Boss asked me what I wanted for maternity leave - need help!

NCCountryGirl · December 2014

I work at a very small office (7 people) and no one here has had a baby in 17 years, so there isn't a set maternity leave policy. My boss has no problem with my upcoming baby and holding my job for me, however he is clueless as to what to do about the time I will be out. I am due 2/16 which is right in the middle of the busy tax season.

I have tried to talk to the boss a couple of times, but he has no answers. The last time we talked, he asked me what I wanted as far as leave was concerned. Of course I was thinking that 16 weeks paid in full off would be great, but I know that is wishful thinking.

I did, however, offer to try to work from home some a few weeks after the baby was born.

Now that the countdown is on, I need to go back to him again to find out what is happening. If he doesn't have a set plan (which he probably won't), what suggestions would you all give me? How long should I ask for to be out completely? When should I say I could possibly start working from home? When do I want to come back to the office full-time? What about pay? Full-salary, partial salary or no salary?

monbon11 · December 2014

You should definitely talk to your SO about the finances of this decision.

At minimum, you are entitled to 12 weeks unpaid through FMLA in the US, but if I were in your position, I would try to come up with a suggestion that is at least partial salary assuming you could use the money! My boss asked me to be available from home during my leave and I said I would make every effort to be available, but was unsure how life would be after baby arrival. Ultimately I set up the expectation that I will be incommunicado for the first 6 weeks and then re-evaluate from there.

With yours being a small office, I am not sure how you want to play the total time off vs. paid time off situation. I spoke with my HR team, found out what I was entitled to, talked to DH and went from there. Everyone wants to be agreeable, but ultimately your boss will want you back to work as soon as possible as that is what benefits the company. You're the only one looking out for you and your family.

RN2011 · December 2014

Maybe you could look at what your state guidelines are for maternity leave (NJ has temporary disability - 4 weeks before baby and 6 weeks after) to get an idea. My company's policy was just temporary disability. This is all my company offers.

When I had my 1st I was out for 12 weeks after I had the baby and came back full-time. I have the flexibility of coming in 8:30-9 and I leave at 3 on Fridays. This works for me. If you plan to work from home I'd tell him sooner rather than later so that they can make that arrangement and you already agreed to that. You have to figure out what's going to work best for your family.

maryxc1 · December 2014

With FMLA, you get 12 weeks, so I personally wouldn't ask for more than that. The way my company worked was that if you were an hourly employee it was unpaid and if you were salary it was paid. I think it would be nice of you to try to work from home some since it is the busy season, but for the first six weeks or so it would have been very difficult for me to do. I guess it just depends on how easy of a baby you have.

NCCountryGirl · December 2014

@monbon11 I didn't think that I qualified under FMLA because my office is so small? If I am incorrect, please do let me know!

@RN2011 I live in NC and after a quick Google search I don't think there are any specific laws regarding maternity leave. Our office doesn't have any sort of disability insurance, either.

That being said, our office is very flexible and has a history of working with people. I would just like to be prepared with some suggestions for when we talk again and thought reaching out to other people might give me some ideas of what would reasonable.

Thanks!

ETA: spelling

Valentino2013 · December 2014

If you are in such a small company FMLA doesn't apply (less than 25 employees) and leave is at the sole discretion of your boss/workplace.
I do agree with what @krendel said as a suggestion but you really should talk things over with your SO to decide what's best.

monbon11 · December 2014

You're right, if your office is under 25 employees, they do not have to honor FMLA rules. I have never worked for a small company, sorry to mislead you there!

That said, I think 12 weeks leave is very common and wouldn't come across as greedy in anyway, the question would be how much of that time you would ask be paid.

Edit: Ultimately I think it is a negotiation, so I would just suggest going into it knowing what you and SO would be comfortable with.

Good luck!!

NCCountryGirl · December 2014

@valentino2013 and @monbon11

I have talked it over with my BF and that is why I am reaching out for outside advice. I am currently the sole breadwinner until he graduates from school this month. We are hoping that he will get a good paying job quickly..or at least a job quickly...with his CDL. That is what is making it so hard to budget and plan - that we don't know what his income will be like and what I am going to be getting.

@thedish0207 I don't know that we have any policies set in place at all! I told the partners at the firm from the time I was 5 weeks pregnant that I was going to be out and they were all fine with it. It is just hammering out the details that is the hard part. They were all supportive and told me they definitely wanted to see me come back after the baby, so I have no doubts about keeping my job.

monbon11 · December 2014

The third trimester board has a sticky about maternity leave policies and different people's experiences. It might help!

