How long will your maternity leave be?

HeatherHam10 · May 2014

Taking the full 12 weeks and getting paid for 6.

jamjoyful · May 2014

My leave will be permanent. I have wanted to stay home for awhile and we decided this would be the perfect time to make the transition. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be with the girls all day.

shevaCC · May 2014

I get 12 weeks paid and can take up to 20 weeks total. I'll probably go back just before Christmas since otherwise I wouldn't get those holidays (Christmas Eve and Day, New Years Day). It will be after 18 or 19 weeks depending on when DS arrives. It will be nice to transition back during a slow time and have several short weeks in a row to ease into working again.

FrodaBaggins · May 2014

Also taking 12 weeks. 6 of it fully paid, then use up my vacation/sick days, then do the rest unpaid, or hopefully paid *somewhat* if I can figure out the whole California Paid Family Leave thing. My mother in law only took 6 weeks back when my brother in law was born about 19 years ago. And she only took a month with my husband, 31 years ago! I did consider coming back sooner but decided it was more important to go the 2-3 weeks with no pay and get more time with the baby.

FrodaBaggins · May 2014

MC03 said:

I will take three weeks before RCS, and then 14 weeks after. Paid by a combo of sick, vacation, and State of CA disability/paid family leave.

@MC03 - I am the person who posted a whole thread about paid family leave a few months ago and I still kinda don't get it. In my case I'm getting six weeks fully paid through my company using disability. But I can't seem to get any concrete info, not even from my HR rep because they're based in another state and unfamiliar with CA, if that disability leave differs from what California Paid Family Leave offers. I'd LOVE to be able to get my last 2-3 weeks covered at least somewhat by Paid Family Leave but my HR rep seems to think it's the same thing as the disability they're already giving me, in full, for the first 6 weeks. How is it working for you?

FrodaBaggins · May 2014

BlckRoses said:

I'm taking the full 12 weeks. I have a little over 9 weeks sick and vacation time saved up, so it'll be a little short, but we'll make it work.

@BlckRoses - same for me. 6 weeks fully paid and then somewhere around 2-3 weeks with sick and vacation, but then unpaid for the last bit if I don't get CA Paid Family Leave figured out. The "we'll make it work" is what I keep repeating to myself, ha!

kareik01 · May 2014

ThoseThreeWords said:
The US is archaic with our labor laws in this respect. There is no requirement for paid or unpaid sick or vacation days at all. A few states may have some local legislation. Even FMLA is 12 weeks of UNPAID leave. Arg!

I just got off the phone with my short-term disability agent. I knew there was a reason I decided to pay for that a couple years ago!

She told me my benefits kick in 1 week after birth, and I get 8/10's of my regular pay. 6 weeks for a vaginal delivery, 8 weeks for c section. If a doctor would write it off, I could get up to 3 months total, for example if I had to go on bed rest before baby was born. So nice to know I'll get something, even though it's not through my work!

noycela · May 2014

I get 15 weeks paid (love my firm!) and will take all of it ... Though probably be working from home some during that time. They allow an additional 10 weeks unpaid, but I don't think I'll use any of that. I was at a different job when I had DS and only took about 8 weeks, so 15 weeks will be AMAZING.

tamarar5 · May 2014

I work at home now so I don't get leave, but in the past I was only allowed 6 weeks.

with DD1 I actually ended up only getting 4 weeks pp because I was put on bed rest two weeks before my due date. Of course, they decided that I had abandoned my job to give birth so I was terminated. Awesome, right?

Cat&S · May 2014

12 weeks. Six of those from sick time (or eight if I were to have a c/s), six from PTO. I've been at my job over six years, so I have over 10 weeks each of sick time and PTO accrued...but unfortunately I can't take 20 weeks off.

My boss is fine with 12 though.

sharkmama39 · May 2014

I'm taking 12 weeks and like @tabaskoa, it will be 6-8 weeks STD plus a combo of CPML sick time and PTO.

Luckily, my work is very flexible when it comes to working from home so I will be doing that starting two weeks before my due date until I pop

shutaff · May 2014

Forever! Well, kind of... I have been a GTA (teaching undergrad English at the university) while I was in grad school, but I graduate tomorrow and did not apply to continue my instructor position. We will be moving at the end of the summer and I'm going to be staying home with baby for the foreseeable future.

