What is your company's maternity leave policy?

TXUltraRunner · August 2014

I'm sure we've done this thread but I just looked into our company policy and I'm floored. 6 week maximum leave of absence only (no pay) and the leave has to start upon a doctor's recommendation so either labor or bedrest. So basically the minimum required by the law, is this what most employers do? It's no wonder Amercians have dismal breastfeeding numbers. Daycare here won't even take a kid until it's 12 weeks old. What do parents even do for 6 weeks after their leave is up?

TXUltraRunner · August 2014

We have less than 50 employees

ShuShubee · August 2014

I get short term disability and FMLA. STD will pay me for 6 weeks vaginal birth, 8 weeks for c-section. If something were to happen before birth where I, medically speaking, could not work, that would be covered under STD. I have to use 5 PTO days for STD, and I plan to roll my max of 5 days from this year, barring any unforeseen circumstances. That way, the 5 days for STD in January is technically from this years PTO. The rest is FMLA, up to 12 weeks, but I either have to use up PTO or take unpaid time at my discretion. I think I will take one more week of PTO and one week unpaid, so that I can have 8 weeks maternity leave (moot point if I have a c-section though).

Is your company big enough to qualify for FMLA? If so, they cannot legally deny you those 12 weeks, but you won't be paid for it.

ShuShubee · August 2014

I also want to add that daycares here take babies at 6 weeks, but that may be regional.

Edvent · August 2014

That's nuts! I get the minimum of what falls under FMLA. So basically up to 12 weeks, but none is paid. I have to use all of my sick time and vacation time and then take the rest as unpaid leave. I only took 6 weeks last time (after a csection) and felt it was too soon, but I survived it. I'm going to take the full 12 this time and just take the hit for unpaid leave.

For me going back to work was the end of my already failing breastfeeding experience, (I also had emergency appendectomy at 8 weeks, so that didn't help). I'm hoping it will go better this time. I do have several friends who returned to work at 6-12 weeks and were able to breastfeed for over a year, so it's doable.

TXUltraRunner · August 2014

Companies with less than 50 employees do not have to follow those laws. We have less than 50 so I guess it's up to their discretion.I'm assuming the six weeks is coming from short term disability policies? This policy in our handbook is new this year. Last year it said it was up to the discretion of your supervisor and to be determined prior to birth. The other female employee in our office was able to work from home for 10 weeks last year. I dont have a job I can do at home so I guess I'm screwed.

ShuShubee · August 2014

TXUltraRunner, that is a really crappy situation. I wish we all had the option of 12 paid weeks of maternity leave in the US. This country is way behind on that, in my opinion. I would love to take 12 weeks, but we can't realistically afford it.

TXUltraRunner · August 2014

No sick or vacation leave. I earn 5 days a year at a rate of 0.77 hours a week. I used all I had saved during IVF (which wasn't much) and I use an hour a month on doctor's appointments plus I've had migraines and UTI's during this pregnancy that cause me to take time off. After the holidays I won't have anything left I'm sure. Asking around my area, it seems this company policy is pretty typical here for small companies.

Jellybean707 · August 2014

I am part time so I technically get nothing. However, my employer is going to allow me to take a 12 week unpaid leave of absence. I understand that this leave is not protected but based on my role and work history I feel good about my chances of coming back with no problems. My DH and I have saved up to be able to afford me not working for the 12 weeks and keeping DS in daycare part time.

The standard my employer offers for FT employees is 12 weeks of protected unpaid leave as per FMLA. They also pay for STD policies for all full time employees so I imagine most of them get a portion of their maternity leave paid(6 weeks at 60%) and then use PTO/sick leave to cover the gap.

ETA: Our day care will take infants starting at 8 weeks.

