Maternity leave

lls31 · January 2013

I apologize if this has already been asked, but how many weeks of maternity leave are your employers giving you?

I just found out that I get 6 weeks total - 2 paid, 4 unpaid. I kind of just want to cry. I don't know what the norm is, but I expected more. We can't afford for me to take unpaid time from work. And I only have 3 weeks of vacation time. So I'll only be able to stay home with LO for 5 weeks. It breaks my heart to know that I'm going to have to leave a 5 week old baby to go back to work. This totally put a damper on my day.

luvmyducks · January 2013

My employer (when I was pg with DD--I'm a SAHM now) gives everyone who goes out on a leave of absence up to one year of time off before they fill the position with someone else--you aren't necessarily fired, but your position might not be available so you would have to take one that was available. If none were available, then you would lose your job. But they don't pay you for any LOAs. You can use STD and whatever PTO you have saved up. I worked there for 11 years and had enough STD, sick pay and vacation saved up to take 5m off before I resigned. My DH works for the same company and was able to take off 4m with me full pay bc of PTO he had saved.

ETA: You should be able to get STD to maybe stay out the full 6w--it can stretch your vacation pay a little. Also if you have a c/s they have to give you at least 8w. (not paid, but they can't fire you for staying out 8w)

Stina2012 · January 2013

I'm guessing you work at a small company or part time where you don't get FMLA? They are writing the maternity policy at my company right now. Before this year we got FMLA and STD but nothing in the way of paid time. I'm anxious to learn what the new policy will be and when it goes into effect.

lls31 · January 2013

Yes, I work for a small company so FMLA doesn't apply. We also don't have STD.

kt012885 · January 2013

I'm sorry-that would make me sad too. I get 3 months unpaid maternity leave and I'm taking it all. I have 1 week of vacation- so I guess I'll get 1 week paid. My student loan payment is 400 bucks a month- so I have that money saved to pay that for 3 months and otherwise dh's check should cover us- it'll be a bit tighter but we've been putting quite a bit in savings for a while...and I have an aflac plan...I should get 2000 for that. (hopefully tho we can put that towards the medical bills)

Can you start putting money aside so you can have 1 extra week off? Even if you just put a small amount a week aside- you should be able to get a weeks worth of pay saved? Just an idea.

solsburyhill · January 2013

FMLA protects your job for 12 weeks. All that means is they can't fire you for taking 12 weeks off. Nothing to do with pay. Your company has to be big enough to qualify for this.

STD is a benefit that helps provide income for 6-8 weeks of being "disabled", which includes recoverying from childbirth. Sometimes they pay 60%, sometimes 80%, it a lot of times depends on how long you've been there.

In addition to that, some companies also provide their own benefit of paying you on maternity leave.

My company just does STD but also qualifies for FMLA. So I can take 12 weeks off without fear of losing my job from FMLA and STD will pay me 80% of my income for 8 weeks because I'm having a repeat c/s.

lls31 · January 2013

kt012885:
I'm sorry-that would make me sad too. I get 3 months unpaid maternity leave and I'm taking it all. I have 1 week of vacation- so I guess I'll get 1 week paid. My student loan payment is 400 bucks a month- so I have that money saved to pay that for 3 months and otherwise dh's check should cover us- it'll be a bit tighter but we've been putting quite a bit in savings for a while...and I have an aflac plan...I should get 2000 for that. (hopefully tho we can put that towards the medical bills)
Can you start putting money aside so you can have 1 extra week off? Even if you just put a small amount a week aside- you should be able to get a weeks worth of pay saved? Just an idea.

We have a decent amount in savings already, but we had been planning on using that for any medical bills that insurance doesn't cover as well as any baby supplies we'll need. We will definitely be saving as much as we can between then and now.

The company my H works for gives 6 weeks of paid maternity leave. I guess I kind of expected something more along those lines, and I would end up with 9 weeks after my vacation time. I'm just really disappointed.

luvmyducks · January 2013

solsburyhill:
FMLA protects your job for 12 weeks. All that means is they can't fire you for taking 12 weeks off. Nothing to do with pay. Your company has to be big enough to qualify for this.

STD is a benefit that helps provide income for 6-8 weeks of being "disabled", which includes recoverying from childbirth. Sometimes they pay 60%, sometimes 80%, it a lot of times depends on how long you've been there.

In addition to that, some companies also provide their own benefit of paying you on maternity leave.

My company just does STD but also qualifies for FMLA. So I can take 12 weeks off without fear of losing my job from FMLA and STD will pay me 80% of my income for 8 weeks because I'm having a repeat c/s.

