Maternity leave....or lack thereof?

DianeW52512 · August 2013

So a woman from HR called me today to answer questions I have regarding maternity leave (a bit early, I know, but I like to plan ahead). She took a week and a half to return the call, and then came the awful news.... My company does not have 'maternity leave'.' I have to exhaust all of my PTO and then apply for short term disability, for a maximum of $170/week. In my head, I'm all "holy crap I need to start living like Jesus to save now" and in the flurry of all this, ask her if I can explain it back to her, to make sure I understand correctly. So I explain it back, ask her if I got it right, and she says (in a snarky tone) "We don't pay you out of our pocket when you have a baby." Ex-squeez-me?! Isn't this cray cray? Just wanted to give other first-timers, like myself, a heads up. Look into your company's policy and plan way ahead if necessary. For now, my husband and I will change our spending habits so we can put away the amount I would have earned during 'maternity leave.' PS- I am very thankful for my job and benefits. I know that this is not a major problem in the grand scheme of the universe. Also, I know that folks are big on grammar here. I have terrible grammar. Please forgive me for this post and for all of my future posts.

LaurenAsh23 · August 2013

Yes...the company I used to work for was like this. I thought short term disability was 60% of your regular pay though...that's a law I thought. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'm lucky that I get 4 weeks paid, then 2 weeks short term disability and then my pto. Dh also gets 2 weeks paternity leave.

clo1982 · August 2013

It sucks. I went from ft to pt but essentially I am still producing at a ft level. So I no linger qualify for benefits and barely make the minimum hours for Fmla. My boss is trying to get something in place as competing companies in the region offer great packages but is being met with a ton of resistance from hr. same as you in that it isn't a life changer, which I know we are fortunate, but it pisses me off that I'm making the same amount of money for the bank as my ft colleagues but it is ousting the bank about half as much since thy dont have to pay into things for me.

DianeW52512 · August 2013

Yeah unfortunately it was 50% of your salary or a maximum of $170 of 50% is higher then the max (170). BOOOOO! Lol Lauren- very glad to hear that you will have a month of full pay! That is wonderful. Clo- I hear ya, that is not fair. I hope they work something out for you!

mamamia866 · August 2013

I work per-diem, about 16 hours a week average, since im in nursing school. I will definitely be applying for STD. Every penny helps.

Margotsha · August 2013

Just as an FYI - The FLMA applies to companies that have at-least 50 employees. Mine has 47, so although I know my job is very safe, I am praying that we hire another 3-4 people jsut to be on the safe side.

My STD is 60% for 6 weeks, starting after the 1st one. So like pp, I will only get paid for 5 weeks. I can use my LTD, but I'm trying to figure out if it is even worth it (lots of paperwork)

Jens222 · August 2013

If I'm not at work I do not get paid. I have no sick days, no paid vacations, nothing. Be happy you at least can use PTO. Remember little money is better than NO money

linzerd · August 2013

The maternity leave thread seems to be a trend lately (I suppose). It's good that you looked into you benefits ahead of time, and that is a sucky "benefit", but unfortunately, that's the luck of the draw if you don't plan ahead with STD. I used to manage STD/LTD claims for a living and every company is different. I now work for a law firm managing SSDI claims. At my job now, they don't even offer STD, while they do offer a 3 mo. maternity leave, it is unpaid. You can get LTD after 3 mos. here though, they do offer that. But that doesn't do anything for the mamas. For this reason alone I knew I had to get myself an STD policy if I wanted to be paid for my maternity leave, so I purchased an Aflac policy that will pay me, I haven't checked yet, but I believe it may only pay for 6-8 wks. So I will have to use my vaca/sick time to be paid for the rest of the 12 wks, and I surely won't have enough for the rest of that time.
Unfortunately you most likely wouldn't be able to purchase an STD policy now since you are already pregnant, but at least now you know for future babies? Good luck with saving!

DianeW52512 · August 2013

Yes thank you Jens, as I wrote in the initial post I am thankful for my job and benefits. I wrote that to ensure that people understand that while I am nervous, I am not naive to the fact that it is not a big issue.