+RBL+ · May 2014

karacc18 said:

I am planning to take the 12 week FMLA that I am allowed. I may opt to use some vacation time to extend my leave a week or two after, seeing as i have to use vacation by December 31 anyways. Luckily my company allows me to do that, however i'd love to be out til the holidays are over, but that is an extra 6 weeks so that won't fly.

If you haven't already you may want to look into how PTO and FMLA work within your company. For me, if I am taking PTO after LO is born, it runs at the same time as FMLA, so I wouldn't be able to take my 12 weeks FMLA and then PTO. I didn't realize this the first time around and was surprised when I found out exactly how it all we okra for me, which is why I mention it.

ungraceful13 · May 2014

I took 12 with DD. I was planning on taking 8 this time just bc of how the timing played out with the school calendar. I however have not been renewed for next year so I am going to be a SAHM.

kimberlybethh · May 2014

I'm taking six weeks as long as everything goes as planned. I only work part-time though so I will still be home with the kids part of the day after I go back to work. I'm a little nervous it won't be enough time but I am 140 hours short from qualifying for FMLA and my boss isn't supportive of a longer leave.

cutekate · May 2014

I get 4 weeks before my due date and 6 or 8 weeks pp depending on deliver vaginal vs c/s. I plan on being out until at least January/feb. I have to use my own saved personal time once my pp time is up

Weezy2012 · May 2014

I'll have 6 weeks short term disability but I will have to use a week of my personal leave time first as part of that 6 weeks. DH gets 8 weeks paternity leave fully paid that he'll start shortly before I go back to work.... Lucky duck.

Valancyy · May 2014

LadyAle said:

Another Canadian jerk here. I'm taking 50 weeks maternity leave and my H is taking 2 weeks of Paternity leave. I have about three weeks of vacation to use as well. So I'll get 5 weeks fully paid, and the rest of the time is topped up by my employer to 93% of my salary for a total of 53 weeks off.

So you're getting over a year off at almost full salary the whole time? Lucky!

Jenrileysmom · May 2014

Ugh just thinking about this makes me nervous. I wish my plan to have a baby at the beginning of the summer had worked out a little better. I get laid off mid summer (work for a heater distributor company in sales) I will collect UC benefits but only until my call back date which will most likely be the week of Labor Day. I'm not due until August 21st so I won't have much time when I'm bringing in any income and my company offers as much time off as I want but it's all unpaid.

I also make commissions on top of my salary and busy season is mid fall and through most of the winter so if I don't go back in about 6-8 weeks I'm going to miss out on a butt-load of money. They have also kept the account groups the same instead of hiring another person to split mine up while I'm gone so it's going to put a lot of additional pressure on the rest of my department until I come back. They have done this as a courtesy to me and I need the money but I am going to hate coming back right at the beginning of the stressful season.

pinkyswife · May 2014

I'm doing the below...

Probably 2 weeks before by due date at 55% pay (CA PDI)

6 weeks after due date at 55% pay (CA PDI)

6 weeks after that at 55% pay (CA PFL)

2 weeks after that at 100% pay from my company

Which take me to the beginning of December. My company said I could come back first thing in January but that would be completely unpaid for basically 1 month. Don't think I could swing it so we will see.

Weezy2012 · May 2014

ThoseThreeWords said:

heightdeprived said:

@kareik01.. only 5 days vacation? Yikes! Apparently again this is where Canada does alright... labour laws make it so we are guaranteed generally 3 weeks paid vacation a year (15 days), after 10 years with an employer it goes up to 4 weeks (20 days), depending on the employer you can get more than that, but it's a guaranteed minimum. ( It isn't exactly 15 days... it goes by your hours of work... but full time (40 hours a week) works out to 1 and 1/4 days vacation "earned" every month)

You either get the paid days off, like i do at my work (so if i take a holiday day, i still get paid my 8 hours that day), or some employers pay you out "vacation pay" on every cheque. So they take whatever your gross is, multiply it by 3 and divide by 52 and you'd get that much extra on your cheque, but then you're still entitled to those 15 days, you just "lose" that time on your next cheque. My h's job is like this.. he gets paid out on every cheque, for example we're taking tomorrow off, so i'll get the day paid, but H won't.

I Canada. I will never complain again about time off!

The US is archaic with our labor laws in this respect. There is no requirement for paid or unpaid sick or vacation days at all. A few states may have some local legislation. Even FMLA is 12 weeks of UNPAID leave. Arg!