Small businesses are not always required to follow FMLA--there are a lot of parameters that I'm not sure of, but if the company is small enough, they don't have to give 12w off.

JLHeisler · January 2013

FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) covers for 12 weeks. So...I get as many as I have sick days paid and the remainder are unpaid.

lls31 · January 2013

luvmyducks:
solsburyhill:
FMLA protects your job for 12 weeks. All that means is they can't fire you for taking 12 weeks off. Nothing to do with pay. Your company has to be big enough to qualify for this.
STD is a benefit that helps provide income for 6-8 weeks of being "disabled", which includes recoverying from childbirth. Sometimes they pay 60%, sometimes 80%, it a lot of times depends on how long you've been there.
In addition to that, some companies also provide their own benefit of paying you on maternity leave.
My company just does STD but also qualifies for FMLA. So I can take 12 weeks off without fear of losing my job from FMLA and STD will pay me 80% of my income for 8 weeks because I'm having a repeat c/s.
Small businesses are not always required to follow FMLA--there are a lot of parameters that I'm not sure of, but if the company is small enough, they don't have to give 12w off.

FMLA only applies to businesses with 20 or more employees. We do not have 20 or more employees.

lnlaveque · January 2013

I pay for a short term disability plan. I pay 18 a month towards the plan. I get 6 weeks off with 60 percent of my pay for those 6 weeks. Or 8 weeks with 60 percent if i have a c section. If I choose to take any extra time it is unpaid. I may take a couple extra weeks off but not an extra 6 weeks.

pantsarella · January 2013

I get FMLA leave. So I can take 12 weeks unpaid, but I'll only have about 5 1/2 weeks of paid time off, so I'm going to take 6 or 8 weeks depending on delivery and the difference will be unpaid.

My employer does not offer short term disability, or I would have signed up for that. DH is planning to take 6-8 weeks off when I go back to work, though.

martyn17 · January 2013

No paid leave. I am planning on using vacation and sick leave to take 8 weeks. Then for the following 6-8 weeks I am planning on working 3 days a week, mostly from home. Then back to work full time once the baby is 3 months old.

shara3333 · January 2013

I will get STD for 6 or 8 weeks depending at 60% pay (however the first 2 weeks are unpaid - what a scam! haha). They also said they are required to cash out half of my PTO time, so that'll be about 2 weeks of pay that they will cash out. I'm not sure if I'll start working from home at 8 weeks (thankfully by bosses are GREAT about that and as long as I have my work computer it's easy) or if I'll use the rest of my PTO and go unpaid until the 12 week mark.

I have not encountered a day care that will take a child until 3 months of age in my neighborhood and even for 3 months+ there is only one in walking distance (I live in Brooklyn). So I'm not really going to have a choice in regards to going back before 12 weeks.

My husband would get 12 weeks paid if he was the primary care giver....

Stina2012 · January 2013

lls31:
The company my H works for gives 6 weeks of paid maternity leave. I guess I kind of expected something more along those lines, and I would end up with 9 weeks after my vacation time. I'm just really disappointed.

Could he take any paternity leave after you take your leave? Just a thought if you wouldn't be ready for LO to go to daycare or if LO has to be 3 months.

I would absolutely be bummed as well!

audbeach · January 2013

I only get 5.5 days of PTO per year because I work 3 days a week. I'm on bedrest right now for the third week and that cuts into my 12 wks of FMLA that I would be allowed to take. Any time I take off after the baby and even my time now is all unpaid.

solsburyhill · January 2013

luvmyducks:
solsburyhill:

FMLA protects your job for 12 weeks. All that means is they can't fire you for taking 12 weeks off. Nothing to do with pay. Your company has to be big enough to qualify for this.

STD is a benefit that helps provide income for 6-8 weeks of being "disabled", which includes recoverying from childbirth. Sometimes they pay 60%, sometimes 80%, it a lot of times depends on how long you've been there.

In addition to that, some companies also provide their own benefit of paying you on maternity leave.

My company just does STD but also qualifies for FMLA. So I can take 12 weeks off without fear of losing my job from FMLA and STD will pay me 80% of my income for 8 weeks because I'm having a repeat c/s.

Small businesses are not always required to follow FMLA--there are a lot of parameters that I'm not sure of, but if the company is small enough, they don't have to give 12w off.

right ... that's why I said "your company might not be big enough"

KdgTeacher · January 2013

We get 6 paid for a vaginal delivery and 8 weeks paid for a c-section. Unless you have a summer baby ::wah-wah-waaaah. Then you get nothing.

