Only 12% of people in the U.S. work somewhere that offers paid maternity leave, which means that many men and women have to take a pay cut right when their costs of living are about to increase exponentially. We're looking to hear stories from you on your personal experiences with maternity leave. Did you have a positive (or negative) experience? How did you approach your maternity leave with your employer? How did it impact you financially? If you're willing to share your story, please reach out to
mbach@xogrp.com ASAP. Thanks!
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Re: Thoughts on maternity leave?
I started a job 6 months before I got pregnant, I have to accrue sick leave and vacation time to be paid while I was out. After 1 year I could apply for FMLA, and in addition to the 12 weeks that gave me, I could use 4 more weeks per union negotiations. I was terminated 3 days before FMLA started. So now I can take all the time I can afford at about 40% pay until unemployment runs out.... and I have to be willing and able to take on a new job in my 3rd trimester with twins while anticipating maternity leave....
I think maternity leave in the US sucks. My job will hold your position for one year but you only get paid for the amount of time you are considered unable to work (6 weeks postpartum for a vaginal birth, 8 weeks for C-section) AND you only get full pay if you have enough of your own sick days to cover that time.
I was out for 6 months with my first and I will be out for 9 months with this baby. The only way DH and I are able to make this work is by having a large chunk of savings that we will be using while I'm out of work and by going under his health insurance. I can't imagine some poor mothers who are basically forced to come back to work after only 6 weeks.
The hardest part is that I work with mainly guys, and they're older with wives who stayed home with the kids. So they all have said at one point, "if you decide you want to take a longer period of time off or decide not to come back at all, don't worry - we will understand and figure it out." It's a wonderful gesture, however I am the bread winner between my husband and me, and we cannot afford for me to work any less than 4 days, or be off much more than 8 weeks. It kind of breaks my heart every time someone suggests me taking more time because I would love to, but financially I just don't see it happening. We've been saving but we also just bought a home and it's our first year with all those expenses as well.
Bottom line, I'm already struggling with $6000 worth of unexpected medical bills, and soon I will be having no income again for 2 months and my brand new baby will have to face being exposed to all the day care germs extremely early in life. Oh and I breastfeed my babies exclusively, so in that 1 or 2 months I get to stay home with my baby, I also have to worry about trying to get a stockpile of milk for the day care. I so wish I were Canadian right now or at least that FMLA gave a dedicated 3 months for post-pregnancy and was applied differently for other illness. Suppose I was out sick for 4 months? Would I even still have a job and if I did, would they expect me to return to work immediately after my baby was born? These are not things mothers should have to worry about in a civilized society, but this is the American way. Capitalism before everything else...
I will also be required to retro pay my insurance premiums upon my return which will keep my paychecks tiny even after I return. For some perspective; I just found out that I took home around 16,500 for the entire year of 2014. That was working 40 hours for 52 weeks. I was also requires to work all major holidays.
Let me tell you, I will be high-tailing my butt out of there as soon as I pay that insurance money back. I have a degree that I can put to better use, so my search will soon begin.