I work for a small company so I get nothing! No pay, not fmla protections, nothing! I get to have a baby and cross my fingers that when I'm ready to go back I will still have a job... I could get short term disability through them but it would only pay for 5 weeks and was SO expensive that I would basically pay in more than I would get out. It really really stinks! Sadly I don't think that anything will change as our leadership is a bunch of rich men whose wives have probably never had to work. For the record I think that leave for Dad is EVERY bit as important as leave more Mom. I was lucky with my first that my husband was able to be home with us for 6 weeks! (having to use vacation of course!) Having him with us made a world of difference! This time I we will have him for 4 weeks! We're looking at pulling our oldest from daycare while I'm home to try to save money...
I have a question... If I want to return to work part time after the baby, should I tell them soon? Or will this impact my paid during leave? I live in CA. I get 6 weeks of full pay leave, and then 6 more with fmla for 55% paid. Last time I got 2 more weeks because I had complication after delivery. I'm afraid to ask people at work.
I have a question... If I want to return to work part time after the baby, should I tell them soon? Or will this impact my paid during leave? I live in CA. I get 6 weeks of full pay leave, and then 6 more with fmla for 55% paid. Last time I got 2 more weeks because I had complication after delivery. I'm afraid to ask people at work.
I would ask HR. But I wouldn't officially tell them until after your leave.
DS1 - 9/21/11
DS2 - 7/4/14
DS3 - 2/21/16 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our family of 5 is complete!! Love our boys!
I have a question... If I want to return to work part time after the baby, should I tell them soon? Or will this impact my paid during leave? I live in CA. I get 6 weeks of full pay leave, and then 6 more with fmla for 55% paid. Last time I got 2 more weeks because I had complication after delivery. I'm afraid to ask people at work.
I would ask HR. But I wouldn't officially tell them until after your leave.
Yeah I waited until my fmla was almost up before I "made the decision". I didn't want my full time benefits be taken away by any chance.
I just spoke with my HR rep today. All things considered we get very good coverage (for the U.S.). I get 12 weeks off with my job guaranteed upon my return. She told me they can't and won't ask me if I'm returning until the 12 weeks are up. I'm not sure if that's their policy, or what. It's unpaid, BUT I get 5 weeks under short term paid at 60% (8 weeks if I have a c-section, 9 if it's an emergency c-section, though I'm not planning to) and can use the remainder of my vacation (paid at 100%) which will be about 3 weeks, and up to 1/2 of my vacation for the new year (I will roll over while out on leave—we roll over on the anniversary of our hire date—which is 2.5 weeks)...so I'll be set up pretty nicely. I can also come back part time or work part time from home when I come back. And, if I get put on bed rest prior to the baby coming, they'll work with me there, too.
It's a small family owned and operated company, and the benefits are really good. I feel very lucky, but honestly this is one of the main reasons I accepted the position in the first place...we had maternity leave and family leniency conversations in my interview.
Lurking here but I sympathize...DH has cancer and just had major surgery so is off for a year so I'm supporting us right now. Im a nurse so we do ok but I get 6 weeks unpaid after delivery. Soooooo stressful.
So annoyed. I just found out that my law firm does not provide any paid leave apart from vacation time and sick time although we qualify for FMLA. At least I get twelve guaranteed weeks under FMLA but it is beyond ridiculous that there is no paid leave for either staff or associate attorneys. It further angers me because I know that my firm will probably keep emailing me and expecting me to respond to questions while I'm out. Since I'm not going to be getting paid then I will not be working for free and responding to work emails. I guess the only good thing is that I won't feel bad if I decide not to come back because I wasn't paid.
So annoyed. I just found out that my law firm does not provide any paid leave apart from vacation time and sick time although we qualify for FMLA. At least I get twelve guaranteed weeks under FMLA but it is beyond ridiculous that there is no paid leave for either staff or associate attorneys. It further angers me because I know that my firm will probably keep emailing me and expecting me to respond to questions while I'm out. Since I'm not going to be getting paid then I will not be working for free and responding to work emails. I guess the only good thing is that I won't feel bad if I decide not to come back because I wasn't paid.
Throw rotten tomatoes at me for this comment because it's not a complaint more so a scenario. I'm in Canada and we get a year's leave. Federal gov pays for 55% of my salary and my employer (provincial gov) tops me up to 93% of my salary for the first 16 weeks - this arrangement is not typical in Canada and I'm extraordinary fortunate. For what I do and my qualifications I'm pretty underpaid so I feel like I kinda deserve this perk. Seriously the only reason why I haven't left.
