in light of the third tri early babies, a question

CousinVicki · August 2013

what happens if you go on bedrest or if you deliver super early and baby is in NICU for weeks? Does this count towards your maternity leave??

sleepy33 · August 2013

I might try to work out some 'work from home' time if possible. Especially if it was bed rest.

shelley1002 · August 2013

I believe you get your 6-8 weeks of maternity leave then can use the rest of your FMLA to be with the baby while in NICU/when it first comes home. Not sure if it would be paid since it is not STD (past the 6-8 weeks).

This may vary company by company or even state by state like maternity leave seems to.

Ayreka · August 2013

I work for myself so I get diddly squat, but I think the usual is that you can get short term disability while on bedrest and your maternity leave starts when baby is born. I know one girl that went back to work a week after baby was born and stayed at the NICU at night. She took the rest of her leave when the baby came home from the hospital.

BrittanyCupcakes · August 2013

In CA, you are entitled to up to 4 weeks SDI before your due date, and 6-8 weeks after (and actually up to 52 weeks total if there are complications), along with up to 6 additional weeks of PFL.

ibs11 · August 2013

I'm sure it varies by company etc. but I do know that often when we have babies in the NICU that are going to be there for several months the parents will go back to work for a while so they will still have some maternity leave left for when the baby comes home :-)

Inn2 · August 2013

My HR said that first my sick/personal leave will be used, then STD, and that will cover me through my forced leave and 6/8 weeks after. Then FMLA leave will cover until I return in January.

BrittanyCupcakes · August 2013

mmgkms said:

In CA, you are entitled to up to 4 weeks SDI before your due date, and 6-8 weeks after (and actually up to 52 weeks total if there are complications), along with up to 6 additional weeks of PFL.
Pshh! We get the shaft in MA. The only way you get paid leave is if you have the time.

Well, this is all based on having put money in from working in the first place. We pay into disability insurance with each paycheck. It works similar to unemployment (although only our employers pay into unemployment insurance).

allymp13 · August 2013

I wondered this too. A girl in my department, due a few days before me, went out on mat leave at 30w b/c she was put on bedrest (she had the baby last week eek!). So I wondered if this would fall under our company's STD policy which is years servce 13 weeks 100% paid, 3+ years 26 weeks paid 100%.

What is your companies STD policy?

ncase2 · August 2013

I'm in HR - yes, it counts toward your leave. Any STD is a company-policy driven benefit, so that would specifically depend on your company's policy, but for straight FMLA purposes, which often run concurrently with STD, any time taken off prior to the birth for doctor's appointments, bed rest, etc. would all count toward your 12 weeks of allotted time. You can also use personal time or vacation, but that is up to the company's discretion as well - some make you take all your vacation prior to any unpaid FMLA time, and it runs concurrently, so it doesn't extend your leave.

nortonmol · August 2013

ncase2 said:

I'm in HR - yes, it counts toward your leave. Any STD is a company-policy driven benefit, so that would specifically depend on your company's policy, but for straight FMLA purposes, which often run concurrently with STD, any time taken off prior to the birth for doctor's appointments, bed rest, etc. would all count toward your 12 weeks of allotted time. You can also use personal time or vacation, but that is up to the company's discretion as well - some make you take all your vacation prior to any unpaid FMLA time, and it runs concurrently, so it doesn't extend your leave.

This exactly. FMLA only guarantees that you can take the time off, so most places will have all of your PTO, STD, everything run concurrent with FMLA. So if you are off work on bed rest for 4 weeks, then you deliver, you only have 8 weeks left to take, regardless of whether or not it's paid. If it's something you're worried about, you should clarify with your HR department as to what time they will give you off. I would be shocked if most states (other than California) offer a more beneficial leave time than what is guaranteed under FMLA. I would think the only exception would be if you worked somewhere that allowed you to bank PTO (vacation, sick leave, etc.) and you actually had more than 12 weeks of time on the books. Since most places set a limit as to how much time you can carry over from year to year, it would be pretty unusual for an employee to have more than 3 months of paid time off in a bank. Your company may allow you to take unpaid leave, but again, they don't have to guarantee that you'll have a job to come back to if your total leave exceeds 12 weeks. (sigh . . .USA! USA!)