I'm HOPING baby comes on time or late (yes, flame me I said I hope I go a little late). If, and only if, that happens I'll get a few weeks paid since we go back to school Aug 7th so I'd get 3 weeks paid. Regardless, I'm taking 12 weeks of FMLA leave which starts Aug 7th--the first day of school.

lls31 · January 2013

I'll definitely have H look into his paternity leave policy. He's also saving vacation days so he can take off once I go back to work.

I'm annoyed that we don't have the option for STD here. I had paid into STD for 7 years at my last job and never even used it.

I guess unpaid maternity leave is more common than I thought. It's really a shame. I guess I am lucky that I at least get 2 weeks paid and I have vacation time to use. It's better than nothing at all. Thank you all for your input. I'm still sad that I'll have to leave LO so early, but I feel a little bit better knowing that I'm not the only one.

bobcee · January 2013

Yep. I'm always jealous of those who get paid at all for their maternity leave. My husband get paid a week paternity leave. But I get 12 weeks unpaid that I can take per FMLA and can use up to 6 weeks sick leave for vaginal delivery or 8 weeks for c-section during that time. The rest of the time we can cover with any vacation we have built up. Luckily I have enough saved to cover the 12 weeks.

lls31 · January 2013

Alicia0817:
martyn17:
No paid leave. nbsp;I am planning on using vacation and sick leave to take 8 weeks. nbsp;Then for the following 68 weeks I am planning on working 3 days a week, mostly from home. nbsp;Then back to work full time once the baby is 3 months old. nbsp;
I'm pretty much doing this too. Does no one look into company policy before they get pregnant? I feel like everyone is always so shocked at what they find...

I actually did look into it. The company I work for is a start up. We've only been in business for 2 years. Our handbook does not have anything listed for maternity leave. When I inquired about it after I read through the handbook, I was told that it would be whatever the law states. I wasn't pregnant at the time, so I didn't dig deeper.

caelorum84 · January 2013

I'm from Quebec, Canada and realize how incredibly lucky we are. I get 20 weeks paid at 90% from my employer and then 32 weeks at 55% of my salary paid from the government (everyone in Canada has to give a percentage of their paycheque to EI and this is where they get the money from). So in total I get a year off with at least some income coming in the entire time which is a HUGE blessing since DH is a student/musician.

Stina2012 · January 2013

Alicia0817:
I'm pretty much doing this too. Does no one look into company policy before they get pregnant? I feel like everyone is always so shocked at what they find...

I did! We actually started a group about this at my company. We all got together, did some research and presented it to HR. In my company the new "rising stars" are actually like 70/30 female to male so it was worth if for my company to create a policy to retain their top female talent.

But, knowing that may not be successful I have been saving for a while and knew that I'd put my bonus and tax refund towards staying home. Yes, I was a total eager beaver about getting pregnant.

MrsChamp11 · January 2013

No offense, but you should have planned for this prior to getting pregnant. It is very rare to get any paid time off from an employer. You should know their leave time prior to choosing to get pregnant. You could have also purchased short term disability insurance to help offset the lack of income. Can you save money now and take unpaid time off? Hopefully you don't have a csection because you won't be healed by 5 weeks.

MrserinJ · January 2013

I live in Canada. We have 1 year paid mat leave through the government. Your employer can top it up to 100 but if they choose but if not, it's about 60 of your wages, capped at a certain amount for a year. Legally, your employer must hold your position for a year though.

Bkuhman · January 2013

My H is 2 months unpaid! Not happy so he is using a week vacation, sick days, and personal days and maybe a week or two of the non paid. Since we have a 3 yr old already I imagine I will need him as long as I can have him lol!

PrimRoseMama · January 2013

I'm sorry you don't get FMLA and that you have to go back in 5 weeks once LO is here. I a SAHM, but when I was working prior to LO, my employer was going to give me the FMLA leave of 12 weeks. I chose to train my replacement and stay home instead.

It might be tough on you, but look at the bright side, you are working your very hardest to provide for your LO that needs you. I know it its a bummer, and I'm very sorry you are going through this.

lls31 · January 2013

MrsChamp11:
No offense, but you should have planned for this prior to getting pregnant. It is very rare to get any paid time off from an employer. You should know their leave time prior to choosing to get pregnant. You could have also purchased short term disability insurance to help offset the lack of income. Can you save money now and take unpaid time off? Hopefully you don't have a csection because you won't be healed by 5 weeks.