My issue and one that @Cocoaf1988 brought up is the expectation on some employers to remain in touch during leave. I was put on short-term illness leave prior to delivery due to severe sciatica and my manager expected me to be available by blackberry at any time. I happily obliged for 2 weeks (only so much Netflix!) but then on one conference call one of our directors made the comment that it was going to be nice with technology that I was going to be available during my year off. Subsequent conference calls my availability was mentioned by others. I knew then that I had to cut it off really quickly. I basically told them that they could hire me at a consultant hourly rate once I started mat leave otherwise I wouldn't be available. Nothing personal to my work but I value the time with my new baby (except if they were willing to pay me consultant rate of ~$150-$200/hr cause hubby's a student! Can't turn that down!!). At that point I think they realized that their expectations were unreasonable and when I cut off my help 2 weeks before my due date they understood. I definitely suggest setting clear guidelines... ohh and couriering my blackberry back to the office "for safe keeping" really sealed the deal!
So annoyed. I just found out that my law firm does not provide any paid leave apart from vacation time and sick time although we qualify for FMLA. At least I get twelve guaranteed weeks under FMLA but it is beyond ridiculous that there is no paid leave for either staff or associate attorneys. It further angers me because I know that my firm will probably keep emailing me and expecting me to respond to questions while I'm out. Since I'm not going to be getting paid then I will not be working for free and responding to work emails. I guess the only good thing is that I won't feel bad if I decide not to come back because I wasn't paid.
I thought it's illegal for them to reach out to you for work related matters while you are on FMLA (there are certain things they can ask you like where is a file or some general questions, but I don't think they can make you return earlier or have you work on a project). I know you may feel obligated to do it, but you are not required to. Just make sure you do not put yourself in that situation because I know how difficult it can be sometimes.
While I wouldn't turn down the leave that some of you ladies are getting I am feeling pretty appreciative of what I get also. I pre-planned and signed up for our short-term disability plan during open enrollment for 2015, at $228 a year and guaranteeing 66% of my gross pay for 12 weeks it was totally worth it. I will have to use a week of sick leave prior to my STD kicking in and then I have the 12 weeks at 66% with FMLA and OFLA (I live in Oregon) protecting my job so I can take 13 paid weeks. Plus, I work at a university so when I come back in June, we are on summer break and I can bring him in with me on days that DH isn't home or my mom doesn't take him. Plus both DH and I work full time and we live off of his income and mine all goes to savings/debt so even the pay cut won't really affect us. Add in that all my pre and post natal care is 100% covered by insurance as well as everything for baby and I am looking forward to a fairly stress free 3 months with my little guy. DH is only going to take the week DS is born off and then go back to work but he is a freight conductor for Union Pacific so his "time off" tends to be anywhere for 18-55 hours at home so even working, he will get to spend a lot of time at home.
@kayla.short you might want to check with your STD, but where I am from you only get STD for the procedure like a regular vaginal birth you get 6 weeks paid leave at 66% or for a C-section you get 8 weeks paid leave at 66%. At least that is how it works in my state. With my first I thought the same thing as you (because I was taking 12 weeks, I would get 12 weeks) but your doctor can only legally put the duration of your illness as 6 or 8 weeks depending on your situation. Just something to make sure before you go out for 12 weeks.
@jadkins2 I have double checked that! Our policy is that the maximum benefit period for "one period of disability" be 13 weeks for anything that isn't considered a pre-existing condition. Since I was enrolled prior to being "diagnosed" as pregnant I qualify for the full 13 weeks with doctor approval. I have discussed this with my doctor and she is willing to sign off on the full 13 weeks. I believe the extra coverage is do to OFLA (Oregon Family Leave Act) which runs concurrently with FMLA and also provides additional job protection and coverage's.
I thought birth was a pretty standard disability time across the board (6weeks vaginal 8weeks c-section) so I was a little confused about you receiving 13 weeks, but if that works out for you - hells ya! I think what a policy means though is that the max you can take with STD insurance is the 13 weeks before it is up and you would have to rely on LTD insurance above and beyond that period of time. I am certainly not an insurance expert though, but it may be something you want to double check with the insurance company.
@irenewslee they won't ask me to come in or do projects from home but I know they'll ask me questions about cases I'm working on- but you're right, I need to make it really clear that I won't be available while I'm on maternity leave
Mine is the same as most everyone else....no paid leave! I have to use whatever PTO/Vacation I have up first then my FMLA will kick in so it is making it to where I will only be able to take off 4 weeks (if I'm lucky)!!
So annoyed. I just found out that my law firm does not provide any paid leave apart from vacation time and sick time although we qualify for FMLA. At least I get twelve guaranteed weeks under FMLA but it is beyond ridiculous that there is no paid leave for either staff or associate attorneys. It further angers me because I know that my firm will probably keep emailing me and expecting me to respond to questions while I'm out. Since I'm not going to be getting paid then I will not be working for free and responding to work emails. I guess the only good thing is that I won't feel bad if I decide not to come back because I wasn't paid.