NCCountryGirl · December 2014

@monbon11 Thanks! I'll go check it out!

cloe111479 · December 2014

My office is small -- under the 25 people -- for FMLA, so I do not qualify for it. I get my six weeks and that is all. Luckily, i have been here long enough to have 5 weeks of sick/vacation time a year so I will be fully paid for most of my time out. However, any days I end up taking off due to sickness, or LO's sickness will be unpaid. But.. my office is pretty dang flexible with hours. I can usually make up time within the pay period etc. I'd love the have the full 12 weeks, but it just isn't going to happen.

mahalo3 · December 2014

I think I am in a similar situation. No one is my office, of 12 people, have taken maternity leave in the last 9 years. I get 6 weeks of unpaid leave. I have requested 8 weeks. I may come back part time for weeks 7 and 8. That mostly because I don't know if we afford to lose my income for that long, and I want to catch up on the work that won't get done while I am gone.

Hernsy · December 2014

I agree with the PPs. First and foremost discuss with your SO the finances so you are prepared to offer to do what is best for you. In my case, my sick time and vacation time have to be used for FMLA reasons and I have enough built up to be 100% paid for 6 weeks. So I am going to be incommunicado for the first 6 weeks. After that, my boss suggested I work from home for 6 weeks at full pay. I then found out that I might not be able to get my LO into daycare for another two weeks after that and they generously said I could work from home for a total of 8 weeks until she could get into daycare.

If I didn't work from home after 6 weeks, I would have two weeks of disability which would pay me 60% of my salary and anything after that I would be on my own. FMLA only covers me to be out 12 weeks, so I would have had to come back after the 12th week anyway.

You might decide that after 6 weeks of being totally off, you want to offer to work part time for part time pay or may even be able to negotiate to work full time with flexible hours. Maybe you won't always work the normal 8-5 or whatever. Most of those decisions will depend on what you can handle financially.

You may want to make sure that what your asking them to do for you and what you are offering to do for them evens out so they don't just tell you take a hike.

schnitz9 · December 2014

Yeah in NC your company is not eligible. Here's an example of what I'm doing. I am also due 2/16. My last day of work in the office with be 1/30. I will work from home starting 2/2 until the baby is born. Then once baby is born my FMLA leave will start fro 12 weeks. Since DC can't take him til 6/8 I will work from home after my 6 weeks is up. I will be paid while I work from home and since I am in sales and commission based if for some chance I am making any sales while on FMLA i will only get my commission. I really however legally can't work while on FMLA. Do you have STD insurance through your job? You can use that while you are on leave.

If I was in your situation I would start off by say maybe you can work part time from home while you are on leave. Since you don't qualify for FMLA you can work whenever you want. Try to ask for the most up from and negotiate your way down. I was able to do that. My job didn't want to pay me salary only commission while I was working from home since we have another guy who works from home and they wanted to make it fair. First of all the guy who works from home does it for a much different reason and he sells 10x more than me so he could care less about his salary that is like 10% of what he make in commission. I spoke with them about this and we negotiated on me actually not getting salary but while I'm home (10 miles from my house) working the same hours and doing the exact same work I would be doing in the office, I will get double the commission I would normally get to make up for the difference. It never hurts to negotiate and ask.

ConstanceGoodspeed · December 2014

PP's gave you some good advice; just remember to get the exact details of your leave approved in writing (especially since you are essentially "making up the rules" of your leave).

NCCountryGirl · December 2014

@thedish0207 Working from home will be an option for me, just a little complicated. We aren't an entirely paperless office, so I will have to come by a couple times a week to pick up/drop off work. But overall, I think everyone will be on board because they will definitely need my help (as little or as much as I am) to get through busy season.

@constancegoodspeed Thanks for that tip! I will definitely keep that in mind!

Thanks for all the input everyone, I really appreciate it!

Mrs. Zee · December 2014

One thing to definitely think about is your insurance-I am guessing you carry since your SO is in school. For my company, the way our policy reads, I bear all costs of my health insurance for the second 6 weeks of my leave which is inclusive of my company's portion. I get 12 weeks total (we fall under FMLA) and will be going back part time for the second 6 weeks to hopefully avoid being in the negative on account of insurance. Just some food for thought!!

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