- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
September 2011 Moms
uterusdreams
member
Maternity leave - what are you doing?
uterusdreams
member
Hi everyone!
I'm trying to figure out what I'd like to do for maternity leave... I get 12 weeks unpaid, but can use vacation/sick time to cover as much of that as I can/want. By my due date (September 3), I will have accumulated enough vacation & sick time to take the full 12 weeks paid.
However, I'm considering breaking it down and doing something like taking 8-10 weeks off in a row right after LO comes, and then using the remaining vacation/sick time to take one day a week off for the next 10 or so weeks after my in-a-row leave ends. I feel like that might help the transition back to work go a little more smoothly... not sure if my boss would like that idea, but technically I can use my vacation and sick time when I want to, so I do plan to bring it up as an option.
Has anyone done something like that before? Or is anyone planning to do something similar? Or completely different? Haha - I'm just curious to know what others are planning to do. I know everyone's employer has a different leave plan and options, but I'm curious as to whether or not anyone has taken a shorter work week after coming back from leave and how that worked out for you.
Any feedback is appreciated!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Maternity leave - what are you doing?
I get 6 weeks paid through short term disability, and can use my vacation after that. While my company only truly allows the 12 weeks off per FMLA, they are being flexible since I've laid my plan out to them. This is my plan:
Sept 5-Oct 14 Paid through Short Term Disability (I am guessing as though I might go a week early- otherwise the first week will be vacation time)
Oct 17-Nov 4 Paid with Vacation Time
Nov 7-18 Unpaid
Nov 21-Dec 16 Work Part Time from Home (there are a lot of year end projects where I can assist via email/computer and be a resource for my staff back at the office)
Dec 19 Return to the office Full Time. DH will be on Christmas Break (he's a teacher) so this plan will keep us from having to worry about daycare until January.
Elliott Michael born 9/22/11
Peanut Butter and Jelly!
<a href="http://s568.photobucket.com/albums/ss122/AliceNP/?action=view
It is a good idea if you have that much PTO. I will probably have a little over 2 weeks saved up and I have to use that as soon as my first 6 weeks is up. My boss lets us go up to 40 hours of negative PTO, so I probably will just take my full 12 weeks and then deal with having no PTO. I accrue it as a good pace, so I won't be without it for too long.
I get 12 weeks since I qualify for FMLA. THe first 6 are paid at 100%. At that point, i have to use my PTO. Then, the remaining 4 weeks are unpaid. If by chance my doctor will write me a note saying I have to still be off work after the first 6 weeks, I can probably get the last 6 paid at 60% using STD.
Either way, I am planning on taking the full 12 weeks and we will be saving now in case the last 4 weeks are unpaid. I also plan on having my doctor write me out of work starting 2 weeks or so before my due date since I have such a long commute and I do not want to go into labor at work since they will probably make me go to a hospital downtown instead of my hospital near my home. Hopefully, I can just work from home full-time during that time instead of having to use STD.
I get up to 12 weeks unpaid, and I don't get vacation or sick days, but I worked out another solution with my job. I teach at the college level, so they're letting me teach my classes online for the Fall semester. I'll still have to have a co-worker cover for a week or so, but I'll get paid my full salary, and I'll be able to split up my work day around LO's needs. I'm so grateful that my university is working with me on this.
DH gets unpaid paternity leave, but he'd rather use his vacation days. He has two weeks vacation saved for after LO comes, and he's working half-days on Saturdays to try to get another week buffer.
I think your plan would work really well.
We get up to a year off unpaid, and can offset as much of that as possible with vacation and sick leave. I could never take a whole year, so I'm planning to take until the new year using my vacation and sick leave, so it'll all be paid.
When I come back, I'm going to work 3 or 4 days a week, using whatever remains of my leave to cover the days off, or taking unpaid leave for those days if necessary for a couple of months. Assuming I get the raise we're scheduled to get this summer, I'll be able to afford a day a week of unpaid leave for a couple of months next year. I'll probably be back to real full time in March or April. If we don't get the raise this summer, then I'm considering shortening my maternity leave so that I'm able to come back at 3-4 days a week for a little while anyway.