I learned that because my company is under 50 people (juuuuust shy!) that FMLA doesn't apply. I was kind if shocked since we're not some mom and pop operation but a well established company in the biotech field. And, for a company that is mostly women, they've experienced very few pregnancies.

Ugh I want to move to canada. I'd eat do much poutine and enjoy my ketchup flavored chips by the bagful.

missmiss307 · May 2014

Planning on 12 weeks. I only took 6 with my first.

exhibitv · May 2014

12 weeks under FMLA but 8 of those will be paid by my firm and the rest is unpaid.

Valancyy · May 2014

HappyFeet34 said:

I have a question for all the Canadians, I'm looking at you @LadyAle‌. Just out of curiosity, is there a cap in Canada to how often you can use your leave or if you need time between leaves? For instance could you get pregnant on leave go back to work for 3-6 months and then take another 52 weeks?
This is how I understand it (anyone correct me if I'm wrong). My friend recently got pregnant on leave, but since there was 13 weeks between her return date and her new due date, she was eligible to take maternity/parental leave again. In Canada, that year is broken into 17 weeks of maternity leave; meant for the mother only, and parental leave of 35 weeks which either parent can take. Between the pair of you, there is only the 52 weeks, so if your spouse wants to take some leave, it comes out of that bank of 35 weeks. You would then have to go back to work however much earlier depending on the time your spouse takes. Also, my friend actually has very severe trachacardia (sp? I think that's what it's called anyway) in pregnancy, so she'll actually be going on short term disability at the end of the month until baby comes, and then will start her mat leave once baby arrives. She's still eligible for full maternity leave. I do not think there is a limit to how many times you do this. In my case, because my employer is topping up my maternity leave income, I sign a contract that states that I will remain with the company for two weeks for every week that they do top up my income. So every maternity leave I take means another two years with my company, but I'm perfectly happy there so that's not an issue for me.
That's pretty awesome. The US is so behind. I think FMLA can only be taken once every 12 months and you have to be with your employer of 50+ employees for at least 12 months to be eligible. Then it's 12 weeks no pay. Any pay comes from STD or the employers policy. We suck.

Yup...FML is only every 12 months. I remember thinking about this when planning TTC #2.

ashleylucke · May 2014

I originally was only going to take 6 to 8 weeks but recently decided that i want to take longer. I work for a school district and they are letting me tell them as I go, if at 10 weeks I'm ready to come back then I will or if I need a full 12 that is fine too. He's my first and I am already havign anxiety about leaving him at 6 weeks so I thought I owe myself just a tad bit longer. We will see when the time comes....

teachermommy2014 · May 2014

This post helps me with my struggle of only taking 10 weeks. I am doing 7 weeks paid (from sick time) and 3 weeks unpaid. I may take another 2 weeks paid depending on our financial situation at the time.

MC03 · May 2014

@FrodaBaggins I remember you posting earlier about trying to figure out the paid family leave. How it works for me is for my three weeks before the due date + 8 weeks after my RCS I will be paid by California State Disability at about 60% of my salary. Plus, my work will use my accrued sick time to make up the other 40%, so I will be receiving two checks that equal my normal pay.

Then I will take another 6 weeks and I will be paid about 60% by California Paid Family leave, and then my employer will use my vacation time to make up the other 40%, again to equal my normal pay.

In CA you get the first 6 (or 8) weeks of leave under disability, technically to recover from birth. But Paid Family leave is for bonding, a TOTALLY separate concept, which is also why fathers are eligible (my husband will be taking his 6 weeks of paid family leave once I go back to work).

You know what I would do since your employer seems so stupid? I would just get the paid family leave forms off the internet (https://www.edd.ca.gov/Disability/Paid_Family_Leave.htm) , fill them out, and then hope for the best. Since your employer already expects you to be gone for the 12 weeks - it shouldn't really matter to them. I would send the forms in 3-4 weeks before the official end date of your disability pay, put the first date after your disability in the form. Good luck!

