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April 2011 Moms
virginiagirl11
member
Anyone else disgusted with their state's maternity benefits?
virginiagirl11
member
DH and I have been talking/dreaming of moving across the country someday for a variety of reasons, and I told him in no uncertain terms this week that I will not be having my second child in Virginia, where we live now.
I've been fact-finding and doing research on my options for maternity leave this week to prepare for discussions with my company. I work for a very small company (~35 people) without an official maternity policy.
I have discovered that, outside of FMLA, Virginia offers absolutely no maternity benefits to an employee of a private company. No public short-term disability, nada. And since my company has fewer than 50 employees, I am technically not entitled to a damn thing.
Apparently an organization called the National Partnership for Women & Families did a study on maternity benefits offered by the various states and VA was one of 19 states that scored an F.
I am so disgusted. I know my company will not leave me in the dark and expect me to take all of my vacation days and then show up ready for full-time work two weeks later. But, seriously, I feel like I'm walking on a tightrope right now.
natural m/c 7.1.10 
: sticky baby 4.25.11 : #2 due 5.18.13
: sticky baby 4.25.11 : #2 due 5.18.13
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Anyone else disgusted with their state's maternity benefits?
No. But I had done all that research before continuing w/ ttc, so I knew what was available to me, and what kind of vacation time I would need to give up. It wasn't really a shock.
ETA: And I totally agree w/ PP who said it never occured to them to use state leave. I would use all my vacation time before I would even consider that option.
FMLA is only required of companies with 50 or more employees. My company does not qualify and therefore is not required to do anything for me.
But did you not know that before TTC?
um.....because it's not a paid leave...just a guess
-Ok and its our responsibility as productive individuals to do research before hand. Its not the states fault....Pregnancy isnt a disability, and I dont believe it should be treated as such. Plan...
I wasn't planning on counting on the state until I realized that I had absolutely no rights through FMLA. I had read about a lot of girls here taking STD so I looked into that and found there was nothing available there, either.
Silly me, I suppose, for finding this out at 15 weeks rather than prior to getting pregnant. We had already started saving for maternity leave before I got pregnant but I hate the fact that I have no legal "net" to catch me if my company decides to pull the plug on me. I'm sure they won't as they aren't like that at all, but I am just appalled at how little support there is for pregnant women in this state.
I'm confused. There is a big difference between not legally being required to provide paid maternity leave, and firing someone for being pregnant/giving birth (which is how I read this statement).
One is legal. One is not.
Or am I missing something?
Wait, I should clarify that I realize it is illegal to discriminate against someone because of pregnancy so I know I have legal recourse there. I just mean that, essentially, the state doesn't really give a *** about families in this regard.
Not if you work in an "at will" state like I do. I signed something when I started that my employment is considered "at will", which mean the company can legally terminate me at any time, for any reason and does not even have to disclose that reason. And I would have no recourse whatsoever Something to look into so you aren't surprised if that happens.
You cannot count on the government to help you. End of story. You should have done your research. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I find it hard to symathize with woman who don't and then are surprised when there is nothing to help them, when they knew they were going to TTC.
We are going to take care of ourselves, of course. I would not expect the state to do everything for me. I am just seriously disappointed that it doesn't provide more general backbone support for families.
I don't consider pregnancy to be a disability, either, but if you look at short-term disability (private and, in many states, public), maternity leave is covered.
I am a little surprised at the responses I've gotten here.
Why do you say that?
Thanks for the heads-up on at-will employement, weelass. I have not heard of that.
I will clarify one more time: I am not looking for government handouts. I have never in my life been in a government support program. Growing up, my family worked hard to earn what it needed. Now my husband and I provide for ourselves.
I knew prior to getting pregnant that we would need to save up for maternity leave. So we started saving. I just failed to inform myself at the time that my company would not be covered by FMLA. When I realized it this week, I started looking at other options that other women have used during their maternity leave. That is when I learned that VA does not offer any other public options for pregnant women.
What I am saying is that I am generally disappointed in my state's lack of effort to provide any other options to families outside of FMLA. And, as I said, VA comes out at the bottom of the pack when compared to many other states in this area so I am not the only one who thinks it seriously lacks.
I didn't realize states offered anything to pregnant women. I always thought it was just based upon the employer. I guess my work falls in the same category since there are only about 20 people. Our manual says you can take 6 weeks unpaid for medical leave which includes pregnancy and if there is not a similar postion open when you return they are allowed to teminate you. Thankfully my job requires a lot of knowledge to get to the point where I am at so hopefully they'd realize it would be silly to lose me over 6 weeks. Glad I don't work for DH's company, his work just fired a pregnant woman when her 12 weeks FMLA ran out (she left work a couple months prior to due date with a doctor's note)
The bumpie formerly known as First Time in MI
Well, I said that for several reasons.
a. I should have realized that this topic was political at heart even on this board. Then I would have been better prepared for some of the suggestions that I was seeking a government handout or that people who got upset at their state's lack of benefits were not prepared to support themselves.
b. I didn't expect to feel like one of the only people on the board who did not realize that their company did not qualify for FMLA prior to getting pregnant. I knew the basics of FMLA (12 weeks unpaid), had seen one of my girlfriends take 12 weeks of leave even though her company consists of 5 people, and knew that one other girl at my company who had gone on leave had worked out a very nice plan with my company. But I did not realize that my company was not required to do any of it. Yes, that says a lot about my company but it also scares me a little bit.
c. I simply expected more women to be dealing with the same frustration.