ECATX · August 2014

I work for a state university (as staff - not faculty). We get the FMLA-12 weeks off, but whether you're paid depends on how much sick time and vacation you have. We get a lot of sick time that carries over each year, so if you've worked there for a while, you can likely have the whole 12 weeks covered. If you were a new/new-ish employee, though, more would be unpaid. I was lucky to have the whole 12 weeks paid with my DD. For this pregnancy, I'll probably only take 10 weeks, since I don't have a lot of paid time left from my last leave.

I think it really stinks that not everyone has the option to take 12 weeks, at least unpaid (although paid is obviously better). I'm sorry!

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danak4 · August 2014

I'm in a similar position. My company does have 50 employees, but I've worked too few hours this year (20 a week) to qualify for FMLA. I will take the 6 weeks of short term disability and ask for an additional 6 weeks unpaid.

mc0113 · August 2014

6 weeks vaginal delivery, 8 weeks c section then if we request we can also have another 2 weeks of "parental leave" all at 100% pay. So basically 8 or 10 weeks from the company.

letsgox · August 2014

I'm so sorry your policy sucks so badly @TXUltraRunner‌. 6 weeks seems so early

I took the full 12 covered by FMLA with DD. The first week must be taken from PTO bank, then STD kicks in at 80% of pay for 6-8 weeks depending on vaginal or c/s. Any additional PTO saved must be depleted in the remaining 4-5 weeks and any days after PTO is gone are unpaid. I ended up with 2 weeks of unpaid leave because I had hoarded my PTO like crazy. Plus, we accumulate 80% PTO while on STD for the 6 weeks.

UberBiz · August 2014

We don't have official maternity leave, when I had my son I knew I'd be out in April, so I didn't use any sick or vacation days until I had him (three weeks early), and then short term disability. I spread out my PTO evenly over the 8 weeks I was out (c-section), plus the STD, but it still didn't add up to full-pay. This is one reason I hope baby girl stays put til the new year, then I will have a new year's worth of PTO to take. this pregnancy was a surprise, so I had been using sick/vacation time when I needed to, and now I don't have much at all til the new year rolls over. I really can't take any time off that's totally unpaid.

LooneyLife · August 2014

My company offers no paid maternity. We are however eligible for FMLA.

luckylady18 · August 2014

TXUltraRunner said:

Companies with less than 50 employees do not have to follow those laws. We have less than 50 so I guess it's up to their discretion.I'm assuming the six weeks is coming from short term disability policies? This policy in our handbook is new this year. Last year it said it was up to the discretion of your supervisor and to be determined prior to birth. The other female employee in our office was able to work from home for 10 weeks last year. I dont have a job I can do at home so I guess I'm screwed.

That's really sucky - I'm so sorry. 6 weeks should be illegal, IMO.

It was risky for them to have the old policy and leave it up to the supervisor b/c that would lead to different employees being treated differently - leaves them open to lawsuits. But a new policy of 6 weeks is NOT the right answer as far as being good to your employees...way to do the absolute minimum required by law!

peggels24 · August 2014

I own my own business with my partner - I am not sure how long I will be taking off - I shall be playing it by ear and going back at least part-time rather quickly (otherwise my business suffers). DH however works for a major university and he gets 4 weeks paid leave plus an additional 8 under FMLA (and he has enough vacation time to cover it)

SheHulk723 · August 2014

I work for a small, privately owned company that doesn't fall under FMLA and doesn't have a maternity leave policy. Additionally, I'm in Florida, which has 0 laws regarding maternity leave for companies this small (we have 5 payroll employees, the rest are independent contractors.) Basically, my boss can fire me for missing too many days of work, and too many days is up to her discretion. So I have zero job security. Fortunately, I'm really not so sure that I want to come back anyways so I'll just see what happens.

ShuShubee · August 2014

@CrazyMonkeyBear - women aren't the norm in my company, and I am pretty sure we would both know because I am about 95% sure I am the only pregnant lady at this time. It is not a common occurrence around here. Nice thing is that they seem to accommodate me that much more - I think because my field is so male dominated.