FrodaBaggins · May 2014

MC03 said:

@FrodaBaggins I remember you posting earlier about trying to figure out the paid family leave. How it works for me is for my three weeks before the due date + 8 weeks after my RCS I will be paid by California State Disability at about 60% of my salary. Plus, my work will use my accrued sick time to make up the other 40%, so I will be receiving two checks that equal my normal pay.
Then I will take another 6 weeks and I will be paid about 60% by California Paid Family leave, and then my employer will use my vacation time to make up the other 40%, again to equal my normal pay.
In CA you get the first 6 (or 8) weeks of leave under disability, technically to recover from birth. But Paid Family leave is for bonding, a TOTALLY separate concept, which is also why fathers are eligible (my husband will be taking his 6 weeks of paid family leave once I go back to work).
You know what I would do since your employer seems so stupid? I would just get the paid family leave forms off the internet (https://www.edd.ca.gov/Disability/Paid_Family_Leave.htm) , fill them out, and then hope for the best. Since your employer already expects you to be gone for the 12 weeks - it shouldn't really matter to them. I would send the forms in 3-4 weeks before the official end date of your disability pay, put the first date after your disability in the form. Good luck!

Thank you @MC03. This is what I was thinking - my company doesn't have to pay anything for Paid Family Leave, right? I'll have already used up the 6-8 weeks of SDI, and my vacation/sick days. Am I correct that the Paid Family Leave I receive from the state won't cost my company anything? I'd need to notify them because they really are doing me a favor by providing me with the 12 weeks guaranteed even though the technically don't *have* to, but I hope that if I can come back to my HR rep with some really detailed info on how this is no sweat off their back, they'll be like, "Ok, cool! Get your 55% for those last three weeks!"

BeachM · May 2014

I'm a SAHM now but with DS1 I took 12 weeks. I was a state government employee and we had STD that could be used, so I got 4 weeks 100%, 2 weeks 80%, 2 weeks 60% and then the last 4 weeks were unpaid. I was also able to use up sick leave and personal leave that I'd saved up so I ended up being paid for almost all 12 weeks. And then I decided not to go back.

OutdoorGirl10 · May 2014

Planning on taking the full 12 weeks unpaid under FMLA - our company doesn't have its own maternity policy. But then I think part of it will be paid as I'm going to be forced to use up all my PTO and Sick time. I'd like to swing taking time off to the rest of the year and come back in Jan, but I'll have to wait until my talk with HR so I can understand how it all works. Oh, and my husband's company has no paternity policy, so if he took any time off it would be unpaid as well. He's just going to take 2 weeks vacation and at least it'll be paid. And I'm super jealous of Canada and all the other countries that actually are good about time away to take care of a newborn or newly adopted child.

MC03 · May 2014

@FrodaBaggins I don't think it costs your employer anything. I'm pretty sure but not 100% certain. We pay into it through our paychecks every week and that is where the state money comes from.

WannaBmomma · May 2014

I have been torn on how much time to take. I would love to take the full 6 weeks that I am allowed, but I am a teacher (and adopting) and my child will be delivered August 7th, which is the first day of school. I am also the main money maker in my home since my husband is on disability and will be an at home dad. I don't get paid maternity leave and will have to use my sick days so as of now I am thinking of taking 1 or 2 weeks off and then returning. The teacher part of me knows that I need to get back to work because it is a critical time for my students, but the momma in me wants to stay home and snuggle with my love bug.

[Deleted User] · May 2014

I am a teacher. I only came to this school district last year, and since I must use all of my sick/personal days for any paid time off, I am only going to have 26 days. I am particularly annoyed, because my last school district told me I could not transfer my accumulated sick days out of state, so when I moved, I opted for a payout for them (at a VERY low rate!). I recently found out I could have transferred 25 days. :-( So now, I'm exhausting every single one of my days (and will need to take unpaid time if I'm sick or if baby is sick and no one else can stay with him) and only getting about 5 1/2 weeks off work. Luckily, my due date is 1 1/2 weeks before school starts, so those days are "paid" since they're included in the previous year and we're not at work. However, I'm scared of what will happen if he's late, especially if I have a c-section and need more time off. I guess I'll be taking some unpaid time, which I have no idea how we will swing, other than dipping in to the savings we have built up for a down payment on a house. :-(

I am also moving to Canada before our next baby. It sounds almost unreal to me that you guys get so much!!!! (Of course, I know it's true, but, with what we have to deal with here, it's just almost hard to believe! We are so far behind as a country when it comes to maternity leave!)

