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2nd Trimester
Maternity Leave
Maybe it's just me...but I am SO confused about maternity leave. I live in CA...work full time as a nurse. I plan on working up until my due date if possible. I don't have much sick time to use and I don't want to use my vacation time because we are planning on using it later this year. For some reason, I was under the impression that you got paid for 6 weeks maternity leave, post having the baby. I was just informed that I only get 55% of my income for those weeks and that if I wanted to, I can use sick time or just not get paid. Then, my boss told me that we'd have to be sure that our insurance is still going during the leave, so we would probably owe a check to my company each month so that our benefits don't stop.
Really? If this is maternity leave, then it sucks! Am I missing something?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Maternity Leave
I'm in CA as well. Depending on the size of your company (I think) you are entitled to 6 or 8 weeks (depending on vaginal or c-section) of State Disability - I believe that is some percent of your income (55% may be right). YOu are also eligible for an additional 6 weeks of Paid Family Leave (PFL) as is your husband (assuming you don't work for the same company). I'll be using about 4 weeks of sick time as well as 2 weeks of vacation and then a bunch of time off without pay - my company gives us up to 6 months for maternity/paternity leave. So for now we're saving so we can manage for about 1.5-2 months on just one income.
I think it varies from company to company how health insurance is handled. I"m on my husband's insurance through his work b/c it's better so I'm not sure how it's handled and he'll only be taking a couple of PFL weeks (so we may h ave to pay some, but not much).
I'm meeting with our HR person on Friday to get more details - if I remember, I can try to PM you the CA specific stuff.
HR manager here -
So...
A) you get six weeks (or longer if the doctor does not release you then) of state disability - Go to the EDD.ca.gov website for more info. yes, you only get 2/3 of your pay and yes, you can use sick/vacation time to make up the difference.
C) FMLA protects your job for 12 weeks and starts after disability ends. FMLA is not paid and does not have to be taken all at once. This also runs con-currently with PFL.
D) Then you have CFRA...this gives you an additional 12 weeks again does not have to be taken all at one time...and is not paid but will protect your job
E) Employers are only obligated to continue your insurance for the first 12 weeks of your leave. So...if you pay some of the premium you only have to pay that for the first 12 weeks. After that, you take additional time off, you are responsible for the full premium
F) That being said...you are a nurse. If you work for a hospital you are probably have a whole other set of rules because of the union...if there is one which there usually is.
There is tons of information on the internet out there...here are a couple of sites for Cali.
https://www.ehow.com/list_6728253_california-maternity-leave-laws.html
https://www.paidfamilyleave.org/
https://pregnancy.lovetoknow.com/wiki/California_Maternity_Leave
Good Luck!
---Also, a lot of this depends on the size of the company you work for.
Cali here to, Just got off maternity leave.
Pretty much all of this, but to break it down in laymans terms:
4 weeks before delivery (disability) paid at 55% to 60% (there is chart)
6 weeks (or 8 with c-section) after disability paid at 55% to 60%
additional 6 weeks of family bonding paid at 55% to 60%
THEN if you chose another 12 weeks UNPAID (not sure if this is FMLA or CFRA)
all of this assuming you work for a company with more than 100 employees. Also i check my pay stub and i pay into the leave program which made me realize that i am entitled to the leave. check your stub.
but yes, if you paid a portion of your insurance you must cont if you wish to cont ur coverage. Also, be thankful that you get paid maternity leave in CALI. most states do not get paid maternity leave, only job protection.
I'm pretty sure (I guess depending on the state) that FMLA holds your job for 12 weeks. If you have short term disability it should cover a portion of your paycheck(my company is 60%) for 6 weeks for normal birth and 8 weeks for c-section. Thats all after a two week waiting period...every STD plan is different...your may start earlier, have a bigger or smaller % of your paycheck that they pay, etc. You need to talk to your HR department ASAP.
I'm from IL. I work at a university, and this is how it was explained to me:
1st week I use sick days. Following 6wks (vaginal delivery) or 8wks (c-section) I go on STD. They pay 80% (since I've been working here for the min. 5yrs, otherwise it'd be 60%) and the rest is covered by my sick and vacation days. Due to FMLA, I have the option to take the additional 4 or 6wks (depending on the type of delivery), but I will have to use my sick and/or vacation days.
Luckily, all my sick/vacation days rollover every year, so I've managed to accumulate a lot of time. The other option I have is to take 8wks, and if my boss allows it, I can work a 0.8 schedule- meaning I work 4x/week, using my sick/vacation days with no penalty.
This exactly. I used to handle disability for California for my company. Your pay will really depend on what your company provides so I would suggest speaking with your HR department if your manager does not know. The company that I worked for would supplement the pay to make the employee whole because our short term disability policy covered 100% of pay (this was very generous compared to most companies).
So employees would receive the 55-60% of their pay from the state for the 6-8 weeks that they were on disability and the company would pay them the remaining 40-45% of their pay. Then when disability was over they were eligible for "baby bonding" time through the CFRA leave would gave them 12 weeks of job protected leave. 6 weeks of that was paid at 55% by the state and the last 6 weeks was unpaid completely. The company did not supplement any of this time so the employee could take vacation to supplement it if they wanted to. You really should talk to your HR department to find out exactly what your leave is and what your company covers.
With DS, my maternity leave was horrible. I had to use PTO if I wanted to be paid any of my 6 wks off (I worked at a bank) and I only had 3 wks saved up--so I had 3 wks unpaid. ML in the U.S. is a joke.
Best Wishes to my labor buddy FunNSunAZ!
"Well I've waited so long, so long, so long For someone like you And as this morning breaks through the window pane It reveals the truth Baby, you're my sunshine, first light Find your way to places that only know lies Failed tries and bruised skies With hardly time to hold on or be strong, now I'm strong 'Cos like the dawn you push it all away I tell ya, you're my sunshine
Everybody needs a little sunshine"
Steve Azar "Sunshine"
Sadly that is about right.
If you have been at your job 12 or more months AND you work for a company with 50+ employees within like 200 miles when you have the baby you quality for FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) which intitles you to 12 weeks unpaid leave. (you have to work at least something like 1,200 hours in those 12 months).
Short term disabilty is 6 weeks at some % of your pay. This is determined by your employer, for example at my job I have to take 5 work days completely unpaid first then I get the 6 weeks at 60% of my income, of which my insurance will still continue to come out....so basically unpaid. I do not qualify for FMLA
Pretty sh!tty if you ask me, I wish we lived in Canada and got the year off (I think they only get 50% of thier pay but still!!!)
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