Our STD is about 2/3 too, but one nice thing is that for every 6 months you are at my company, one week of STD turns to 100% pay. I will just miss my 2 year anniversary to get that extra week. Oh well.

AlfiesMOM · August 2014

Have are eligible for short term disability and FMLA. So I have to use two weeks of PTO/ Leave Without Pay and then my short term kicks in which is 6 weeks at 60%. I will likely just go LWO for 2-4 more weeks depending on our finances.

SpaceGirlSpiff · August 2014

There is no formal policy at my job. There are only 4 employees on payroll...and that's our boss and his wife...and then me and my husband... anyone else is an independent rep so far.

So needless to say, we're sort of in a unique situation...we're extremely small, and kind of a family company... my boss's wife is my first cousin so not CLOSE close family, but still family.

My first pregnancy, I didn't take maternity leave but rather started working from home right away (started small of course and built up)... my boss was patient and gave me the flexibility and understanding to do so and we were all on the same page. Being that I'm the only one that does my duties for our company it just was not feasible for me to be 100% off for an extended period of time. I still received my full salary during this time. I ended up WAH for 18 months, which was too long.... but now I know better.

This second time around, I will be doing the same thing, however now that we know how it goes we are trying to take steps to better prepare and possibly also train one of the salesmen to be sort of a "backup" for me so that I don't have to feel glued to work so early on. We'll see how that goes... he's also family (my other cousin) and is sort of stubborn and not real excited to learn Quickbooks. I may try to teach my husband a little more too, he's at least more agreeable. We'll figure it out. For sure, I wont do it for as long as I did it the first time... I'd say I may be able to do it absolute MAX up to a year ... probably even less. Depends on her temperament! Maybe I'll be lucky and she's a laid back mellow baby (my first was NOT)

rainbows · August 2014

@TXUltraRunner‌ like you, my company is less than 50 people so we dont fall under FLMA. The policy guidelines are no more than 6 weeks off, unpaid (Vaginal or C-Section). We can get paid by using Sick leave, PTO and vacation, and I have 7 weeks of sick leave banked up. Depending on when the kid is born though, I will not be back in 6 weeks. Our annual vacation is the last week of January, so I wont be back until at least the first week of Feb.

We are going to be okay if everything goes well, but if i have to go on extended bedrest or anything else that causes me to miss work before December, we will have a struggle. I will be talking to my director when the time gets closer to find out if I can work from home part time. Im department lead, and there are plenty of admin tasks I can do with just access to a computer and internet access. Im trying not to worry about it yet, because the stress of planning all of these "what ifs" is getting to me.

robsbabygirl08 · August 2014

I still haven't old my company that I'm expecting. I should probably do that, but A) they treat pregnant people like shit around here, and

they are pretty much dicks and I don't feel like doing them any favors!

LadyXaverian · August 2014

Edvent said:

I get the minimum of what falls under FMLA. So basically up to 12 weeks, but none is paid. I have to use all of my sick time and vacation time and then take the rest as unpaid leave.

This is me, too, but I can't afford to take that much unpaid time. So, I'm going to take 8 weeks. Only 3-4 of them will be paid because that will eat up all of my sick and personal days. I plan to save a few for emergencies after the baby is born. Thankfully, DH works a 2nd job (free lance video production work) in the fall, so this year, all of that money is going into a maternity leave fund.

With DD, I lucked out because she was due in April. I'm a teacher, and our school year ends in May. So, I just took the rest of the school year off and then had the whole summer, so she was 4 months old by the time I went back to work.

With a January due date this time, I'll just be off from about MLK weekend until after spring break.

ETA: I know someone always says it and then someone else always gets annoyed, but I can't help it. It's at times like this that I reeeeallly miss Canada. I really should have stayed there through all of my child-bearing years.

cabbeeby · August 2014

I'm in CA, which is very lucky because I'm also self-employed - meaning that without the state benefit I would definitely not get any paid leave. My husband gets 4 wks of paternity leave that is paid through his work that is paid 100%. Software engineers get treated like royalty in my local area.