DianeW52512 · August 2013

Thanks Linzerd! That was very informative

crystaljoanna · August 2013

I opened my own law firm in march and of course I won't be paid if I'm not working

the thing that sucks even more is that I'm going to have to hire someone for the 2 months that I plan to take off. So my "maternity leave" means no $$ and having to pay someone to make sure my clients are happy and don't file bar complaints. I work on contingency so I can't even charge an hourly rate for the associate's work. It'll all be worth it in a year or two but this first year is going to be tough! I am jealous that some of you ladies at least get partial pay!

ellajune2012 · August 2013

mssm2012 said:

I thought short term disability was 60% of your regular pay though...that's a law I thought. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Every STD policy is different. Some cover 100% of your pay, some are 80%, but I believe 60% is the most common. If your company pays the premiums, your STD checks will be taxable. But if you pay the full premium, they are usually tax-free.

In NJ, STD pays 2/3 of your salary (not sure if there's a cap) for 6 weeks for vaginal birth, and 8 weeks for c-section. Anything else depends on your employer. For me, I have to use up any sick days before qualifying for STD (at least those are at full pay), and then I can use vacation and personal days to make up any other time I want to take off paid. Like someone else said FMLA will cover my job for up to 12 weeks but unless I have vacation time, it's unpaid.

On a side note, every time I see STD I think of something other than "short-term disability"

TradeMama · August 2013

With my last pregnancy, I worked for a small company that didn't offer std and didn't qualify for FMLA. So I saved all of my pto... But by the time I had a weekly dr appt, it was pretty much gone. My boss gave me 6 weeks unpaid-- and I went back 6 weeks after my son was born even though I'd had a csection. It was an awful experience. When I found out I was pregnant again, I quit my job and will spend the next few months studying for certifications so I can do something different.

25meshia · August 2013

My company only pays 66% of my salary & only gives us 6 weeks regardless if that's c-section or natural delivery! When I had my daughter it was really hard on me financially. I know this time around that I have to save drastically! This time around is different because I have my fiancé here to help but I still plan to use sick/vacation time so I can take off more time with my baby. For the remaining of the year I plan to not take off or use up my vacation so it can rollover

iheartbooks · August 2013

crystaljoanna said:
I opened my own law firm in march and of course I won't be paid if I'm not working the thing that sucks even more is that I'm going to have to hire someone for the 2 months that I plan to take off. So my "maternity leave" means no $$ and having to pay someone to make sure my clients are happy and don't file bar complaints. I work on contingency so I can't even charge an hourly rate for the associate's work. It'll all be worth it in a year or two but this first year is going to be tough! I am jealous that some of you ladies at least get partial pay!

You are so brave! I'm an attorney and would love to so this someday but am so chicken to go out on my own!

I know there are a lot of benefits to living in the States, but it does make me sad that paid maternity leave seems to be so low of a priority here. I wish there was more of a balance and more respect for the fact that this is an important part of a benefits package. I'm extremely lucky to be working for a company that pays for STD benefits that cover 100% of pay for three months. It makes me a more loyal, more dedicated employee to know they are interested in providing these types of family-friendly benefits.

PerkyErky · August 2013

I don't have paid maternity leave but I get 12 weeks of parental leave. During that time I will be using my 6 weeks of short term disability and then any accrued leave time I have. If I don't have enough accrued time to stay out paid then I will be going back before my 12 weeks are up. My short term is 60% of my gross salary but it's not taxed so it comes close to my take home pay.

ETA: my STD would cover up to 12 weeks however I will not medically qualify for 12 weeks since usually a vaginal birth is 6 weeks recovery and a c-section is 8. So once I am no longer out because of medical reasons I will have to start using accrued time.

rachbaby1 · August 2013

I have a month of vacation and a week of sick days that I will be able to use - but other than that, I do not have paid time either. I will be doing some work from home remotely during the 12 weeks off, so that and savings will have to cover it.

erind0213 · August 2013

I have to use all my sick and vacation time and then also apply for short-term disability which my employer offers. I am grateful for that since my last job didn't provide that option and I had a few weeks were I got paid nothing at all.

A few other things to keep in mind:

1. When you go on Short Term Disability, if you are the one carrying the insurance it might effect that, so check into that as well. Co-worked here had to pay out of pocket for her insurance while on STD. I am on my husband's plan so that doesn't pertain to me.

2. Different employers can pay different % out STD. I have heard of people getting 100% and little as nothing so definitely something that shouldn't be assumed.

3. I am not too worried because although I am depleting my time, because my job runs on a July-June fiscal year, it will replenish just a couple weeks after my maternity leave. So while it might be used up, you might not go long without any time depending on how your employer does vacation/sick time.

roxi9020 · August 2013

You all inspired me to look up my employer's policy. There's no "maternity leave" but part of our benefits include STI (short term illness) which I believe birth falls under. We get up to 12 weeks of 100% pay for STI... seems like I am pretty fortunate hearing lots of the stories here. I do work for a huge company so that may be the reason. A co-worker is on maternity leave now and coming back after Labor Day (right about when I will be telling folks) so I will confirm with her the situation.

