Maternity Leave Plans

SepiaMoon · January 2015

Oh my goodness ladies, thanks for all the responses! I was unaware of short term disability even being an option and will start to research that. I'm in Texas, if that makes a difference.

Do y'all have STD through work or through a private plan?

PS. Super jealous of you Canadians.

kay71086 · January 2015

This time around I will be staying at home. With what I make it won't justify to have three kids in daycare. To prepare we have been saving my paycheck and just living in my husbands pay so it is not a huge shock when baby comes. My works maternity leave is pretty standard I do have std to cover some wages and vacation pay other then that just Fmla which is unpaid.

WafflesFriendsWork · January 2015

I get FMLA but I will not be using it unless forced. Luckily another coworker will be going on maternity leave so I can see what she negotiates - she's been there longer but I don't think that will make a huge difference. I can do a large part of my job from home so my plan is to exhaust my leave (probably about 4-6 weeks paid) over 8-12 weeks by splitting leave w/o pay and accrued leave, DH will donate 3.5 weeks of leave to me and I will sign up to request leave donations so what ever leave I receive will be used the same way. This will guarantee me 12-15 weeks of half pay IF my boss agrees. The problem is I work in a finance related position and fiscal year end falls in the middle of that. If needed and approved I may work W, TH, F during the busy season as DH will be home those days.

My mom is watching the baby M, Tu, W that DH works for at least the first year. After I've been at my job for two years (when the baby turns one) I'm going to start looking for part time work or work closer to/from home that will hopefully be flexible.

TL;DR: 12-15+ weeks at half pay using leave. No paid maternity for US government workers. After the baby is one I'll probably look for a new job.

bumpuser10607170 · January 2015

I just started working at my job in September so I won't have much sick/vacation saved up. I get 6 weeks unpaid leave and I would have to go through COBRA to keep my benefits. But my job doesn't pay much anyway, so little in fact that I think I still qualify for free or almost free health insurance through the state. You would think having a county job would mean better benefits/pay. I'm probably just going to quit my job in May and live off of savings and H's student loans (haha) and maybe get a part time job later on if we can't swing the SAHM thing.

jekasi · January 2015

I don't qualify for FMLA because I work for a small business. I am quitting my job because it's not that great anyway, and I am just finishing up my school program for a career change. We don't have insurance options at this company so I am covered under DH's work insurance, which means short term disability is not offered for me. So we will be completely reliant on DH's salary while I am out of work (he does make more than 2.5x my salary anyway).

I want to stay at home as long as possible but it is not sustainable in the long run because of our lifestyle. We should be able to save up enough for me to stay with baby at least a few months. Since this is my first I'm not sure how I will feel about being home vs working. I know I want to be with baby but I also get stir crazy staying in the house all day. I am considering many options including taking part time work if I start to get restless, or perhaps even full time in a job more related to my new career goals. A different option if I like staying home is to cut out things such as one of the car payments, fancy cell phone bills, or fancy cable- but we haven't really discussed this yet.

As a back up emergency plan I can always return to my current or previous jobs as I have always left on excellent terms. This is a last resort, but it would pay the bills if our budget doesn't work out as planned.

JennyJensing · January 2015

Now that I've been with my company for five years, I get 2weeks before and 8 weeks after at 100% pay. I'm thrilled about this! I also have 3 weeks of vacation, so I plan to take 1-2 weeks at the end of my maternity leave. PP was right- the maternity leave policies in the US pale in comparison to other countries like Canada!

frig05 · January 2015

I will have 12 weeks under FMLA that will be unpaid. I can use any vacation I have available, but I only get 2.5 weeks of PTO a year. I'll be saving all of it until the baby comes to be able to use it. I also have STD. My company does not offer it directly from our primary insurance, but through Aflac. I signed up when they first started offering it in July since DH and I had already been trying for a while. They told me when I signed up that it would not cover pregnancy if I was pregnant at the time I signed up. I'm not familiar with other STD policies, though if this is pretty standard or not.

Thankfully, I have the ability with my job to work from home at least part of the time. My boss and I have already talked about if I'm not ready to come back at 12 weeks I can start back by working some at home. We are also going to discuss a schedule for me down the line where I may only come into the office a few times a week.

