Baby leave?

caffrin

Sorry if this has been asked recently but how does paternity leave work for the military?
Does DH have to request the 10 days in advance or does it start the day I have the baby?

BeachM

My son was born on a Saturday evening, so DH called in to work on Monday and started his 10 days of leave.  He was at a Navy shore duty command which was quite laid back though, so it was not a big deal. 

ETA:  Actually, no.  He called or texted the CDR he worked for on Sunday morning because he came to visit us in the hospital.  We were actually in the same room where his wife had given birth a month before.  But there wasn't any sort of official request of leave from what I remember.

meltoine

He can't request it beforehand. He'll have to call or go in after baby comes to request leave. 

Also keep in mind, his leave may not be approved, depending what's going on at the time. It's completely up to the discretion of his CO, and not guaranteed.  

ehnasto

My DH is AF and the way he has explained it to me is he gets 10 working days (mon-fri) off for paternity leave. He doesn't have to request it in advance, just inform his supervisor and any other leadership he deals with that the leave is coming up. He also does have to inform them of when his leave will start, which it cannot start until LO arrives.

LaBellaVida

I had my baby on a Friday night. He went into work on Monday and signed out on leave.

I just talked to my DH and asked him about leave. he said leave doesn't start until the day you check out of the hospital.

LaBellaVida

I also replied in the June 2013 board.

KIR2DS4

ehnasto:

My DH is AF and the way he has explained it to me is he gets 10 working days (mon-fri) off for paternity leave. He doesn't have to request it in advance, just inform his supervisor and any other leadership he deals with that the leave is coming up. He also does have to inform them of when his leave will start, which it cannot start until LO arrives.

But if they take leave bracketing a weekend (Friday and the following Monday), the weekend days count. It's not just business days, at least the way I understood it.  

HisChamaoleGirl

KIR2DS4:

ehnasto:

My DH is AF and the way he has explained it to me is he gets 10 working days (mon-fri) off for paternity leave. He doesn't have to request it in advance, just inform his supervisor and any other leadership he deals with that the leave is coming up. He also does have to inform them of when his leave will start, which it cannot start until LO arrives.

But if they take leave bracketing a weekend (Friday and the following Monday), the weekend days count. It's not just business days, at least the way I understood it.  

I too have never heard of 10 business days, but then again it is a command discretion program, so perhaps that's what the command has decided on. I just wouldn't expect it to be like that every where you go.

Lissa832

It really depends on his command. My son was born on a Monday. DH called his command and they started his leave that day. DD was born on a Wednesday. Dh called his command, and they told him to take the rest of the week and started his baby leave on the following Monday. It's also 10 consecutive days, not business days. 

ArmyWife114

*HiS ChAmAoLe GiRL*:

KIR2DS4:

ehnasto:

My DH is AF and the way he has explained it to me is he gets 10 working days (mon-fri) off for paternity leave. He doesn't have to request it in advance, just inform his supervisor and any other leadership he deals with that the leave is coming up. He also does have to inform them of when his leave will start, which it cannot start until LO arrives.

But if they take leave bracketing a weekend (Friday and the following Monday), the weekend days count. It's not just business days, at least the way I understood it.  

I too have never heard of 10 business days, but then again it is a command discretion program, so perhaps that's what the command has decided on. I just wouldn't expect it to be like that every where you go.

This.  Don't get your hopes up for 10 business days of leave, bank on possibly getting 10 days in general and then be pleasantly surprised if it's 10 business days. 

BLT20051

Lissa832:

It really depends on his command. My son was born on a Monday. DH called his command and they started his leave that day. DD was born on a Wednesday. Dh called his command, and they told him to take the rest of the week and started his baby leave on the following Monday. It's also 10 consecutive days, not business days. 