All of this is a pain but we also have to remember how we got here... taxes and inflation have made it pretty near impossible for a family to survive on a single paycheck. Most mothers have to work to make ends meet. Between federal and state/city taxes, I pay 38% of my taxable income in taxes (federal is 28%). That's crazy! Then we have the Federal Reserve printing money like crazy which leads to inflation - a dollar is much less valuable that it was 50 years ago - or even 10 years ago! Inflation is the tax increase that affects the poor and middle class the hardest.... so remember that in the voting booth!

OK off my soap box now!

talitha712 · August 2013

Unfortunately, this is very very normal. Use up sick or vacation time if you want to get paid, then nothing. I took 12 weeks with DD and only got paid for 6.

FitMamaInProgress · August 2013

Eeks!!

I'm a teacher so I'm very lucky. I get 5.5-6 months off (That's including summer. It is really only 2.5 months maternity leave).

Our policy reads:
The policy will provide salary coverage for employees for up to 90 days at a rate of 100 percent coverage for 1-30 days, 80 percent coverage for 31-60 days, and 60 percent coverage for 61-90 days.

DianeW52512 · August 2013

FitMomma- that is awesome. Teachers have great benefits!

corbsmom · August 2013

Some teachers aren't so lucky.

In my district, we can take up to 16 weeks off, but it is unpaid. The only thing I will get is my STD at 60% (which I stupidly lowered from 80% last spring because I did not plan on being pregnant this year). Plus, I have to reimburse my district for the portion of my insurance premiums that they pay while I am not working, which is almost $1000 a month.

Needless to say, I am only taking 6-8 weeks off. I'll only have to work 4 weeks before going on summer vacation though so I really shouldn't complain.

Kewii · August 2013

I'm another lucky teacher. My school is required to give me 70 days at full pay. And they can only count working days, so I'll get an extra week because of Spring Break.

Once I go back they also have to give me 2 hours everyday to breastfeed;.

I'm trying to decide if I want to go on leave a little bit earlier and come back for the end of the year when we have a week of half days. I'm just a bit worried about someone else packing up my classroom for me if I stay out until September.

klutz2005 · August 2013

Yes, do not assume that all like positions have the same benefits. My teaching district allows me to take the time written by my doctor through sick days automatically. If I want more time (and I can take it, as we qualify for 12 weeks in FMLA), I have to have board approval, and they do not have to approve taking additional sick leave. Anything beyond my banked sick leave, even within the initial 6 weeks, is unpaid.

Probably a major UO, but I frankly do not have a problem with employers not providing paid-by-them maternity leave. Maternity leave has come to be associated with no-strings-attached paid time, which is rarely the case and obviously varies by country and company. From what I have seen in the US, usually people have to take any built-up leave first--sick/vacation days--then can go unpaid or use STD/STI for the remaining time. Some are very generous and pay you without having you take PTO.

Even in countries with (often government-funded, I believe) paid maternity leaves, there are caveats, such as you have to work a certain amount before taking the leave. Additionally, there is no such thing as a free lunch...the money comes from someone initially in the form of taxes.

DianeW52512 · August 2013

Well, I don't think people are looking for free money, but (as you can probably relate) when you give your heart and soul to a company/career you hope that they equally support you in a life transition. It's just a strange system and this turns me off a bit from my company (for me). I really admire workplaces that are more supportive. I find it disappointing that our government/workplaces do not feel that it is a priority to support its working mothers. But, such is life!

HappyWife01 · August 2013

I have to use all my sick/vacation time before my STD kicks in. I work for a state government. They use to offer fully paid maternity leave for 12 weeks but women would take those 12 weeks off, fully paid, come back to work and immediately put in their two week notice. They only stayed there to get the 12 wks off and had no intention of coming back to work. Because of that they had to change policy.

DianeW52512 · August 2013

HappyWife- what a bummer!! That is such a shame for those of you that would not have taken advantage of such a wonderful benefit.

CharlestonVal · August 2013

I'm self-employed, so I'm out of luck for maternity leave. But, I do enjoy the flexibility of my job as a photographer/studio owner, so I'm not complaining. Hopefully I can get STD. Every little bit helps.

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