planning ahead - no FMLA at my company

rviola5

hi all - i'm 26 weeks and am starting to try and formulate a plan for my expected leave in may.  my company has under 50 employees so therefore does not have to abide by the federal FMLA guidelines.  has anyone had experiences with this at their companies and how did you/the company handle it????

ucgrad

This will probably only partially help... my company does the federal FMLA, so basically, it is unpaid, but they hold your job for you. I exhausted my sick and vacation to pay for my leave. If I wouldn't have had enough to pay for my maternity leave, I would have either gone back to work before 12 weeks or had to take unpaid time.

rviola5

i should further clarify that i know it won't be paid but am not sure how to put a plan together when the company basically doesn't have to offer any time off (paid or unpaid)...the general leave of absence policy they have in place does not necessarily apply and is for a very short period of time.

luvmagoldn

Does your company offer short term disability?  Has anyone else had a baby recently that you know of?  Are you well thought of by management?

Sometimes not having a policy to refer to can help you.  They can be flexible and you can negotiate for what you want.  It can also work against you if the company culture is not family friendly.

DDearinger

Definitely go and talk to your manager and/or HR person ASAP about this.  My maternity leave was unpaid and not considered under FMLA or short term disability b/c I hadn't been with the company for a year.  But we just talked about it and discussed how much time I would take.  I guess they technically could have hired someone else while I was gone, but it would cost them a ton more money to find someone else and train them.  They are pretty family friendly and were really flexible with me.  Hopefully your company is too

carlab44

I work for a company with only 15 employees so they of course don't have to abide by FMLA. We're a very close knit and family friendly company though, so when I was around 6 months pregnant I submitted a written proposal for my maternity leave. I took 4 months off with DD and 7 months with DS (both unpaid).

I think it could be worthwhile to sit down with your boss and give him or her an idea of what you are looking for and get an idea of what he or she is okay with. Then submit a written proposal and get a written confirmation in return.