We will also be hoping and praying that DH gets a certified teaching position next school year to help us financially. We moved to a new state last year right after he was done with school and he hasn't found a position yet.

carrieoz_76 · January 2015

I'm a public employee and we don't have paid maternity leave, but we can use accrued sick leave for up to 12 weeks (the FMLA limit) after a baby is born or when a child is adopted. I've been in my job for a long time so I have 12 weeks to take, and that's what I'll do. I also have a short-term disability plan, but I'm the primary breadwinner in our house so we really can't afford to be paid at a reduced rate -- so hopefully I can work right up until the baby is born!

sutavim2 · January 2015

The lack of maternity leave in the US makes me want to cry. I think it's completely absurd.
I'm also in California, which allows for fmla and disability, but I believe they run concurrently. I'm planning on taking as much unpaid time as possible to keep my insurance through work, but I don't plan on returning. We also just refinanced our house and pulled cash to pay off the cars, which I know isn't the best in the long run, but will allow me to be a SAHM for a little while.

bkgusse · January 2015

lindylogana said:
I'm receiving 100% pay for 6 weeks through STD and then I can use sick time/ vacation time and the rest will be 0 pay. I'll have to see how much time I have left when I get to that time, but I will be taking all 12 weeks through FMLA.

Yes, this! I get the 6 weeks at 80% from the company & can add STD to make it full pay.

vickybin123 · January 2015

I get 6 months at full salary. The next three months at £145 a week and the last three months no pay. I took the yr with my first but think I will take 9 months with little one on the way

vickybin123 · January 2015

I can also use my leave as well. Which is 31 days. So may take 10 months off work

catladymeow · January 2015

I'm in Canada and so I'm eligible for 1 year at 55% of my regular pay. My company will bump that up to 80% for 6 months. As things stand right now, I plan on taking the full year and then returning to work full-time afterward.

hullabalou · January 2015

I will be unpaid other than whatever PTO I have stored at that time (probably only 2 weeks) so we are just saving extra to use if we need to. I am hoping we can find places to cut back that would allow me to SAH for good, but at the minimum I will take my 12 weeks with FMLA and then go back maybe 3 days a week (I may do 2 nights and one weekend so H can watch the baby instead of looking for childcare).

jewels1783 · January 2015

I get 10-12 weeks at 60% of my pay, I have about 4 1/2 weeks of vacation that I hope to use so I can go back to work PT at first to get into the swing of things. We will see how that works out.

Fireworks813 · January 2015

@shelby407‌ - if you take time off of work, would you take it right away (starting the first day of school) or go back to school for a few weeks and then take time off?

Trying to figure that out :-/ I have a ton of sick days built up, but thinking about it all is stressing me out...

ChristyM87 · January 2015

I don't have any official maternity leave. However I have senority with my company so I accrue more PTO at a faster rate, so by the time the baby comes I should have around 9 weeks of full pay leave I can take. I plan on taking 12 weeks but hope to only take partial pay for a couple weeks

DocTaco · January 2015

I won't get any paid leave and plan to take 12 weeks. I may start logging 5-10 hours a week from home once we get into a little bit of a routine. With my first, I was ready to get away and do work for a couple of hours at a time when DS was 6 weeks.

jenmitens · January 2015

I'm not sure what we are going to do yet. I wont have been at my current position for a full year when the baby is born (about 1 month shy). I'm really hoping for short term disability, but not sure if the company will do that. If I had know I was going to get pregnant I would have stayed with my old company. I had been there long enough to save up over 12 weeks of vacation and sick time. Oh well. If they fire me, they fire me and we'll figure it out.

GHStarfish · January 2015

I am a teacher so my maternity leave comes out of my sick time right now I have about 65 days. I won't take all of those days but I plan on going back in January with the start of 3rd term. In my district they will hold your job for two years so if I decide to extend my leave I can do that. My DH also gets two weeks leave . It also make me feel better that my dad seems to be excited about taking care of the baby!

gamgirl7 · January 2015

I have FMLA and that's pretty much it. I also pay for short term disability, and I have some vacay time that (as of now) might cover a month fully paid, so that's good. I really would like to be out the full 12 weeks.

cschissell · January 2015

I'm a SAHM now, but with my first I went back to work for about 2.5 years after he was born. I was able to take 13 weeks off which is what my employer allowed. I had to use up my PTO and then was able to use some STD, but that only covered a few weeks. Most was unpaid. We mainly just saved money for that time off and were very frugal during that time I wasn't working.