I hear you, lady! I also qualify for FMLA, but have to save all my sick time and vacation for maternity leave because my company offers zero paid leave. It sucks when I come back, I will have absolutely NOTHING for sick or vacation time. I have been with my company almost three and a half years and their policy sucks, to be honest. I am hoping I don't have to come back, that my maternity leave will ride out all the way to us moving to Florida in the beginning of June, but I know it won't. Grr!
I got 6 weeks STD at about 60% and then unpaid leave up to 6 weeks with my first. (For those FTMs out there, most places make you have a 'grace period' so week 1 isn't actually paid - I thought that sucked). I had 3 weeks of vacation saved up so I used 1 for the grace period and then 2 after the STD ran out and then 2 weeks unpaid - a total of 10 weeks. I didn't feel like it was long enough. And it sucked going back. This time I'll be doing the same and taking the full 12 weeks. The worst part about everything was that my husband works for a very small business...and works for his dad...and he got 4 days off. 4 days. I needed help and it was terrible without him.
I hate that the US sucks at this, but I guess I'll take what I can get at this point! You figure it out...you just do. That's what happens when you become a parent!
I'm in KS (unfortunately, lol) and we only get FMLA if qualified. I work for an eDiscovery company that was just acquired by a larger company so once Jan. 1st rolls around, I'll lose all of the vacation time I've been building up instead of being able to roll the time over which really sucks. This means when it's time for me to go on leave, I'll only have roughly 30 hours built up instead of having 114 hours with my rollover time. US definitely needs to step up their maternity and paternity leave options.
I would see if you can negotiate with them to get your old policy since you got pregnant under the old company. That's worse that just starting a job and maybe getting benefits.
UPDATE: I took your ladies advice and convinced them to carry my hours from 2015 over. Additionally, they said that I qualify for STD for 8 weeks as well as 4 weeks FMLA (and use my PTO as needed during that time). So relieved to have gotten this figured out before LO gets here. I was also promoted so I WILL still be working like a couple days every two weeks to make sure everyone is staying on task but glad it all worked out. Hope you all have luck with your time off!
I'm just shocked over how bad it is for some of you!! My heart goes out to all of you struggling with getting leave and an income!! I'm blessed with the Norwegian system. If you're working you get 49 weeks 100% covered or 59 80% covered leave. If you're not working you can get a one time payment from the gov. As a student you can get leave from the studies with a grant for 49 weeks if you already get a study loan in addition to the one time payment from the gov.
I thought about this discussion yesterday as I met with HR at the state university both my husband and I work at. I feel lucky that I have 6 weeks of short term disability with 60% pay, and then I have saved about 4 more weeks of leave. So at ten weeks of partial/full pay, I have another two weeks covered by FMLA to stay home. If DH wants to stay home, because we both work for the same state agency, and it is some weird state law, his time off would take time away from my FMLA. So we have yet to make up our mind as to what to do.
But like I said, after reading this, I still feel lucky by comparison.
Seriously though, it is ridiculous how far behind the US is on this matter. And to label having a baby as a disability is just obnoxious.
Thoughts? I do know from other articles that the starting pay would only be 35% of an employees income paid, but by 2021 it would be 50%. I say we have to start somewhere... and recognizing the need for paid family leave is a good place to start.
February Siggy Challenge- Post pregnancy indulgences
I'm thankful that even though I only have 4 weeks of short term disability pay at 60%, that I will be able to stay home with baby for nearly 5 months. (Teacher) it's going to be a huge hardship but praying we are successful at breastfeeding and with cloth diapering that well not be super broke.
I work for a company that FMLA doesn't apply to so I was really worried about even having a job! They are pretty dependent on me, but still... We talked it over and they are being very generous. I get 6 weeks paid, then I will be able to use any PTO I have. I will have 5 weeks of PTO so I could technically take 11 weeks at 100% pay. However, DH and I are on our own- closest family being 5 hours away- so I need to save my PTO for days when the baby is sick/ his school is closed.
I'm grateful for the 6 weeks paid, and I will use a week of PTO, but I'm sad at the thought of having to turn a little 8 week old baby over to daycare.
Does anyone have any tips for making the transition back to work easier? I tear up thinking about it.
Become close with your daycare. Visit a few times before you go back to work. Go back a few shorter days at first and mid week. Have your preferences wrote down on first day- schedule, burping, when to call you, etc. Take all supplies ahead of time and set up. I too cried about this topic everyday for the month leading up to daycare- I took dd1 at six weeks due to no fmla or paid time. I actually went to a college visit insisting I wanted to go back to school instead of working full time. The guidance office asked what the heck I was doing, I already had a bachelor degree. I think she knew I was avoiding the 8-4 schedule. Lol
I work in the school system and my leave is unpaid. We can use sick days first but as it's my first year in the district and I've had to take off for doctors appts it will be 2 weeks max that I could get paid. I am thankful though that I can take up to 3 years (unpaid) and at least my job will still be waiting for me. I plan to take the rest of the school year off and go back in August, so baby will already be 5 months by then!
