not happy with mat. leave - small company. WWYD?

CoachMsWife

I'm the first one to be pregnant at my work in 8 years. Yes it is that small of a company so they are pretty much making up the "rules" as they go. I have been there over a year and really do like my job and the company as a whole. We do qualify for FMLA but, DH and I cannot afford to take any more time than what I need to recover.

However, I'm very disappointed with the maternity leave they have offered. Here is the break down
1 week of sick time - which they just made up out of the blue as we have unlimited sick time
2 weeks of paid vacation time - my alloted amount for the 2009 calender year
1 week left over vacation time from this year. Thank goodness I used it wisely this year. They do not carry over from year to year so this was made up too.

So a total of 4 weeks paid and no paid vacation after I come back after 6 weeks, assuming a complication free birth. There is nothing in writing about what happens when she is sick - do I have to take the time unpaid or will it be treated like a day if I was sick, where I am paid. I've have asked for answers twice now over the last two weeks and nothing. Our owner is always away on his expensive hunting trips or at his condo in Cancun and cannot be reached for his approval/thoughs on my request for a more concrete policy. I'm starting to really stress about this situation and lack of answers.

I'm really unsure if what they are offering is "fair", so I'm looking for any opinions and thoughs from experienced working moms. Also how would you go about asking again for answers?
So if you've made it this far in my post, thank you for your help/thoughts!

MrsB*s

I would ask/push for more sick time to apply -- standard disability time in most states is six weeks, which means you are designated medically unable to work for that long. ?Not sure what the rules are in your state, but from what I've seen, that's pretty typical. ?I had 8 weeks for my c-section. ? Even if you can't get six weeks, I think only one week of sick time is pretty poor, especially if there were no prior limitations. ?Between labor and delivery, you could be in the hospital for half of that!

Angela814

You should quality for short term disability.  Mine paid 60% of my salary while I was on maternity leave.  My company gave 6 wks paid with a vaginal birth and 8 wks paid with a c-section.  After that was paid, the short term disability kicked in.

I would think that since you're technically getting no "maternity" pay, you could use short term disabilty to get a 60% salary for up to 12 weeks and then use the vacation and sick time as you see fit.

ali-1411

I didn't get any paid time off from the company, I chose not to use my vacation/sick time for maternity leave.

I'd been paying into a STD which paid 6 weeks at 60%...but that's part of my insurance benefits and not from the company.

Amy&Noah2007

Honestly...you work for a small co. that is "making up the rules as you/they go". You can ask for more - but I would look into state-sponsored alternatives. I would research what other small companies are offering, and present it - and hope for the best. You have to understand policies like this make and/or break small businesses - and without you, they are lacking one person. I've been in your situation, and I own a biz - I'm just trying to tell you the biz-perspective.

crazytmogirl

If what you are getting is 6 weeks paid, that is pretty generous IMO.  At my company you get what ever sick leave/vacation time off that you've accrued and STD and that is it... the rest of the 12 weeks of FMLA (if you choose to be out that long) is unpaid.  I would assume that the "unlimited sick leave" is for simple illnesses (cold, etc) and not longer term absenses.  Your employer isn't required to pay you while you are out on maternity leave so it sounds like they are being nice and helping you out (like allowing you to carry over a week of vacation time from this year, which isn't standard at your job). 

If my daughter is sick, I call in sick and use one of my sick days.  It isn't their business that it is my child that is sick and not me.  If you do the same, I'd assume that it would be like a standard sick day at your work.

RoxyLynn

Honestly, they don't have to give you anything at all, so what you've got is better than nothing.  They really, really can't give you special perks and privileges because of decisions you've made in your personal life.  No, staying at home with a sick baby is not "vacation" - but neither is waiting for the plumber when you're up to your ankles with an overflowing toilet or tub or whatever.

BrideInSunnyFL

I work for a very small family owned company, only 3 girls in our office, all the rest are males.  They've been in business for over 20 years and have never experienced someone leaving for maternity leave.  I've been with the company for 10 years now.

I received nothing, other then my 2 weeks vacation I saved up, they don't offer sick/personal days.  They also don't offer a STD policy.  So before we started trying to get pg I purchased an individual STD policy, which paid me for 60% of my wages for 6 weeks vaginal delivery, 8 weeks for ceseran.  It cost me 90.00 a month and I had to have the policy in effect for 10 months before using it for maternity. 

I was very disappointed nothing else was offered, especially since I've been with the company for 10 years.  But I knew this going into it.  I've always said, they're are Pro's and Con's to working for a small family owned company.   Unfortunately, this was one of the Con's. 

 

Daisy22

Most of my friends that work only get their vacation time for maternity leave after that it's unpaid. So it sounds like your company is in line at least with what I've been told.

Maybride2

You DO realize that paid maternity leave is extremely rare in the US, right? 