READY4TWO · January 2015

Well, I own my own business in patient care so if I'm not there, then we don't make money. I took out STD this year so I'll take a full 3 weeks off, but then I'm back to work after that. I'll probably do half days for a month and then after that, it's back to full time. I can bring baby to work with me which will help, but its what breast feeding such a struggle for me last time because I just didn't have a chance to establish a good supply. So we'll see how it goes this time.

SlurpeeLove · January 2015

I get 6 weeks at 65% of my pay and another 6 weeks unpaid. I haven't decided how much time past the first 6 weeks I'll take. I'd like to take the full 12, but I doubt we could swing that. I have STD through my work.

momok1215 · January 2015

CALEO said:

officedronette said:

CALEO said:

momok1215 said:
@officedronette‌ This is me, pretty much exactly. Attorney, 12 weeks full pay, back to work full time after leave. I love my job, though, and am the primary breadwinner, so I'm happy to be going back to work!
I'm going to try to go back to work part time - recognizing that I will have to be very flexible (litigation and business attorney)
I thought about going part time but at our firm, it's still 85-90% of the hours for 65-80% of the pay, and I didn't like the way that math worked out.
I'm going to ask for 3 days a week, recognizing that I will still be doing some work the other 2 days.

I'm not excited to go to 3/5 salary but honestly I'm burnt out on working so much. I'm really lucky in that we don't have a billable requirement. I just have to bring in enough to pay for my sal and benefits, my assistant, my share of overhead, and a slice for the firm. I think I can still do that with 3 days. Fingers crossed! They may say no...

I couldn't do this, I don't think. I'm in litigation and am shooting for partner (at some point). I just don't see how I could litigate effectively on a part time schedule the way my firm is set up. Associates work on only a couple cases at a time and do the majority of the day-to-day mechanics. I think it would be too hard to respond to things coming in, talk with clients and opposing counsel, get filings in, etc. if I was only in the office 3 days a week. I think it's awesome if you can swing it.

momok1215 · January 2015

I think it's definitely possible! My post was unnecessarily negative. I don't think it would work in my firm, just based on the way they staff cases. But I have heard of other women successfully doing this in other places.

I think law firms are still lagging behind with granting partnership to women working reduced schedules. It doesn't make sense, given that your draw could just be a lower percentage based on your total hours worked.

carahq · January 2015

I have short term disability through Alfac! I will get my salary for 12 weeks! I am so happy I don't have to see my vacation time because we have 3 weddings we are in right after I come back to work.

I will be returning full time after baby!

sarahsairsair · January 2015

I will get 12 weeks at full pay and then the govt will pay me at minimum wage for 18 weeks thereafter. If I return to work my (awesome) employer will give me $3000 pre-tax.... I can choose anytime upto 24 months to return to my position. Move to Australia ;-)

0ashley · January 2015

At my job, we have no paid maternity leave but I purchased short term disability through Aflac plus I'll have hopefully a week of sick pay. I'm hoping to take at least 8 weeks leave this time. I can take up to 12 weeks unpaid FMLA but 6 weeks of that unpaid would be difficult for us. I'm fairly certain this is my last baby so I really want to savor the baby snuggles because last time I had zero paid leave and rushed back to work at 6 weeks. Maybe I'll learn how to save money!

BridgetB21 · January 2015

My company allows up to 12 weeks unpaid maternity leave or a leave of absence unpaid up to 6 months. I'm planning on resigning my position at the end of August while I'm still on leave in order to enter my last semester of full time student teaching. My mom also works for the company and is retiring at the beginning of August and will be moving in with us and will also take care of baby during the day once DH returns to work and I begin student teaching. Can't wait to get out of that hell hole!

acpm4683 · January 2015

I'm in ca too and I'm agree w your time off but I believe it's all unpaid. Or maybe in state disability. Not too sure. If you find out please reply. I'll do the same.

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