I work for a company that FMLA doesn't apply to so I was really worried about even having a job! They are pretty dependent on me, but still... We talked it over and they are being very generous. I get 6 weeks paid, then I will be able to use any PTO I have. I will have 5 weeks of PTO so I could technically take 11 weeks at 100% pay. However, DH and I are on our own- closest family being 5 hours away- so I need to save my PTO for days when the baby is sick/ his school is closed.
I'm grateful for the 6 weeks paid, and I will use a week of PTO, but I'm sad at the thought of having to turn a little 8 week old baby over to daycare.
Does anyone have any tips for making the transition back to work easier? I tear up thinking about it.
Go back to work in the middle of the week. I went back on a Thursday and worked until noon, then worked Friday from noon until close, then was back full time the following Monday. It really did make the transition easier knowing I only had two half days to get through at first, and also allowed me to get a sense of bottles, pumping, morning routine, etc.
Also, consider a trip to the spa the week you go back for a haircut, a mani-pedi, a massage - anything to treat yourself and get out of mommy mode - or go pick up a few new work outfits.
Honestly, the anticipation of going back is worse than reality. I went back at eight weeks too and we quickly got into a nice routine. You will do great.
I work for a company that FMLA doesn't apply to so I was really worried about even having a job! They are pretty dependent on me, but still... We talked it over and they are being very generous. I get 6 weeks paid, then I will be able to use any PTO I have. I will have 5 weeks of PTO so I could technically take 11 weeks at 100% pay. However, DH and I are on our own- closest family being 5 hours away- so I need to save my PTO for days when the baby is sick/ his school is closed.
I'm grateful for the 6 weeks paid, and I will use a week of PTO, but I'm sad at the thought of having to turn a little 8 week old baby over to daycare.
Does anyone have any tips for making the transition back to work easier? I tear up thinking about it.
I went back at 10 weeks and I'm not going to lie, I had anxiety every day for the few weeks leading up to it and I cried whenever I thought about it. My first day back to work was spent locked in my office crying. But I'm also a super sap and I really wanted to stay at home but we couldn't afford it. You get on a good routine really quickly and it gets SO much easier! My daycare lady also sent me updates during the day and pics, which totally helped! I would say that @jess9802 's advice about going back mid week is GREAT advice! I went on a Monday and the week seemed to drag by. I think I'll try to go back mid week as well this time
My friend dropped her kid off for a half day the week before she went back to work just to see how things would go and that helped her. It also gave her some time to get her hair/nails done before returning back to work!
Are you going to a bigger daycare? Or an in-home daycare? If you're going to an in-home, go visit a few times leading up to the days of going back to work. (I'm sure you could do this at a bigger daycare center too!) It was nice to see the other kids that were at the daycare. Also, find a back up daycare since you don't have family around. We had to do that after I was taking way too many days off when things would come up with our daycare. Now, if anything happens, the backup person takes her right away and even sends us messages asking when our daughter is coming for a visit
Just know that it does get easier! And also, be prepared for EVERYONE to ask, 'How's the baby?' I had to start responding with, 'She's great, but I'd really like to not talk about her right now unless you'd like to see me cry.' LOL.
I work in the school system and my leave is unpaid. We can use sick days first but as it's my first year in the district and I've had to take off for doctors appts it will be 2 weeks max that I could get paid. I am thankful though that I can take up to 3 years (unpaid) and at least my job will still be waiting for me. I plan to take the rest of the school year off and go back in August, so baby will already be 5 months by then!
Wow 3 years that's great. We can take one year off (unpaid too) in my district but you have to be employed for 3 consecutive years. This is my third year in this district, and I won't be finishing it so I can't even apply for the year leave if I wanted to! So sad. I'm due at the end of March so I'm planning on staying home until the last two week then going back for the morning half day 8-11. If you don't go back in my district they don't cover your insurance through the summer... So I have to go back a certain number of days so that we don't have to cover the total cost of insurance out of pocket!
I agree our country needs a policy on paid maternity/parental leave. My job is only covered by FMLA and a state leave act that protects my job for the time I want to leave, up to 6 months in a 12 month period. Whatever leave I take is my own sick or vacation leave, and can take LWOP if wanted.
What bothers me is seeing people complain as if they didn't know their company or state laws regulating baby leave. I have worked here for over 6 years building up my sick leave (8 hrs/month) and vacation at the state rate. I planned on eventually having a child and needing the leave, therefore I never took sick leave unless absolutely necessary. I will have 19 weeks available of combined leave to use after birth but plan on taking 10-12.
Under current laws it's not your employers responsibility to pay for you to have baby time off. Plan ahead and it won't be a burden on you and your family. Until the laws get changed we all know what to expect going into it....it's not a surprise.
That being said I'm following the presidential candidates on who supports paid family leave and who doesn't. I strongly believe we need it and it benefits everyone.
