior to my due date off and 6 weeks after, if I deliver vaginally through short-term disability. Benefits are of no concern to me, as I'm covered on my husband's plan. Also, if this is of any matter, I earn a modest salary-it is a a start-up, and my work environment is very laid back and supportive of my pregnancy. Ideally, I would like more time off (paid if possible) and be able to come back part-time with the flexibility to work at home as needed. I don't have a clue how to write this up or what is even fair. There is no HR department to discuss matters with. Thank you all in advance for all of your help!!!

Mic512

I worked for a small trade association, reporting to a VP - so no FMLA either, when we lived in VA, now we live in NJ too. I was able to take 12 weeks, first 2 at full pay, 2nd 2 at 1/2 pay and the rest unpaid by the company but I had AFLAC so that covered an additional 8 weeks at 1/2 pay (I will call that the equivalent of NJs disability pay). I went through my regular work load and gave away what I could - asked others who were able to handle specific issues. Most of my workload waited my return. I worked up until the day I delivered. 1 very important project I handled from home while on leave (federal filing and could not be done by someone else). I agreed to check email weekly (I checked in everyday but did not want to commit to something so structured), and to do the major project while on leave unpaid. Since I was doing work while on leave they were more flexible about the time I wanted off. Best advice, go through your job responsibilities and see what you can temporarily give away, what really you could do while caring for your LO and not getting a lot of sleep, and what can wait. I would ask for 12 weeks and hope for 8 weeks leave. Paid time off is really rare & not something most companies give, mine was really generous.

DM718

I work for a small organization (20 - 25 employees), and an even smaller department (3 of us).  I can relate to the lack of FMLA and no redundancy.  I'm also the first one to take maternity leae in the 12 years I've been here.  I've been meaning to put together a comprehensive proposal & document, but with demands of the job and life (a major deadline in November, out sick for over a week in December), that's been lacking.  That said, here is what I have done:

First, I try to communicate everything via email, so there is a paper trail.  I do talk with my boss, but I am more comfortable knowing I can reference email communication easily.  

A few weeks back, I sent an email with this basic proposal "I would like to take x weeks off after the birth of my baby, and then return to work part time for y weeks.  A, B, & C must be delegated to others while I'm away - my plan is to document how they are done in December, do them together in January, and try to let the person who will be responsible try doing it on their own in February".  I felt it's important to be specific that the time you want to take off is after the baby is born.  

I didn't hesitate to reference FMLA when requesting 8 weeks off full time (Massachusetts state law and affirmed in our handbook) and 8 weeks of working part time, for 12 weeks off in total.  While it doesn't technically apply to me, it is a federal standard.  My boss didn't question that, and I get a total of 12 weeks off spread over 16 weeks.  He's also happy to have me bring the baby in while I'm here PT (I think my husband will stay home with the baby one day, I'll bring the baby in one day, and the half day will be spread out over the other three days a week from home).  

I've made a list of systems that people will need to establish log-in credentials to.  For some, I can do that; for others (like one that requires DOB & SSN), I'm trying to remind them to establish these soon.  

Finally, I've been making these documents of tasks that I do that show screen shots of each step of the process.  I am responsible for submitting some data to a federal agency via their portals, as well as using a bank system to "automatically" debit borrowers bank accounts (it takes a good deal of work on my end every month, so I don't think of it as very automatic).  I share these as I make them.  They are long and dull (I think my boss glazes over when he sees 9 pages of instructions to do something), but it is much clearer than "find the "initiate" button near the top, left hand side". 

Finally, I've let some people I deal with outside of the office know what is going on (ie, my main contact at SBA headquarters, who exclusively deals with me at my office), asking for a little leeway when possible, and I've let my COO (but not my direct supervisor) know that if there is something that ends up being particularly hard to delegate, I can consider helping out with it.  There is a federal report that includes salary data due on April 30th, and since I'm due March 1st, it's really a crapshoot if I'll be back for that or not.  We both believe my boss will get frustrated trying to do it and probably abandon it or try to delegate it to the newest hire, and given the nature of information in that report, it probably should be delegated very judiciously (not out of frustration).  

I hope this is helpful.  There's a bit of nervousness going around here about my maternity leave.  I'm doing my best to prepare for it, but if something unexpected comes up, I know I'll have to stand my ground about staying home or renegotiate my time off.  I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this spring is relatively uneventful at work.

kimberlysara

Thank you all for all of your most helpful advice! It is much appreciated!