jennlin · August 2013

for my company they are separate STD instances.... one is disability caused by pregnancy, the 2nd portion is disability caused by childbirth. there's a one week period before the compensation kicks in, so if you are out for less than a week prior, it's just unpaid time afterward, it's at 80%.

i don't know about nicu stays, though..i think that counts as regular STD and FMLA.

pandaglitter · August 2013

My work is really understanding and I'm part time, so I can basically take as much time off as necessary. I just keep them updated. I don't get paid, so that's hard on us, but we knew the risks. I was really not expecting to be on bed rest this long, though. If our baby is in the NICU, my husband would take a few days off, but he's also saved up time for like a week for when the baby comes home. I would want him to work while the baby is in the NICU since there's not much we could do anyway (with a lot of visiting when he's not working). At this point, she'd only be there a week or so anyway.

pmarie33 · August 2013

I just had to fill out paperwork for STD. Since I haven't given birth, it's a different claim. Once I do have the baby, I have to call the STD company and let them know what day. This starts the 2nd claim in which I get paid a % of my salary, then my work fills in the gap to make it 100%.

Not sure about NICU stays.

Amjoy25 · August 2013

It would for me! I think it depends on your situation.

andthatmakes4 · August 2013

My baby was born on Friday and is in the NICU. His release date right now is his original due date of October 16th. The current leave plan is for me to go back to work as soon as doctor okays it. I'm hoping for only 4 weeks. However, I'm still in the hospital with no release date so we'll see how well that goes. Then when baby is discharged, I will take a separate leave for him that can be up to 60 days unpaid leave. I'm a teacher so I don't really have paid days to take but will be using my short term disability.

jnsmith85 · August 2013

Alot of our parents who have babies in the NICU long term, will be on their leave for 6-8 weeks, and usually they end up going back to work after that. And then they take 4-6 more weeks off once baby goes home!

They always tell me how hard it is to go back to work andeave the baby all day, but they think being off for a few weeks when baby finally comes home is more important.

lolob45 · August 2013

I've been on bed rest since 24 wks due to PTL. My company has put me on short term disability at 60% pay.... kind of sucks b/c if I had waited to go on leave or bed rest after Sept 8 I would be paid at 80% for the majority of maternity leave and any part of disability.

Oh well...

Re: NICU time, etc. I have brought this up to my company and they said they'd go over my options with me should this happen. I'm sure there would be more time off unpaid.

mawarren · August 2013

Yes we are allowed 12 weeks off. Part of mine I will get vacation pay for and part of it will be short term disability. I will have a lot of my time off without pay. I am hoping to work til delivery so I can spend the max amount of time with my baby.

ashleymarie512 · August 2013

lmlorenz12 said:
My baby was born on Friday and is in the NICU. His release date right now is his original due date of October 16th. The current leave plan is for me to go back to work as soon as doctor okays it. I'm hoping for only 4 weeks. However, I'm still in the hospital with no release date so we'll see how well that goes. Then when baby is discharged, I will take a separate leave for him that can be up to 60 days unpaid leave. I'm a teacher so I don't really have paid days to take but will be using my short term disability.

I'm four weeks out from having DD and were also looking at a discharge of mid-October. I go to the dr tomorrow and I'm hoping to be released back to work ASAP. I hate that I've "wasted" four of my twelve weeks with a smooth recovery and a baby in the NICU; feels like pointless time off. My employer had already said they will accommodate a work from home situation, if the doctor refuses to release me and will write a letter saying it's ok. They are also potentially willing to allow me to work from home to extend my leave once she does come home. I'm lucky that I have an extremely supportive supervisor even though I don't get a stitch of pay for leave beyond what I have built up in vacation/sick time.

On a side note, wish me luck he releases me tomorrow

marianaz0 · August 2013

Unfortunately in my case I've been on strict bed rest for 2 weeks and it does count toward my fmla... I'm trying to make it to 37 weeks... And if I do then I'll only have 4 more weeks fmla covered post delivery... then run the risk of getting fired :-/ if I don't return to my position!
It sucks major donkey balls!!!!!!!

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