Part-time asking for maternity leave

jlaOK

I am newly pregnant with #2 and although I'm not going to tell my boss yet, I have started to think about what to ask for when it comes to maternity leave.

I work part time (32 hrs per week) in a small engineering company. There are only 4 employees so there is no FMLA. I will be the first person to ever go on maternity leave with the company. I have spoken to my boss before about DH and I planning for more kids and he said that he would for sure work with me for leave and "is open" to the idea of some paid leave. I'm just not sure what to request when we talk. Should I let him completely dictate terms or should I ask for the max and see what he says?

I know it's a unique situation, I just wanted to see what you ladies thought.

smiling76

I was in a similar situation with #2 and basically told him what I wanted---gave dates of when I would leave and return and also notated that I would be using the rest of my vacation time for some of it.  I took about 10 wks off with #2--and I had about 4 wks of paid vacation left to use for it.  I spoke with him first and then sent a follow up email I think.

 

FemShep

You should look at the conversation from your boss' point of view.

-Why should he pay you for your maternity leave?

-With such a small firm, how will your work be covered while you're gone?

 You should try to think about what's most important to your boss.  Is it knowing that you'll come back from leave?  Having a temporary replacement for you while you're on leave?  Having access to you while you're on leave?  Once you figure out what he wants, you can put together a proposal that gets you what you want and him what he wants.

Good luck with this, I think it's a tough sell.  Losing 25% of your workforce and potentially having to double-pay workers for 3 months (paid leave for you and pay for a replacement) can be very difficult for some small businesses. 

kcircell

Totally in a very similar situation I am an engineer at a company of about 30 most are manufacturing floor employees and was the 1 st in the 10 year history of the company that took maternity leave. I was able to get short term disability through an additional policy so that paid my maternity leave, so from a company stand point it was just 10 weeks unpaid. Things got behind while I was gone and they held off new projects but they managed to get by without me. In hind sight it may have help my career it bit because they really came to appreciate all the work I do.

jlaOK

FemShep:

You should look at the conversation from your boss' point of view.

-Why should he pay you for your maternity leave?

-With such a small firm, how will your work be covered while you're gone?

 You should try to think about what's most important to your boss.  Is it knowing that you'll come back from leave?  Having a temporary replacement for you while you're on leave?  Having access to you while you're on leave?  Once you figure out what he wants, you can put together a proposal that gets you what you want and him what he wants.

Good luck with this, I think it's a tough sell.  Losing 25% of your workforce and potentially having to double-pay workers for 3 months (paid leave for you and pay for a replacement) can be very difficult for some small businesses. 

Those are good points that I haven't thought of. My boss (the owner) and I are the only engineers on staff. We are in a specialized branch of engineering, so there is no way to hire a replacement while I'm gone. He was the only engineer up until a couple of years ago, so I know that he'll handle all the work while I'm gone. I want to give him enough advance notice that way he will be able to limit the number of projects he accepts based me not working.  Luckily, I work from home, so I will be able to offer some availability during my leave as an incentive for paid leave.

This has given me things to think about so that I can start coming up with a plan.  Thanks.