I like the idea of coming back a little at a time, to ease my way back into this "working" garbage, and to save on child care. I think your plan is great.
I know a lot of people who take some time off and then gradually go back part-time etc...I think your company might like it because they "get you back" sooner :-)!
Good luck!
I'm taking as much time as possible. My company does the standard 6 weeks STD and then I can take an additional 6 weeks unpaid. However, my boss is super awesome and said it was pointless to come back during Christmas so I might as well just wait until after the 1st of the year to come back. So I'm thinking I'll actually get about 14 weeks. Granted that extra time is also unpaid, but I'm cool with that.
As for your situation, yes, I've heard of people doing that - out for 8-10 weeks and then come back part time for the next 4 weeks. Obviously that is something you'll need to work out with yur boss.
I get 6 weeks fully paid, then I will be taking 4 weeks of vacation time and then after that I will be on a 1 yr leave of absence (unpaid) - if I can be a SAHM full time for a yr. With my first baby I stayed home 9 months, with baby #2 it was 6 months.
As for your plan I would recommend saving some of that vacation time for when baby goes into DC because once that happens you are going to need a few days for sick baby issues.
I like the idea of taking one day off/week. Seems like you should be able to sell it to your boss as being more palatable because you'll be back sooner.
I get 8 weeks paid. My boss and I have talked about it pretty extensively - I currently work from home 3 days/week, and in the office two. Once I come back from leave, I'll work anywhere from 2-4 days/week from home (she's offered to let me come back part-time if I prefer), and one day in the office. On my office day, DH will either take a day of leave or telecommute, so we don't have to do day care. We're hoping to avoid any day care for at least 6 months - since we live very far from family or close friends, it will be tricky, but we'll try to make it work.
(Warning - this is long!)
Thanks for sharing your plans and for the feedback, everyone! I like that some of you pointed out that if I take 8-10 weeks but come back for 4 days/week after that for awhile, my boss might actually like that because I will be back sooner. I'll definitely make sure to spin it that way when I present it to her!
I'll also have to look into what options are offered for short-term disability here... If I could take a few weeks at 50% or 60% paid, that might help a bit as well. It would be nice to have my whole leave paid for at 100%, but I do also want to save some vacation and sick days for after I go back to work, whether for my use or for LO if something comes up. If the STD option is available, I think DH and I will look at finances to see if it's feasible for a few weeks... I have a coworker who's out on maternity leave right now and getting back in 2 weeks, so I plan to talk to her to see exactly what she did to fill her 12 weeks, too. I know with her first LO, she took maternity leave for 12 weeks and then came back to work 4 days a week for a few months, but working 10 hour days instead of 8, so she didn't have to use vacation time but just had longer days. With my commute (an hour-ish each way, and I take the train), I'm not sure if that would be feasible... but the fact that she previously worked out a 4 day work week makes me hopefully that I could do something similar.
Luckily we are fairly close to our parents, and my mom has volunteered to babysit when I go back to work. I'm not sure how long that offer is good for, but I'm hoping we can avoid day care for at least a year... DH also works from home 3-4 days a week, so ideally I can take my one day off on a day that he has to go into the office, and my mom can babysit a few days (some days when DH works from home, his workload is pretty light, and others it's crazy, so even though he works from home we'll still need some help a few days a week).
We'll see how all of this pans out - thankfully there's still time to plan and figure it out, but I'm hoping to at least initially review it with my boss within the next few months... we're very short-staffed and I'm due at a pretty busy time of year for us (I work at a University in academic advising/student services and am due two weeks into the semester, right around the registration deadline!). So, it would be nice for me to have a plan and to be able to help the rest of the staff prepare sooner as opposed to later.
Thanks again for all of your feedback! Oh, and to those of you who get fully paid leaves without using vacation/sick time - I am quite jealous. Please let me know if your offices are hiring.