Most people who get "paid" while on maternity leave are getting paid through short term disability.  Does your company have a contract with a STD provider?  This is something that would have been wise to research BEFORE getting pregnant......it's called planning ahead.

If your company does not offer STD, your only other option is to use whatever paid time off you have.  It sounds like that's what your company is offering you.  What is there to be "disappointed" about?  Do you think that it's their responsibility to find a different way to pay you for not being there? 

And yes - when my kid is sick, my DH or I have to take a sick/vacation day off of work to be with him.  I suppose that if either one of us ever ran out of sick/vacation days, we'd have to start taking the time unpaid. 

Angela814

Maybride2:

You DO realize that paid maternity leave is extremely rare in the US, right? 

I actually did not know that.  Most companies around here seem to pay either 6 or 8 weeks.

Maybride2

Angela814:

Maybride2:

You DO realize that paid maternity leave is extremely rare in the US, right? 

I actually did not know that.  Most companies around here seem to pay either 6 or 8 weeks.

Through Short Term Disability, right? 

That's exactly what I said - paid maternity leave is typically through STD...........it's not something that the employer themselves pay.

ChicagoWed07

Here are some statistics on paid maternity leave.

https://www.iwpr.org/pdf/parentalleaveA131.pdf

 

 

MrsAmers

My company is too small to qualify for FMLA, but I am a valued employee and wasn't worried about my job being here when I returned.

Our companies STD policy doesn't cover maternity leave.  DH and I considered investing in a separate STD policy to cover my leave before TTC, but we decided it was just easier to put more money in savings.

I took 12 weeks off unpaid.  I certainly would have appreciated some paid time off, but I didn't want to sacrifice all of my vacation and sick time for the rest of the year.  It would be nice if more companies in the US offered paid time off for maternity leave and if longer leaves were more common, but it is something that is going to have to happen at big companies first before it trickles down to smaller companies. 

mrsmikey

I think what they're offering is pretty generous.  When I had DS, I worked for a very large company, and all I got was whatever vacation and sick days I had saved up.  We were not allowed to carry days over from the previous year, and our vacation and sick days were accrued through the year.  I had DS in January so guess what?  I hadn't accrued crap for PTO.  I used what little I had, and came back to work with no PTO left.  I was able to accrue more as the year passed.  But if I or DS were sick and I had no days left, I had to take time off unpaid.  STD was an optional part of our insurance that I did not buy into b/c it was so expensive.  So I took 12 weeks off basically unpaid.

duchess0727

I worked for a large company and my leave fell under STD (insurance that my company offered by I paid for) so I was paid for six weeks and took another four weeks unpaid.  I left my vacation for after the baby was born because I wasn't sure if I'd need it for sick time for the baby.  I had unlimited sick (not allowed to take it for maternity) but it was for me, not baby. 

CoachMsWife

Angela814:

Maybride2:

You DO realize that paid maternity leave is extremely rare in the US, right? 

I actually did not know that.  Most companies around here seem to pay either 6 or 8 weeks.

 I did not know this either. Most of my experience has been with friends/family who were paid through their company, no STD involved.

AlisaS

Sounds pretty generous. What is the problem?

Angela814

Maybride2:

Angela814:

Maybride2:

You DO realize that paid maternity leave is extremely rare in the US, right? 

I actually did not know that.  Most companies around here seem to pay either 6 or 8 weeks.

Through Short Term Disability, right? 

That's exactly what I said - paid maternity leave is typically through STD...........it's not something that the employer themselves pay.

Nope.  I got paid 8 weeks in full from my company plus 60% for the remaining 4 weeks.  STD may have been paying 60% of those first 8 weeks with the company paying the remaining 40%, but either way I still got 100% of my salary.

funday

I had nothing... my job held my position for me for 8 weeks... that's all they legally had to do

kremerks

Our company Mat leave is good compared to others that have responded.  The mat leave is part of FLMA (SD) and we get 8 weeks paid guar even with c section or vaginal and up to 12 weeks with doctor's note.  After that you can take an additional 12 weeks of unpaid via future leave program.  OR, can you use your PTO which includes sick time since we don't have an unlimited sick time policy.  So, I had 18 weeks total off (some before delivery) when having my daughter.  I do work for a large company though.

FloF9

I had to do STD which was like 6 weeks for vaginal.  Then I used 1 week of sick leave (we're alloted 6 days a year), then 2 weeks vacation (paid).  I too work for a small company.  All in all I was 2.5 months.

I did propose working from home Mondays and Fridays - half days, which I did for a while which meant my pay was cut from 32 hours a week instead of the 40 = but I still got to keep my medical, dental, vision benefits (qualified as full time) so that was generous of them considering.)

I've been here 10 years and this is what I got.  I guess it could have been worse.