forevermyfenix · May 2014

I'm a full time graduate student and was working for a hotel full time, but due to the contantly changing unpredictable schedules, the constant calls at all hours of the day or night I would get while off the clock because I was a supervisor, and the stressful nature of the job I decided it just wasn't worth it to stay, so I quit in march. the clincher that sealed the deal was when my fiance had an emergency situation and had to go to a hospital two hours away I still got a call to "please oh please oh please" come into work to cover someone's midnight to 7am shift, and was told "well, i've still got a company to run, no apologies." If they can try to call me in when my fiance is in an emergency room 2 hours away despite knowing the circumstances, they for d*mn sure were not going to respect that I will have a newborn. I've since discovered the company is in a lot of trouble for not following OSHA standards (for instance, front desk staff were not allowed a break at all, and even pregnant women were required to stand at all times), and they've tried to hire three different people for my position in one month - they all walked out.

So, currently, I'm unemployed. DH is disabled with gastroparesis, but does not receive disability benefits (waiting on the decision from the hearing, will most likely have to appeal the case for the 3rd time from what our lawyer said). I'm fortunate to have support from my family right now.

I am still pursuiing my Masters School Counseling though, with only two internships left. I'm going to try to begin an internship this Summer and knock out as many of the hours as possible this summer. I may have to extend the time frame of the internship to cover the fall semester (Little One is due 2 weeks into fall semester), but I hope to have the majority of my internship hours out of the way so I can take it slow. If all ges as planned I'll do my second internship Jan-April 2015 and graduate.

So, i sorta have time off now, and might be able to take things slow in the weeks after Little One is born, but its all unpaid. Thank goodness for family and student loans, even if I'm not particularly happy about the loan thing.

FrodaBaggins · May 2014

MC03 said:

@FrodaBaggins I don't think it costs your employer anything. I'm pretty sure but not 100% certain. We pay into it through our paychecks every week and that is where the state money comes from.

@ MC03 - right, that was where the HR lady at my company was confused. I pay into it through my paychecks too, but she said that money is the Short term disability money that will be paying for my 6-8 weeks fully paid. MUY CONFUSO. Sorry to keep rambling about this!

MC03 · May 2014

@FrodaBaggins that just sounds wrong! I think your HR person has no idea what they are talking about. If you are using California SDI, then 60% is paid by the state, and if your employer is saying you get a full paycheck, then they are kicking in the other (approx) 40%. But that ALSO means that you are eligible for paid family leave. Even if they say they won't kick in the other 40% for those six weeks, you should still get the 60% from CA.

Have they told you that you need to fill out the CA SDI paperwork for your leave? All I can say is, if you are on CA SDI they will AUTOMATICALLY send you the paperwork to sign for your paid family leave, a few weeks before your SDI ends. So hopefully that will work out in the end for you. But I feel bad that your HR person is so clueless. It's their job! I hope you can work it all out in the end.

FrodaBaggins · May 2014

MC03 said:

@FrodaBaggins that just sounds wrong! I think your HR person has no idea what they are talking about. If you are using California SDI, then 60% is paid by the state, and if your employer is saying you get a full paycheck, then they are kicking in the other (approx) 40%. But that ALSO means that you are eligible for paid family leave. Even if they say they won't kick in the other 40% for those six weeks, you should still get the 60% from CA.

Have they told you that you need to fill out the CA SDI paperwork for your leave? All I can say is, if you are on CA SDI they will AUTOMATICALLY send you the paperwork to sign for your paid family leave, a few weeks before your SDI ends. So hopefully that will work out in the end for you. But I feel bad that your HR person is so clueless. It's their job! I hope you can work it all out in the end.

@MC03 I really appreciate your help, you've definitely given me more clarity on it

I think that the reason it's been so confusing for my HR rep is that I'm the first person here in the California office to get pregnant and need to get this all figured out, and they're over there in NY with different laws, etc, not sure how it all works!

Robyn1011 · May 2014

1 year

Scaura · May 2014

I will have almost 4 months of annual and sick leave saved up but only intend to take a full 7 weeks off. After that, I will work from home a few days a week and be in the office for several hours the other days. Hubby stays home so daycare won't be needed, just have to work out the pumping schedule with can be a pain.

KathleenBean84 · May 2014

I'm in a year-long contract that ends July 31, so I'm going on leave indefinitely. I'll probably start looking for (different) part-time work in January.

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BFP#1 10/11/11 - DD born 6/6/12;
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