But FMLA doesn't mean that your company has to pay you. It just means that they have to keep your job available for you. So even if your company did qualify for it, it doesn't mean that there would be any financial benefit to you.
Neither my DH nor I will be eligible because we are moving in December, so will not have been employed for the minimum time (I'll likely be unemployed). But we knew this was our job situation when we decided to TTC and we will take care of it ourselves.
I understand your frustration because there are still several states that you can be fired for being pregnant and/or taking maternity leave. Just this summer Ohio passed a law specifically saying that. Ohio also has a law that says mothers can be fired for taking "unathorized" breaks to pump breast milk. https://tinyurl.com/36h6nz3
So forget any monetary support from the state, thats not the issue. I don't think any of us expected that. What I expected was to not be fired because I will take time off to recover from child birth (major surgery in my case). I'm lucky that I work at a great place that would never do that and everyone here is excited for me but not everyone has that. In IL you have no protection unless FLMA applies, unless your in Chicago and like everything else I think its different if you live in Chicago. You can sue for discrimination but all they have to say is you weren't working up to standards.
And not all of us could do research. Not everyone was TTC. And don't say it will never happen to you. It wasn't going to happen to me either. I went to fertility dr's to have my second and then got pregnant with this one on 99.9% effective birth control.
Same here. At my last employer, I knew I wouldn't qualify for FMLA & so we purposely held off on TTC until I found a knew job. Thankfully, my new job has great benefits & a decent maternity leave policy but it would have never occurred to me to have the state pay for my leave. That said, I'm also super jealous of Canada's maternity leave policy.
This may sound harsh, but it's your responsibility to make sure you can afford the pregnancy & caring for a child prior to TTC.
I don't believe I ever expressed an expectation of payment through FMLA. I was aware that it was 12 weeks unpaid. What I am saying is that I am disappointed that there is absolutely zero support of any kind through my state for families employed by companies of fewer than 50 employees who are giving birth to a child.
I can see how you would be frustrated.
p.s. I guess I'm one of the few who did zero research prior to trying. I had a vague idea of what my company offered, thankfully, I work for a very large organization so I knew I was somewhat covered, but that's it.
See this is where I, and I think a lot of other posters, may be confused. You are specifically talking about the fact that there is no job protection unless you qualify for FMLA? Then yes, I agree with you. That sucks. To me the entire argument sounded much more financially based. Support to me sounds like money. Protection sounds like job security.
to be clear, I am not starting with you, just offering my views in response.
a. I don't see this as a political issue AT ALL. Maybe it had become one for some since the healthcare bill, but I do no see it that way. I think you are misinterperting things and maybe we are too. It sounded like you expected your state to have a law in place for maternity leave. No one was accusing you of wanting a state handout, just that there is no national law, so you shouldn't expect your state to have one. I don't think anyone here thinks that state maternity leave = welfare.
b. That's fine.
c. I think there are, but I think a lot of them knew prior to TTC that there was nothing. All most of us are saying is that you should have done all the research before TTC, not say, 90% of it.
Thank you. I think you are one of the few people who actually understands what I'm saying. I'm not looking for handouts. I'm not looking for money. I am the breadwinner in my family and I can support us so it would save us all time if people would stop suggesting that I have been irresponsible. My husband and I went to a lot of effort to be as prepared, both financially and physically, as possible for a child before we TTC.
Unfortunately, this fell through the cracks and I simply did not have the full picture on maternity leave as it applied to my particular company (not that it would have altered our decision) and I am just expressing disappointment in my state. That's all this is.
This is understandable. No one is saying you should have done research when you were not TTC. Those comments are not directed at you and I think that is pretty obvious.
If you don't mind me asking, did you have an IUD? I am considering that after this one, but they make me nervous.
Okay, I appreciate your input. I'm feeling misinterpreted but you're right, it's possible that I am misinterpreting, too. Also, when I said political, I meant less healthcare bill-related and more general conservative vs. liberal fiscal-opinion- related. Thank you. It is strange to me to feel like I need to defend my financial position but maybe I don't need to.
Yes, I should have done 100% of the research rather than 90% of it. I didn't originally expect my state to make any sort of options available to families having children, but when I realized that my company wasn't covered by FMLA, I started to look more closely at the state.
Someone suggested that my seeking job security is indeed financial motivation. Fair enough, that's true. What I was trying to communicate is that I wasn't looking for a free ride on the fed or state's coattails.