Maternity Leave: How can this work when I'm employed by a small business?

bcamii

I'm lucky enough that I telecommute. I know that after baby is born I can work from home (as long as I'm not too distracted!)

My main concern is maternity leave. I pretty much run the business I work for. I'm early in my first trimester so I have lots of time to plan. I haven't even told my boss yet. I'm worried about how much time I can realistically take off from work AND whether my employer will be generous enough to offer any kind of paid maternity benefits. It's an NJ business so I'll have state maternity benefits, but that's a very far cry from my usual income. But since we're a small business, the only thing he's required to do is maintain my job security. Hubby works, but we rely on both incomes equally.

Any other moms in a similar situation? What did you do and how did you make it work?

Bigboobsmcgee

I'm really not trying to be negative, but realistic when I say that working from home with a child of any age is damn near impossible. It's especially hard when they are first born. Babies are unpredictable which makes it very hard to maintain a schedule or get anything done and when you do get a break, you will probably want to shower, SLEEP or take care of chores, etc. I know so, so, so many women that try to work from home with kids and it never turns out well. I can't even do it with a 3.5 year old and a 14 month old. Just something to keep in mind.

As far as maternity leave, I think you will need to formulate a plan with your employer right? Find out what is actually possible then go from there. For my work I had to use up my vacation time, extended illness hours and then the rest was unpaid maternity leave. I got 7 weeks with my first child and 9 weeks with my second.

NurseRieger

Spend time economizing and saving money during pregnancy for your leave. I would also consider hiring help for a few hours a day because I can see how working from home would be tough with a new baby.

TaraGoldenCO

Call Aflac and talk to a rep. about short term disability and supplemental insurance plans that cover maternity leave.  My company is looking into right now. I was told for a group plan you only need 3 employees to sign up and plans start at as little as $20/month. 

SmrBrd2012

TaraGoldenCO said:

Call Aflac and talk to a rep. about short term disability and supplemental insurance plans that cover maternity leave.  My company is looking into right now. I was told for a group plan you only need 3 employees to sign up and plans start at as little as $20/month. 

Unless I'm mistaken, I thought you could only sign up for STD 12 months in advance of DD/birth. So if you're already pregnant, I thought you no longer qualify since it's a "preexisting condition."

snowflake2214

I looked into Aflac after already being pregnant and it was a no go. You have to be already signed up.