I work for a small, family owned business that has less than 20 employees. There are only 2 female employees and I am sure from our situations our bosses never thought either of us would be having children. Anyway - I am now 4 weeks pg and am planning on telling the owners after the new year.
What should I do regarding the possibility of creating a maternity leave plan with my employer? Should I request time off and some length that be paid? What do your companies offer for time off for maternity leave?
Another note - this company really has not set up any policies/procedures regarding many things so this is just one more area they do need improvement on anyway. We have only been in business for 3 1/2 years at the time.
Thank you for any advice you can give! I need to come up with a plan for when I announce the news!
Re: Work for small company-no maternity plan in place...
I own a small company so I understand the fact they don't have an official plan in place. It's very smart of you to research what other small companies do - make sure you chat with other women that work for small businesses locally. How long have you worked there? If you have worked there for over a year, I would guess they will give you 6 weeks paid time off. At least that is what I would do for my employees.
You said they probably weren't expecting either yourself or the other female employee to get pregnant (which means they aren't expecting long term leave on the horizon) so I would make sure and reassure the owners that you are committed to making sure your time off goes as smoothly as possible. Perhaps present them with your plan (who will cover your responsibilities, etc) as you announce the news.
Good luck!!!
There are a lot of well-established companies that don't offer 6 weeks paid leave. That would really be asking a lot.
Think about your biggest concerns - job protection? Income? Continuing benefits? - and tailor your request accordingly.
I think expecting to get paid may be pushing it. Sure, you can ask, but I really would NOT expect that at all. Especially if it's a small company. They may really not be able to afford it, esp if they have to bring someone in temporarily to cover your work load.
Paid mat leave is a totally awesome benefit, but not super common, and I've only really heard of it w/ larger companies.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
Yes - I should rephrase. As the business owner, I would give paid time off b/c I'm trying to build a very family friendly workplace. However, as the employee you definitely shouldn't expect it.
My situation was very similar, company has less than 20 employees and in it's 8 year existence, not one person has ever gone on maternity leave. I was pretty terrified to tell my boss as I knew that there was no FMLA and technically, they could let me go and get away with it.
When I told my boss, I made sure he knew that I would be coming back and do what I could on maternity leave to help with my job duties that had to be done (I did payroll from home and answered questions/emails). Fortunately, they didn't let me go but being there was no FMLA, asking for paid time off was something I didn't do, didn't want to push my luck. They gave me the time off - 12 weeks or so - and I cashed out two weeks of my vacation.
I'm in the same boat and when I had DS last year, I had him just after getting my two weeks of vacation on my anniversary date, so I used my two weeks and then worked from home the rest of the time up until he was 6 wks and then returned to the office. My main concern was earning a paycheck during that time, because we can't live off just DH's alone, not even for a month.
I'll probably be doing the same thing again this time around unless something changes.
I had a similar situation. I work at a law firm that was pretty small at the time I had DD (25-30 employees), and there was a written mat leave policy for staff but not for attorneys. I was the 1st attorney to need a maternity leave.
I was very nervous but my boss was happy for me and gave me the leave (unpaid) that I asked for. In MN I was covered under the mn parenting leave act (that may not be the exact title) which gave at least 6 weeks off with job protection.
I asked for 10 weeks off full-time and 4 weeks part-time (adding up to 12 weeks like FMLA). I did have disability insurance (but it was a crappy policy with a low cap, more set up for staff salaries--we have a better one now) so that was just a little bit but better than nothing. Otherwise it was unpaid and they continued to carry my benefits but made me pay for them during the leave.
Since then, our firm has grown, and another female senior associate and I have pushed thru a written policy for mat/pat leave that the partners have adopted. It provides for some pay and they pay for benefits. Much better than nothing, although not as generous of a policy as what we initially asked for.