^^^^ Some of us haven't been in the work force 6+ years, some of us haven't had the luxury to work at the same place 6+ years, some of us can't rollover our vacation time so there is no accumulating extra leave, some of us got pregnant without planning, some of us got pregnant after planning and just weren't aware of our company's policies, some of us work for smaller companies where FMLA doesn't apply.
Just because YOU had the foresight and ability to stay at the same job for 6 years and stock up on your time off doesn't mean that option was available for everyone. At my last job, my PTO policy was if you don't use it you lose it so the maximum time off I would ever get was the three weeks I had earned by my third year there.
Additionally, as sad as it may be, MANY people are not aware of laws or policies until it affects them. My current company is a woman-owned family-friendly business. TONS of moms here. Is it wrong that I assumed since my work is WBENC certified and that we tout being so family-friendly that we had some sort of a maternity policy beyond FMLA? Maybe. But it wasn't in the handbook and I didn't want to talk to HR about it before I got pregnant because I am paranoid. Sure, that's on me, but it doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to complain about our nonexistent policy.
I totally agree with you about learning which candidates support the causes that are important to you. However, simply stating that a company doesn't have any sort of a paid leave, etc. etc. doesn't mean any of us think that it's our employers' responsibility to pay us while we aren't working. From what I know about paid leave in places like Canada, it's not even the employers that pay it anyway - it's from taxes. Not 100% sure about that and don't feel like Googling it, so my apologies if I am wrong.
Everyone here is aware, with the exception of a few states, that to not be provided any paid leave is the norm. Doesn't mean we have to be happy about it though.
I agree our country needs a policy on paid maternity/parental leave. My job is only covered by FMLA and a state leave act that protects my job for the time I want to leave, up to 6 months in a 12 month period. Whatever leave I take is my own sick or vacation leave, and can take LWOP if wanted.
What bothers me is seeing people complain as if they didn't know their company or state laws regulating baby leave. I have worked here for over 6 years building up my sick leave (8 hrs/month) and vacation at the state rate. I planned on eventually having a child and needing the leave, therefore I never took sick leave unless absolutely necessary. I will have 19 weeks available of combined leave to use after birth but plan on taking 10-12.
Under current laws it's not your employers responsibility to pay for you to have baby time off. Plan ahead and it won't be a burden on you and your family. Until the laws get changed we all know what to expect going into it....it's not a surprise.
That being said I'm following the presidential candidates on who supports paid family leave and who doesn't. I strongly believe we need it and it benefits everyone.
I seriously can't stop LOLing at this statement. So much judgment. Kudos to you for not even trying to hide it though.
I agree our country needs a policy on paid maternity/parental leave. My job is only covered by FMLA and a state leave act that protects my job for the time I want to leave, up to 6 months in a 12 month period. Whatever leave I take is my own sick or vacation leave, and can take LWOP if wanted.
What bothers me is seeing people complain as if they didn't know their company or state laws regulating baby leave. I have worked here for over 6 years building up my sick leave (8 hrs/month) and vacation at the state rate. I planned on eventually having a child and needing the leave, therefore I never took sick leave unless absolutely necessary. I will have 19 weeks available of combined leave to use after birth but plan on taking 10-12.
Under current laws it's not your employers responsibility to pay for you to have baby time off. Plan ahead and it won't be a burden on you and your family. Until the laws get changed we all know what to expect going into it....it's not a surprise.
That being said I'm following the presidential candidates on who supports paid family leave and who doesn't. I strongly believe we need it and it benefits everyone.
Also not every employer allows you to build up that much paid time off-- you are pretty lucky to have 19 weeks after 6 years. Many places don't let it roll over that much, they give less per year, or have restrictions where you aren't allowed to use that many sick days for family leave since you aren't actually "sick" or physically affected that long. Good for you, but for so many families, even the best planning can't provide a comfortable leave.
@flowerpower5838 you're right about Canada's mat leave. It's federally funded under employment insurance. Everyone who works pays into employment insurance (EI) and its there to use in the event you're laid off from work. Its based on your salary and caps out at about $500/weekly (if your income is 48K or above). If you're laid off from work you can collect EI from 14 to 45 weeks depending on how many insurance working hours you worked before you were laid off.
Mat leave is an extension of this program. You're paid the above rate for 50 weeks (the first two weeks are ei deductible and not paid) therefore you receive 52 weeks off. Small/medium businesses couldn't afford to pay for leave if it wasn't federally funded. I work for he provincial government and earn a top-up amount. Some employers offer this. I receive 75% of my salary the two weeks I receive nothing from EI and am topped up to 93% of my salary for the first 4 months. After that it's just my EI benefits and the child benefit which is a minimum rate of $160/child a month.
It takes a lot of political will to get something like this passed but it's a much easier program to offer federally than state by state. Equal access to everyone and it's a small expense on a pay check (maybe $20 on my pay) but it's a piece of mind for both mat leaves and if I was ever laid off.
