super annoyed with maternity leave

meganjoey0728 · October 2011

I am a teacher and am so annoyed with my leave. The district only allows us to take 6 weeks unless we have a well documented reason and note from the doctor. I spoke to my doctor about this and pretty much I was told I will have to go back to work after 6 weeks. Its not that I don't want to work, but that I don't want Alex to go to daycare that young. If I choose to stay home it would have to be without pay and I carry the health insurance which we would have to pay for out of pocket. Sorry to complain I'm just freaking out!!

JKTTC1 · October 2011

I am a teacher too. We get 6 weeks of maternity leave but 60 days of FMLA leave. The FMLA leaves starts the day you leave and doesnt include holidays/weekends. I had to come out early because of pre-term labor. Today was the first day home but I dont go back till feb 4. I have 3 week of sick leave then 6 weeks of short term disability. The other leave time will be unpaid.

Froggy76 · October 2011

Very few people get much paid leave. I will get paid for 5 or 7 weeks of short-term disability (STD is 6-8 weeks, with a one-week waiting period), depending on what sort of delivery I have.

Otherwise, you are probably eligible for FMLA, which just holds your job without pay, unless you use your vacation time to get paid. Your situation sounds normal to me.

LesRN · October 2011

You should be able to claim "bonding time" and get a full 12 weeks covered by FMLA. But as pp mentioned, unless you have vacation time saved up you won't be getting paid for anything but 6-8 weeks covered by STD. I'm pretty sure that is the norm. I'm getting paid for my whole 12 weeks but pretty much using up every penny of vacation time that I have saved up.

JillianAshley6 · October 2011

Yeah, I don't think your situation is rare. Most people dint get ANY paid leave....or if they do it's short term disability at 60ish% of their salary for 6 weeks for a vaginal birth or 8 weeks for a csection. Does it help at all where Christmas/thanksgiving falls? I know for me that gave me an extra week of paid leave....and teachers usually get more than I do. Something to consider.

pghjen · October 2011

Agreed - this is pretty common. From what I understand, FMLA doesn't guarantee you get paid during your leave, it guarantees that you have your job (or an equitable position as far as salary and responsibilities) when you come back from leave.

AmberDerek · October 2011

I only get paid for 6 weeks. Then I am taking an additional 10 weeks unpaid. We knew this before I even got pregnant so we just saved up extra money to supplement for the time I will be unpaid. Could you take additional time unpaid?

sbelle3 · October 2011

Maternity leave is terrible. However, you are lucky to get paid for 6 weeks. I teach for a small private school and I get zero paid days. I am taking 12 weeks unpaid. Yes, we will be broke but I have been saving to get us by and based on my experience having babies it is well worth it. If you can swing it at all, I would recommend claiming FMLA and taking as much time as you need/want. You will never get this time back. JMO. Good luck!

littlewinnie15 · October 2011

I believe that FMLA also requires the employer to continue to carry the insurance premiums as well as guarantee the position.

I don't qualify, so OP I'm in the same boat as you too. 6 weeks, and if I take any more unpaid time I have to pay my insurances premiums in full - and I'm the primary insurance holder for our family. It's like and extra $800 a week out of pocket on top of no paycheck. Yeah, don't think so!

NIKKILEW · October 2011

UNLEEESSSSSSS you suffer from postpartum!!!! the doc has to have a medical reason to keep you out of work. So i mean hopefully everything goes great and there is nothing wrong but if you suffer from postpartum then i think that would be a medical reason no?

Tanderson0201 · October 2011

Ugh, I'm sorry! 6 weeks is such BS in my opinion. That's NO time at all! My doctor was convinced my LO was going to be 2 weeks early. My son was also 2 weeks early. So what do I do? Take ML 2 weeks early. And here I sit on my second week, still pregnant! Ahhh!

peanut701 · October 2011

I don't get any paid "maternity leave." I just have to use up accrued sick and vacation time. Most of my leave will be unpaid. As for insurance premiums, I'm going to incur a debt to my employer, who will then take a portion of the premiums out of each paycheck upon my return until it's paid off. I have the option of sending in a check while I'm on leave, but I'm more comfortable having it taken out of my check when I'm back in pay status. All of this is a really long-winded way of saying that you should figure out exactly how insurance premiums will be handled while you're on unpaid leave and then figure out if you can manage unpaid leave plus paying the premiums.

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