Do you have any family that can come and help get you through the second 6 weeks? Or does your husband have leave that he can take after you?

MarxieVonTrapp · August 2014

I work at an independent school in DC with more than 50 employees. However, I've only been here a year.

DC's FMLA is up to 16weeks. I get paid 2 weeks for every year of employment (so: 2 weeks), then I can use my vacation (4 weeks, but I made plans for a 2-week vacation before I knew I was pregnant, so I'm down two weeks (so: 4 weeks paid). Then I can take the rest of the time off, unpaid. But it's not really unpaid since I have health insurance.

I asked about STD, and it's only for surgeries--of which a c-section is not included. I'm investigating.

My daycare is onsite and accepts babies as young as six weeks. I hope to be able to work from home for the two weeks leading up to Spring Break, so I only have to to take 2 weeks unpaid.

When I first came here, when I found out the policy, I started talking to the Principal and CFO about changing the policy. I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon since I was told that new employees don't deserve 6 weeks paid and that even though the current policy is 15+ years old, that doesn't mean it needs to change.

BTW, I hope each and every one of you realizes how f'ed up and backwards this country is on paid parental leave. We are one of THREE countries in the world who do not offer federally-mandated paid parental leave, and a certain party refuses to pass anything that would remotely give us this medically, emotionally, and financially necessary paid time off work with our children. I hope you all remember that whenever the second Tuesday in November rolls around. It's f'ing ridiculous, and a g-d travesty. /off soapbox

Happy Women's Equality Day?

storm08 · August 2014

I get 5 weeks (vaginal) or 7 weeks (c-section) paid at 75% of pay after using 5 days of FTO that is covered by short term disability. I can take up to a total of 6 months unpaid (our company goes by the most generous policy in the country you live in, so that's CA in the US?), but since I don't live in CA, I have to use a combination of FMLA, FTO, and leave of absence.

What I did last time and plan to do again: take my 6 weeks off full-time (with FTO and STD covering most of it), and then go back to work half-time for 6 weeks (but work from home), and then go back full-time at 12 weeks. However, this time I'm looking to see if it I could come back 75% time permanently. A lot of female managers at my company worked part time when their kids were young (about 10 years ago), so there is a precedent, but it doesn't seem as common now. I figure it's worth asking about though.

Stargirlb · August 2014

this thread is so sad!

britb618 · August 2014

I live in Rhode Island which I'm pretty sure has the best laws on this (surprising since for everything else they really are the worst).

Temporary Disability Insurance which you pay into if you are employed covers 6 weeks paid and isn't taxed so even though its only a certain percentage of your salary its actually higher than your post tax pay so thats a win! You get 8 weeks if you have a c-section. Which I did last time and will this time.

Additionally, a law was passed right after my daughter was born giving an additional four weeks paid to both father and mother for "paternal bonding" which is in addition to your 6-8 weeks. So I will have a total of 12 weeks paid. Regardless my company would have paid me for the entire time and last time they let me go out about two weeks early and paid for that. But its nice that they don't have to pay for it and therefore I don't feel bad taking advantage of the time off. It does make me sad that other states do not have similar laws, even as a (dare I say it) conservative...I think as long as you pay into something you should be able to take advantage of it. It should be a minimum 10 weeks paid through a TDI system through out the U.S.

RibbetRibbet · August 2014

My husband actually gets more time off than me. He will have 6 weeks paid but could do up to 12 weeks paid. With our first he took 4 weeks paid off, then went back part time for 2 weeks.

My work doesn't have FMLA (under 50 employees in a 50 mile radius). However, I can work from home, I have a decent amount of time saved up so I shouldn't have to take any nonpaid time off, and I have been "approved" to take off as much time as I want (well within reason I suppose). We have a very flexible working environment. I will probably be at home for at least 6 to 8 weeks, but while I am home I will work on getting certain things done, plus I'll bring the baby to work with me if I need to be in the office. This is the same way I did it with my first and it worked out really nicely.

