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Not returning to work after Maternity Leave?
Has anyone done this? Did you give any type of notice? I am wondering if you still have to give the standard 2 weeks? In my case, they have a girl filling my position that already works for the company, she worked part time, and then filled in on my job part time, making a full day. We are considering have me stay home, so I want to make sure I have everything lined up. Would you go in and give a formal letter? I am not sure how to move forward with notifiying the company because I would like to return there in the future if possible.
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Re: Not returning to work after Maternity Leave?
If you are not returning because of your accident and your Dr.'s instructions, I think you can file for a separate claim on disability and apply for a Medical LOA (if your company has one) which is separate from FMLA.
Otherwise, I would go in and talk to them and give a standard two weeks (though they more than likely won't have you come back).
Also, you may need to consider that there may be repayments you have to make. I know my leave work indicated that if I did not come back I may be responsible for health insurance and other payments made on my behalf while I was gone. It is not clear as to whether I would have to or not one way or the other and it really depends on the company, but it is a possibility.
If you want to return in the future, then I'd let them know now. Are you still getting benefits from them, or is your ML paid? You might lose any of that when you let them know you're not coming back. Are you sure they won't make you repay anything? It's really hard to know without coming out and asking. That's such a tricky situation.
Maybe you could meet with your HR person and just tell her you are thinking about it and running the numbers, and ask her how it all works. The good thing is that they already have a person for the position, so that should ease the situation.
As other said, you may have to pay back some of your benefits if you don't return; however, it's not necessarily everything. Some benefits you accumulated from working for the company prior to go on leave -- using STD, using your vacation/sick time etc. As an employee these are benefits you earned prior to your leave, they're not things you have to earn or work towards after leave to have used them. Items like the portion of your medical insurance that your company paid while you were out, etc., those you may have to repay. It depends on the company. For ours, if I hadn't returned for 30 days, I would have had to repay the amount they paid for my medical, dental, vision insurance while I was out. I would not have had to pay my STD, or vacation/sick time that I used.
I would give 2 weeks notice but I would wait until you're absolutely sure. Unfortunately, the company is always going to think of it's bottom line first so you don't want to imply you may not come back until you've made the decision. They could decide to change their budget for your position etc. (this was what my friend's boss told her when she said she may not come back after her maternity leave -- he said he'd pretend she didn't say that because he'd have to make decisions about her position from a budget standpoint and thus, didn't want to know until she gave her notice.).
If you're hoping to possibly work there again in the future, then I'd definitely go in and give a formal notice -- discuss with your boss, hand a letter to boss or HR.