Maternity Leave

Sgiovinco4

Does anyone know if you take the 2 weeks Short Term Disability prior to your EDD and the baby comes late, will it affect your time off after the baby arrives? I live in NJ and am able to get 2 wks Short Term Disability prior to EDD and then 6 weeks Short Term Disability after delivery. My company also offers 6 weeks maternity leave after the 6 weeks STD and then i get an additional 6 weeks for NJ Family Leave Act. Does it shorten your time home with baby after you deliver if you take the 2 weeks before?

SkiChic626

I'm in NJ, and we really do have great maternity benefits compared to other states.  Technically in NJ, you're entitled to stop working 4 weeks before your EDD, and it won't effect the amount of time you have after as long as you don't go past your due date.  I also get 2 weeks STD before baby and then 8 after (c-section).  My company also pays for an additional week of paternal leave and then the NJ disability insurance kicks in for another 6 weeks.  FMLA and NJFLA overlap once your STD is up, so as long as your FMLA period isn't longer than 12 weeks, it should not affect the amount of time after.  If you have a vaginal birth, you should have job protection for 18 weeks (20 for a c-section) after the baby's birth date.  For example, my last day of work was May 22nd with DD (EDD of 6/23) and then she was born on June 15, 2014, and my return to work date was November 2, 2014.  This time my C-Section is planned for 8/5 - so my first day of STD will be 7/22 (I could technically start FMLA on 7/8, but it's not necessary with all the vacation and personal time that I need to use or lose), then baby will likely be born on 8/5 and my return to work date will be 12/23.  Don't get disability and job protection (FMLA and NJFLA) confused. 

Sgiovinco4

Thank you @SkiChic626. I'm due Aug 10th but am nervous if i take off starting Jul 29th and he comes a week late that it would then cut into my time home with him after the birth. My husband keeps telling me it won't affect it at all, but my HR doesn't seem to be able to answer my question and Cigna isn't getting back to me. I also don't qualify for FMLA (only been at my company for 10 months right now) so my company told me i qualify for their maternity leave basically which guarantees the 12 weeks like FMLA.

SkiChic626

@Sgiovinco4 said:

Thank you @SkiChic626. I'm due Aug 10th but am nervous if i take off starting Jul 29th and he comes a week late that it would then cut into my time home with him after the birth. My husband keeps telling me it won't affect it at all, but my HR doesn't seem to be able to answer my question and Cigna isn't getting back to me. I also don't qualify for FMLA (only been at my company for 10 months right now) so my company told me i qualify for their maternity leave basically which guarantees the 12 weeks like FMLA.

Ooooh hmmmm ok.  It might be different then if you don't qualify for FMLA.  If you were covered under FMLA then you would still be covered if baby came late, but you might just not get paid for that extra time between your 2 weeks and baby's actual birth date, but FMLA would still protect your job.  Do you qualify for NJ FLA?  I'm actually surprised they wouldn't just approve your FMLA anyway.  Someone I worked with started in February and had a baby in June, and the company just gave her the FMLA because they didn't want to deal with all the legalities of not giving it to her, though technically they didn't have to. 

Sgiovinco4

@SkiChic626 as of right now they are saying no because I haven't been here for 12 months, but hopefully they change their minds since i'll have been here for 11 months by time he's expected to arrive. They told me I would qualify for a Medical Leave of Absence which runs concurrently with FMLA but i'm unsure if he comes late if it would cut into that. From what they told me I do qualify for NJ FLA. My 1 year will be on Sept 14th. so at that point before i apply for NJ FLA i will have been with them for a year.

SkiChic626

Yup!  That's right, even if you're on leave, you'll get the NJ FLA once you hit that date! 

searchingforameaning

Is it too late for me to move to NJ?

Sgiovinco4

@SkiChic626 met with HR again and turns out now they are saying I don't qualify for NJ FLA either now because that is a year as well and it won't kick in on my anniversary date while i'm out. They are saying it's from the first day I go out :-( They said my FMLA will kick in while I'm out but that also will go back to my first day out so it's looking like I'm going to have to try and tough it out and work right up till I deliver. All these stupid rules. They said the NJFLA is calculated from my first day out on leave which would be August. I don't think they'd let him hold out till Sept 14th Lol! 

SkiChic626

Sgiovinco4 said:

@SkiChic626 met with HR again and turns out now they are saying I don't qualify for NJ FLA either now because that is a year as well and it won't kick in on my anniversary date while i'm out. They are saying it's from the first day I go out :-( They said my FMLA will kick in while I'm out but that also will go back to my first day out so it's looking like I'm going to have to try and tough it out and work right up till I deliver. All these stupid rules. They said the NJFLA is calculated from my first day out on leave which would be August. I don't think they'd let him hold out till Sept 14th Lol! 

They're very wrong, you can take NJ FLA any time you want within the baby's first year of life (or maybe 6 mos, I'd have to double check).  So even if you went back to work, you could go back out and THEN start your NJFLA.  Also, just remember that NJ is 24 mos, not 12 like FMLA, so if you have another baby later, make sure your leave dates are 24 mos apart.  That's why my kids will be 25 mos apart lol otherwise we would have had #2 sooner.  My 24 mos doesn't kick in until Aug 11 (which happens to be my due date), and my first day of leave will be July 22nd, but the NJ won't start until the end of September so I'll be over my 24 mos.

SkiChic626

@Sgiovinco4 Have you talked with anyone at your STD company?  They will likely be more knowledgeable than your HR department.  I found that with DD I got a lot of wrong and differing answers from people in HR, but once I talked to the disability carrier they were able to give me very clear answers and what they told me is how everything ultimately panned out.