Even with the best intentions of saving sick/personal time.... It can be pretty hard depending on how much you actually get. We only get 10 sick/personal days a year as teachers...... Of course when you teach k-1, you can get sick a lot. This is first year I haven't been sick. The three years I've been in this district I've had to use 5 of those 10 days when I became ill and unable to work. Not to mention I had to move three years ago to be with boyfriend/now husband. To say that I've (or others like me) created my own burdens for my family just makes me laugh. I wouldn't be having this family if I didn't move and change jobs. Life isn't always so cut and dry. I'll get 15 paid days and 4-8 weeks short term disability, but will take all 12 weeks (plus summer) because we'd rather eat noodles and be broke than put a 10-12 week old in daycare. We can struggle financially until August because our LO is more important, so we know the choice we make when I go without pay.
I agree our country needs a policy on paid maternity/parental leave. My job is only covered by FMLA and a state leave act that protects my job for the time I want to leave, up to 6 months in a 12 month period. Whatever leave I take is my own sick or vacation leave, and can take LWOP if wanted.
What bothers me is seeing people complain as if they didn't know their company or state laws regulating baby leave. I have worked here for over 6 years building up my sick leave (8 hrs/month) and vacation at the state rate. I planned on eventually having a child and needing the leave, therefore I never took sick leave unless absolutely necessary. I will have 19 weeks available of combined leave to use after birth but plan on taking 10-12.
Under current laws it's not your employers responsibility to pay for you to have baby time off. Plan ahead and it won't be a burden on you and your family. Until the laws get changed we all know what to expect going into it....it's not a surprise.
That being said I'm following the presidential candidates on who supports paid family leave and who doesn't. I strongly believe we need it and it benefits everyone.
I agree our country needs a policy on paid maternity/parental leave. My job is only covered by FMLA and a state leave act that protects my job for the time I want to leave, up to 6 months in a 12 month period. Whatever leave I take is my own sick or vacation leave, and can take LWOP if wanted.
What bothers me is seeing people complain as if they didn't know their company or state laws regulating baby leave. I have worked here for over 6 years building up my sick leave (8 hrs/month) and vacation at the state rate. I planned on eventually having a child and needing the leave, therefore I never took sick leave unless absolutely necessary. I will have 19 weeks available of combined leave to use after birth but plan on taking 10-12.
Under current laws it's not your employers responsibility to pay for you to have baby time off. Plan ahead and it won't be a burden on you and your family. Until the laws get changed we all know what to expect going into it....it's not a surprise.
That being said I'm following the presidential candidates on who supports paid family leave and who doesn't. I strongly believe we need it and it benefits everyone.
First off, some of us have been in postgraduate school/law school/med school and recently entered the work force in the past 2 or 3 years. Not everyone has had the luxury of working at the same place for those years consecutively because as much as you would like to plan to be at a certain job, things happen that cause you to leave or a better opportunity arises. I'm complaining about my law firm's policy because they didn't institute FMLA until this year and did not have a set policy (and still don't) on how much paid leave associates receive- it's decided on case by case basis by the partners. Staff members don't get any leave. After I spoke to my partner about paid leave, they decided to provide me with 6 weeks after all including my two weeks of vacation and one sick week. With that said, not everyone is able to plan ahead like you suggest.
I was just saying if you didn't plan ahead or weren't able to then those were choices made only by you.
I'm not that "lucky" as someone stated about accruing leave balances. I work for the state and the rules apply for everyone that works for the state. Max 240 hours vacation on your anniversary date (currently get 10/month, goes up over time to max of 16 or something) and there is no max balance on sick leave (8/month). I think I've taken 3 sick days to myself over the 6 years.
In my position we are forced into overtime which we can take as comp time or pay. Max accrual 40 hours. We also have to work holidays and get 15 hours of time off for each 10 hour holiday shift (no extra pay). Max accrual 80 hours on anniversary.
I was just saying if you didn't plan ahead or weren't able to then those were choices made only by you.
I'm not that "lucky" as someone stated about accruing leave balances. I work for the state and the rules apply for everyone that works for the state. Max 240 hours vacation on your anniversary date (currently get 10/month, goes up over time to max of 16 or something) and there is no max balance on sick leave (8/month). I think I've taken 3 sick days to myself over the 6 years.
In my position we are forced into overtime which we can take as comp time or pay. Max accrual 40 hours. We also have to work holidays and get 15 hours of time off for each 10 hour holiday shift (no extra pay). Max accrual 80 hours on anniversary.
The bolded sounds like a "well she was drunk and asking for it" kind of response.
You came to the party well-prepared. Good for you. No need to lack complete and utter empathy for those that did not have your good fortune. My husband was laid off about 2 months after we conceived after 2.5 years of trying. Was that my choice? Should I have aborted my baby because we fell on harder than normal times?