This. It's consecutive but if his command chooses for that not to include the weekend, that's entirely their decision.

ehnasto

ArmyWife114:

*HiS ChAmAoLe GiRL*:

KIR2DS4:

ehnasto:

My DH is AF and the way he has explained it to me is he gets 10 working days (mon-fri) off for paternity leave. He doesn't have to request it in advance, just inform his supervisor and any other leadership he deals with that the leave is coming up. He also does have to inform them of when his leave will start, which it cannot start until LO arrives.

But if they take leave bracketing a weekend (Friday and the following Monday), the weekend days count. It's not just business days, at least the way I understood it.  

I too have never heard of 10 business days, but then again it is a command discretion program, so perhaps that's what the command has decided on. I just wouldn't expect it to be like that every where you go.

This.  Don't get your hopes up for 10 business days of leave, bank on possibly getting 10 days in general and then be pleasantly surprised if it's 10 business days. 

That is what my DH had told me. After I read your posts I asked him to check again and he said that you all were correct that it is just 10 days.

ladybugpjb

KIR2DS4:

ehnasto:

My DH is AF and the way he has explained it to me is he gets 10 working days (mon-fri) off for paternity leave. He doesn't have to request it in advance, just inform his supervisor and any other leadership he deals with that the leave is coming up. He also does have to inform them of when his leave will start, which it cannot start until LO arrives.

But if they take leave bracketing a weekend (Friday and the following Monday), the weekend days count. It's not just business days, at least the way I understood it.  

Just repeating what everyone has said here - DH's leave included Labor Day. He probably would have had Friday and Monday off at work, but they counted them with his paternity leave.

iluvmytxrgr

To repeat, this leave is not guaranteed. Ideally, he should get 10 days, but it doesn't always happen.  With our last child, my husband had 4 or 5 days because of a looming deployment.  The baby before that, he had a week because of a training trip he had to go on.  It is up to his command and depends on what is going on with work.  

Beachy730

Ditto everyone else.  Except I will add that my H already did put his paperwork and leave request in and it was signed off on.  They will just fill the dates in when it starts.  

Carnation77

Yep, do the paperwork ahead of time then they can fill in the dates.  Dates can't start till you have the baby, so for example, if you have a scheduled c-section he can't take off the day before or something like that. 

smdetrick

brandilc84:

I had my baby on a Friday night. He went into work on Monday and signed out on leave.

I just talked to my DH and asked him about leave. he said leave doesn't start until the day you check out of the hospital.

That's not necessarily true for everyone. We were in the hospital for 8 days. DH was getting charged leave the entire time. He went back to work 2 days after we got home from the hospital.  

MzCurnett8886

My DH's command didn't approve leave for his best friend because they lumped it in with Christmas and aren't approving DH's. They lumped DH's into his post deployment leave. They are doing that with all the dads coming back.

Beachy730

smdetrick:

brandilc84:

I had my baby on a Friday night. He went into work on Monday and signed out on leave.

I just talked to my DH and asked him about leave. he said leave doesn't start until the day you check out of the hospital.

That's not necessarily true for everyone. We were in the hospital for 8 days. DH was getting charged leave the entire time. He went back to work 2 days after we got home from the hospital.  

Ditto.  It depends on the CoC and what they choose to do.  It's supposed to start the first day you don't go to work.  But if they are being nice about it they can start it when you get home from the hospital.  Nothing is guaranteed though, not even that they will get the leave approved right away or get the full 10 days. 

caffrin

Thanks everyone.
I know it will be approved [his command is very good] I was just curious if I had to already have the baby for it to start!

Thanks for answering my question :]

zonagirlie

My husband was told no leave for paternity. He's in the navy and took a pass Thurs-Sun and I had the baby Saturday morning. He had 24 hours with our son before he had to report back to his ship.

amandoza23

As I understand it, it's 10 days from the day you check out of the hospital and the weekend counts if your husband works a monfri just like it would for personal leave. One of the guys at my husbands shop had to go in for a day after his pat leave before they let him take additional personal leave. Ultimately though, it's up to his command.