TXUltraRunner · August 2014

It really just blows my mind how some companies think that 6 weeks is enough time.

Stargirlb said:

this thread is so sad!

For once I agree with you.

britb618 · August 2014

question for the Canadians: I know you get a year off but is it paid? If not how much is paid? Just wondering

@stargirlb I'm sure you will have some info for this

Stargirlb · August 2014

britb618 said:

question for the Canadians: I know you get a year off but is it paid? If not how much is paid? Just wondering

@stargirlb I'm sure you will have some info for this

ya: "Duration: 52 Weeks

Wages paid: Moms get 55 per cent (up to a maximum of $485 per week) for 17 weeks; the remaining 35 weeks can be split between parents, at the same rate.

To qualify, you must work 600 hours and pay in to the Employment Insurance system in the year before you initiate a claim.

You can also generate a small amount of extra income while on parental leave (though be warned: It’s based on a new and intensely complicated formula that almost negates the value of doing so)."

https://www.parentdish.ca/2013/10/08/maternity-leave-top-countries/#!slide=1259360

Stargirlb · August 2014

check out the rest of that list for details of the top 10 maternity leaves in the world. (canada is number 7.) USA is obviously not on the list lol

britb618 · August 2014

interesting! Thanks!

Stargirlb · August 2014

croatia is a year at 100 percent pay, and up to 3 years of unpaid parental leave (for EITHER parent,) during which time you still accrue pension benefits and collect medical insurance. Sweden has 420 days at 80 percent. Their parental leave can be spread over 8 years, and two months of it must be taken by dad.

XomgitsshanX · August 2014

I'm having trouble with this right now because my two male bosses give me so much sh** for my appointment requests. Even though I always give notice. I'm in Texas and the law is fmla 6-12 weeks whatever you have or the dr recommends because I have never called in sick in 8 years I have enough sick hours to take 12 weeks well actually almost 24 weeks but the law for fmla states max 12 weeks. My issue is the appointments and these men realizing that pregnancy is important! They always allow others to leave and show up late, skip lunch and leave early... However I give 4 weeks notice of an appointment and get confronted with BS. Never imagined my pregnancy would be like this. I've worked for my company for 8 years 3 months. I don't call in sick and I have over 800 hours of sick time. Yet I get crap anytime I need to attend a appointment even if I know I'm supposed to have a day off 4 weeks from now and that's when I schedule my appointment they do anything they can to not give me my day.

sucks

(I have to use all my sick time before my vacation time which is great for me because I've been banking my time since I never call in... Sometimes I want to just because I'm so mad that they don't even wanna work with me)

Jamie02Lee · August 2014

I get 6 weeks paid then can take an additional 2 weeks of vacation n anything after that is a Leave Of Absence n is unpaid but they hold my job as long as I have a drs note...

musicgal05 · August 2014

Yeah, I've come to really dread reading threads like these because of how terrible everyone's work place treats new moms. Mine is typical, too, where I get 6-8 weeks off depending on the method of birthing, and that's covered under the short term disability designation. Not even true "maternity leave".

Actually, I thought it was kind of funny when I emailed our new office admin about it, letting her know I'd need the paper work to fill out for needing to be off since I'm expecting in January. She emailed back saying she couldn't find anything about maternity policies, and that she'd email HR about it. I already knew there was no maternity policy, but I figured I'd let her figure that out on her own...

I'm hoping I'll have enough vacation time saved up this time to take a couple extra weeks off beyond the 6 I'm expecting, but I haven't really planned it all out yet. The good news is that I can work from home if needed. The extra bad news is that I still have deadlines on my research project I can't miss, even though I'm having a baby. Not sure exactly how to handle that, except to plan waaaay ahead on that project.

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