I think it's hilarious that you don't find your vacation/sick time/pto policy lucky. Work 10 hours on a holiday and get 15 hours of vacation? Ummmmm yes please. 240 hour = 6 weeks of vacation. Plus over 2 weeks of sick days a year? Plus everything else you mentioned. That's not lucky??? WITHOUT stocking up on extra time via holidays or OT, you're already banking EIGHT WEEKS A YEAR. That is crazy lucky. I, for one, am super jealous of you.
The average person is probably receiving 2-4 weeks of vacation/sick time/pto combined maximum even after being at their job for 6 years. So yeah, maybe start counting your blessings and realize that you are in a pretty cush position. Hope it feels nice judging us all from all the way up there in your ivory tower.
Re: Disappointed by dismal maternity leave
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our family of 5 is complete!! Love our boys!
Yeah I waited until my fmla was almost up before I "made the decision". I didn't want my full time benefits be taken away by any chance.
'Murica!
Me: 29 DH: 31
Married 10/13/12
TTC Since 8/2016
My issue and one that @Cocoaf1988 brought up is the expectation on some employers to remain in touch during leave. I was put on short-term illness leave prior to delivery due to severe sciatica and my manager expected me to be available by blackberry at any time. I happily obliged for 2 weeks (only so much Netflix!) but then on one conference call one of our directors made the comment that it was going to be nice with technology that I was going to be available during my year off. Subsequent conference calls my availability was mentioned by others. I knew then that I had to cut it off really quickly. I basically told them that they could hire me at a consultant hourly rate once I started mat leave otherwise I wouldn't be available. Nothing personal to my work but I value the time with my new baby (except if they were willing to pay me consultant rate of ~$150-$200/hr cause hubby's a student! Can't turn that down!!). At that point I think they realized that their expectations were unreasonable and when I cut off my help 2 weeks before my due date they understood. I definitely suggest setting clear guidelines... ohh and couriering my blackberry back to the office "for safe keeping" really sealed the deal!
Plus both DH and I work full time and we live off of his income and mine all goes to savings/debt so even the pay cut won't really affect us. Add in that all my pre and post natal care is 100% covered by insurance as well as everything for baby and I am looking forward to a fairly stress free 3 months with my little guy. DH is only going to take the week DS is born off and then go back to work but he is a freight conductor for Union Pacific so his "time off" tends to be anywhere for 18-55 hours at home so even working, he will get to spend a lot of time at home.
ETA: words for clarification
Me: 29 DH: 31
Married 10/13/12
TTC Since 8/2016
@kayla.short that great then for you! Sounds too good to be true for my state though.
I hate that the US sucks at this, but I guess I'll take what I can get at this point! You figure it out...you just do. That's what happens when you become a parent!
UPDATE: I took your ladies advice and convinced them to carry my hours from 2015 over. Additionally, they said that I qualify for STD for 8 weeks as well as 4 weeks FMLA (and use my PTO as needed during that time). So relieved to have gotten this figured out before LO gets here. I was also promoted so I WILL still be working like a couple days every two weeks to make sure everyone is staying on task but glad it all worked out. Hope you all have luck with your time off!
But like I said, after reading this, I still feel lucky by comparison.
Seriously though, it is ridiculous how far behind the US is on this matter. And to label having a baby as a disability is just obnoxious.
https://www.blackenterprise.com/news/new-york-governor-calls-for-paid-family-leave-discusses-loss-of-father/
Thoughts? I do know from other articles that the starting pay would only be 35% of an employees income paid, but by 2021 it would be 50%. I say we have to start somewhere... and recognizing the need for paid family leave is a good place to start.
I'm grateful for the 6 weeks paid, and I will use a week of PTO, but I'm sad at the thought of having to turn a little 8 week old baby over to daycare.
Does anyone have any tips for making the transition back to work easier? I tear up thinking about it.
Also, consider a trip to the spa the week you go back for a haircut, a mani-pedi, a massage - anything to treat yourself and get out of mommy mode - or go pick up a few new work outfits.
Honestly, the anticipation of going back is worse than reality. I went back at eight weeks too and we quickly got into a nice routine. You will do great.
Married Bio * BFP Charts
My friend dropped her kid off for a half day the week before she went back to work just to see how things would go and that helped her. It also gave her some time to get her hair/nails done before returning back to work!
Are you going to a bigger daycare? Or an in-home daycare? If you're going to an in-home, go visit a few times leading up to the days of going back to work. (I'm sure you could do this at a bigger daycare center too!) It was nice to see the other kids that were at the daycare. Also, find a back up daycare since you don't have family around. We had to do that after I was taking way too many days off when things would come up with our daycare. Now, if anything happens, the backup person takes her right away and even sends us messages asking when our daughter is coming for a visit
Just know that it does get easier! And also, be prepared for EVERYONE to ask, 'How's the baby?' I had to start responding with, 'She's great, but I'd really like to not talk about her right now unless you'd like to see me cry.' LOL.