No offense, but I didn't want my boss to know that we planned on having children immediately after our wedding. As I mentioned several times in this thread, I work for a small company. I got married and bought a house in November and my boss wasn't thrilled with the fact that I needed to take almost 3 weeks off of work considering I have no back up here. Asking about maternity leave and implying we were going to start a family was not a road I wanted to travel down considering he already wasn't particularly happy with me. Most of my friends and family members in this area were given 4-6 weeks paid leave. I assumed it was the norm. I shouldn't have assumed that, but it is what it is at this point.

If you read through the posts earlier, you'd see that I said this: We have a decent amount in savings already, but we had been planning on using that for any medical bills that insurance doesn't cover as well as any baby supplies we'll need. We will definitely be saving as much as we can between then and now.

By the time July comes around, I'm sure we will have plenty saved. I was just hoping we wouldn't need to tap into our savings for work related reasons. I hope I don't need a c-section either - thanks for your concern.

solsburyhill · January 2013

One thing that made it easier for me to go back is I just worked 2 days the first week and DH took vacation those days and stayed home with the baby. It helped ease into things a little bit.

Something to consider?

lls31 · January 2013

PrimRoseMama:
I'm sorry you don't get FMLA and that you have to go back in 5 weeks once LO is here. I a SAHM, but when I was working prior to LO, my employer was going to give me the FMLA leave of 12 weeks. I chose to train my replacement and stay home instead.
It might be tough on you, but look at the bright side, you are working your very hardest to provide for your LO that needs you. I know it its a bummer, and I'm very sorry you are going through this.

Thank you. This post made me smile. I'm sure going back to work at any point isn't going to be easy, but I'm doing it for our LO. H and I are very, very lucky that we both have good, well paying jobs, as well as a brand new house. We worked hard for everything we have and we want the best for our LO. It will work out. Everything ends up working out in the end.

I think I just overreacted earlier since the news was fresh. I'm okay now. We can handle it. Thanks everyone for your kind words!

lls31 · January 2013

solsburyhill:
One thing that made it easier for me to go back is I just worked 2 days the first week and DH took vacation those days and stayed home with the baby. It helped ease into things a little bit.
Something to consider?

This is a great idea and I will definitely discuss this with my boss. Thanks for the suggestion!

NICU RN · January 2013

I won't qualify for FMLA either as I have not been at my job long enough. I have not yet asked my boss about the maternity leave policy. I plan to take whatever time they let me. I expect that it will all be unpaid except the two weeks of vacation I have. I am hoping that he will say I can take up to 12 weeks off, but am planning to hear 6-8. Either way, I am saving now so that I can take up to 12 weeks off unpaid if they will let me.

Shan134 · January 2013

I live in the UK and we get 12 months. Only half of that is paid, but you can return to work after 6 months, which is optional.

Sincera4 · January 2013

KdgTeacher:
We get 6 paid for a vaginal delivery and 8 weeks paid for a c-section. Unless you have a summer baby ::wah-wah-waaaah. Then you get nothing.

I'm HOPING baby comes on time or late (yes, flame me I said I hope I go a little late). If, and only if, that happens I'll get a few weeks paid since we go back to school Aug 7th so I'd get 3 weeks paid. Regardless, I'm taking 12 weeks of FMLA leave which starts Aug 7th--the first day of school.

Teacher here also! I'm hoping the same thing. We start the last week of July!

minouvan · January 2013

caelorum84:
I'm from Quebec, Canada and realize how incredibly lucky we are. I get 20 weeks paid at 90 from my employer and then 32 weeks at 55 of my salary paid from the government everyone in Canada has to give a percentage of their paycheque to EI and this is where they get the money from. So in total I get a year off with at least some income coming in the entire time which is a HUGE blessing since DH is a student/musician.

I'm from Alberta... I am reading these posts in horror. I don't know what I would do if I were in the same position. I am now more thankful than ever to live in Canada!

You have my sympathy.

kaylakim · January 2013

lls31:
I apologize if this has already been asked, but how many weeks of maternity leave are your employers giving you?
I just found out that I get 6 weeks total - 2 paid, 4 unpaid. I kind of just want to cry. I don't know what the norm is, but I expected more. We can't afford for me to take unpaid time from work. And I only have 3 weeks of vacation time. So I'll only be able to stay home with LO for 5 weeks. It breaks my heart to know that I'm going to have to leave a 5 week old baby to go back to work. This totally put a damper on my day.

I'm so sorry to hear that! I have only had 6 weeks unpaid leave with both of my daughters, and the same for this LO. It really does suck to a) go unpaid and b) return to work, leaving a tiny baby.

I really feel your pain!

Hope4twins · January 2013

I'm feeling very thankful right now because I thought my company was the norm but I see its not. I get 13 weeks 100 pay can add my vacation sick time to that to make it 15 weeks full pay. I work for a big bank.

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