What bothers me is seeing people complain as if they didn't know their company or state laws regulating baby leave. I have worked here for over 6 years building up my sick leave (8 hrs/month) and vacation at the state rate. I planned on eventually having a child and needing the leave, therefore I never took sick leave unless absolutely necessary. I will have 19 weeks available of combined leave to use after birth but plan on taking 10-12.
Under current laws it's not your employers responsibility to pay for you to have baby time off. Plan ahead and it won't be a burden on you and your family. Until the laws get changed we all know what to expect going into it....it's not a surprise.
That being said I'm following the presidential candidates on who supports paid family leave and who doesn't. I strongly believe we need it and it benefits everyone.
^^^^ Some of us haven't been in the work force 6+ years, some of us haven't had the luxury to work at the same place 6+ years, some of us can't rollover our vacation time so there is no accumulating extra leave, some of us got pregnant without planning, some of us got pregnant after planning and just weren't aware of our company's policies, some of us work for smaller companies where FMLA doesn't apply.
Just because YOU had the foresight and ability to stay at the same job for 6 years and stock up on your time off doesn't mean that option was available for everyone. At my last job, my PTO policy was if you don't use it you lose it so the maximum time off I would ever get was the three weeks I had earned by my third year there.
Additionally, as sad as it may be, MANY people are not aware of laws or policies until it affects them. My current company is a woman-owned family-friendly business. TONS of moms here. Is it wrong that I assumed since my work is WBENC certified and that we tout being so family-friendly that we had some sort of a maternity policy beyond FMLA? Maybe. But it wasn't in the handbook and I didn't want to talk to HR about it before I got pregnant because I am paranoid. Sure, that's on me, but it doesn't mean that I'm not allowed to complain about our nonexistent policy.
I totally agree with you about learning which candidates support the causes that are important to you. However, simply stating that a company doesn't have any sort of a paid leave, etc. etc. doesn't mean any of us think that it's our employers' responsibility to pay us while we aren't working. From what I know about paid leave in places like Canada, it's not even the employers that pay it anyway - it's from taxes. Not 100% sure about that and don't feel like Googling it, so my apologies if I am wrong.
Everyone here is aware, with the exception of a few states, that to not be provided any paid leave is the norm. Doesn't mean we have to be happy about it though.
Me: 29 DH: 31
Married 10/13/12
TTC Since 8/2016
Me: 29 DH: 31
Married 10/13/12
TTC Since 8/2016
Mat leave is an extension of this program. You're paid the above rate for 50 weeks (the first two weeks are ei deductible and not paid) therefore you receive 52 weeks off. Small/medium businesses couldn't afford to pay for leave if it wasn't federally funded. I work for he provincial government and earn a top-up amount. Some employers offer this. I receive 75% of my salary the two weeks I receive nothing from EI and am topped up to 93% of my salary for the first 4 months. After that it's just my EI benefits and the child benefit which is a minimum rate of $160/child a month.
It takes a lot of political will to get something like this passed but it's a much easier program to offer federally than state by state. Equal access to everyone and it's a small expense on a pay check (maybe $20 on my pay) but it's a piece of mind for both mat leaves and if I was ever laid off.
I'm not that "lucky" as someone stated about accruing leave balances. I work for the state and the rules apply for everyone that works for the state. Max 240 hours vacation on your anniversary date (currently get 10/month, goes up over time to max of 16 or something) and there is no max balance on sick leave (8/month). I think I've taken 3 sick days to myself over the 6 years.
In my position we are forced into overtime which we can take as comp time or pay. Max accrual 40 hours. We also have to work holidays and get 15 hours of time off for each 10 hour holiday shift (no extra pay). Max accrual 80 hours on anniversary.
The bolded sounds like a "well she was drunk and asking for it" kind of response.
You came to the party well-prepared. Good for you. No need to lack complete and utter empathy for those that did not have your good fortune. My husband was laid off about 2 months after we conceived after 2.5 years of trying. Was that my choice? Should I have aborted my baby because we fell on harder than normal times?
I think it's hilarious that you don't find your vacation/sick time/pto policy lucky. Work 10 hours on a holiday and get 15 hours of vacation? Ummmmm yes please. 240 hour = 6 weeks of vacation. Plus over 2 weeks of sick days a year? Plus everything else you mentioned. That's not lucky??? WITHOUT stocking up on extra time via holidays or OT, you're already banking EIGHT WEEKS A YEAR. That is crazy lucky. I, for one, am super jealous of you.
The average person is probably receiving 2-4 weeks of vacation/sick time/pto combined maximum even after being at their job for 6 years. So yeah, maybe start counting your blessings and realize that you are in a pretty cush position. Hope it feels nice judging us all from all the way up there in your ivory tower.
Me: 29 DH: 31
Married 10/13/12
TTC Since 8/2016