Ugh that sounds so nice! I get short term disability which pays 70% for 6 weeks.
I have heard a little about this. Is it difficult to do? I probably wont even a have a weeks worth of vacation time when I have the baby.
I pay into a STD policy with my employer through AFLAC. Most policies have to be in place 10 months before you deliver - i.e. They don't allow you the benefits if you obtain a policy when you're already pregnant.
I'll hopefully stay out a full 12 weeks:1 week vacation time + 2 weeks maternity + 6 weeks short-term disability + 3 weeks unpaid. My company also allows you to take up to 24 weeks of unpaid leave within the first 24 weeks of the child's life. So I'm hoping after 12 weeks out to just come back to work 3 days a week and take unpaid leave 2 days a week for another 12 weeks. But we'll see!
My husband gets two weeks paternity leave, but he works from home, so I'll have an extra set of hands available, if needed. He'll also have time to take off around the holidays - my first kid was born in early December, and it was great having holiday vacation overlap with the newborn. I don't think I spent a full week on my own with my first until he was a month and a half!
I think I have like 17 days paid, and the rest will be unpaid. My husband is a contractor and owns his own business, so for him it would be a little more flexible as far as the time he could take (although if he's not working, he's not making money). Last night my mom and my stepmom kept talking about how they wanted to help with the baby so we are really going to have to take them up on that when we go back.
I am saving up as much sick and vacation time as possible to use first (should give me about 4 weeks fully paid), then I get 4 weeks short term disability at 60% pay (6 weeks if I end up having to have a c-section), then taking the last 4 weeks unpaid. DH has a ridiculous amount of sick time (he's a teacher and never uses it) so he's planning on using most of that - also since we are having the baby around the holidays, he will have a lot of time off school anyway which is nice. Thankfully, I get my yearly bonus in November so that should help cover those 4 weeks unpaid.
My company offers 3 months full pay so I will be off for 3 months, dh will probably use vacation time for about 2 weeks then use his paternity leave when I go back to work. He gets 6 weeks. So baby will be home for 4.5 months before going to daycare, and hopefully missing most of the cold season.
Baby J #2 due 11.12.16 Sydney Elizabeth born 9.24.14
I just started a new job beginning of November so hopefully baby isn't too early (due date 11/15) so I qualify for FMLA and WA State FLA. In that case I'll take my max leave, nearly all unpaid. In WA we get disability leave plus family leave (both unpaid) so my job should be protected for 18 weeks but we'll be scrimping.
In Canada we have a year off with job security and wages covered by the government. And ability to split the time between parents (consecutively, not overlapping). I'm still hoping to work as long as possible to maximize my time with baby. Hubby has an idea that I can go back 2-3 months early and then he'll take some time off. Not sure how I feel about that yet though.
I like reading about everyone's leave plans. Moving to Canada or working for Netflixs would be great for expecting parents.
Anyway, my job offers 6 weeks of maternity leave at 100% pay and then I transition to 6 weeks of "bonding" time from the state. The bonding time is paid at approx 66% of your pay but it's capped, so depending on how much you make the % is even less than that. So that's 12 weeks total and then I'll likely take an additional 3-4 weeks of PTO to get me as close to 4 months as possible. This is exactly what I did with DD and it was nice to have the added time with her.
With our 1st I planned on stopping work approx 1 week before my due date but DD had other plans and arrived 13 days early so I actually worked up till the very end and turns out that, for me, it wasn't bad. Should my pregnancy go as well this time around then my plan is to work till the end as well so I can get the most time possible with the baby.
This week my husbands company announced they extended maternity/paternity leave from 12 to 16 weeks. I am shocked and amazed that they did that! Perfect timing!
Wont kick in till 2018, but may effect my future plans for a possible number three.
The only other person I saw on the Where are you From? Thread from NY is @ZoeFer but maybe there are others out there? Either way, very very exciting and long overdue. I'm hoping other states follow suit and this actually gets funded when budget time rolls around.
Also in Canada so I have the option for 1 full year paid on EI. My work doesn't offer a top up so its 55% which is tough. Luckily my BF makes enough that we won't really be too affected. I feel bad for all you US mommas. I wish everyone got something similar to what Canada offers.
My work doesn't offer short term disability, so it'll be about 3 weeks paid leave and 9 weeks unpaid for me. My husband is planning on taking two months after that, but he has to check on his company's policies (which I wish he would do soon). We want to put off how early our baby will need to enter day care. I'm hoping to bump my weekly hours down after he's done with leave and I've repaid my health insurance premiums from my leave.
It's such a horrible system. I don't want to put a 3 month old in day care, but we also need to work.
As a teacher, I will have to use sick leave and borrow from the sick leave pool, which I will pay back over the next several years. Yay, me. Month and a half this time, maybe.
I get 6 weeks disability, will then take all my vacation/personal time I've been saving which will be about 2.5 months additional, and then FMLA. I hope to use it all and it's a shame that in the US we have such pitiful respect for women and caregivers. I am very lucky with my current employer but it is still very disheartening. I'll probably take 6 months when all is said and done.
I'm a work from home mom, I work about 20 hours a week. I won't get any paid leave and I don't have sick or vacation since I'm part time, but I'm sure they'll be okay with me taking a few months off, we'll just have to arrange for my tasks to be taken care of.
My husband just started a new job and we found out they provide a week of paternity leave, so we're excited about that.
28 years old. Married 5 years. DD born Oct 2014 via C-Section (footling breech) Baby #2 (AND #3...SURPRISE!) Due Nov 17, 2016. Found out it was twins at 18+5!
Interesting to see such a range! I work at a university that provides a semester of paid leave. Since I'm due in the last few weeks of the fall semester, I'll actually receive about six months paid total (I'm paid as a fellow--so very low pay anyway). I work at home for the most part, so even after that I'll have another year of WAHM. My partner gets 6 weeks paid and we're thinking she'll take four after the birth, and then save two weeks for later during my maternity leave when I need to go on work trips during my leave (my choice, but important for my ongoing career). Feeling very fourtunate
US mamas - For those who have short term disability policies, are eligible for FMLA and have paid time off accrued - you aren't able to take these independent of one another, correct? As in, you can't take your 6 weeks disability paid at, let's say, 60% of your salary THEN use your PTO time...for arguements sake, let's say you have 6 weeks saved up AND then take FMLA unpaid @ 12 weeks...that's not how it works, correct? You have to take them concurrent with each other for a total of 12 weeks off to ensure job security, right?
I just found out my company extended its maternity/paternity leave from 12 to 16 weeks. So excited. I had just applied for nursing school for the fall semester before I found out we were expecting. I don't plan on missing out on more than a few days if I get accepted. The extended leave would help out a lot. Can't say that I'm going to return to work afterwards. Not with a 3 kids and nursing school. DH's insurance won't kick in until October.
US mamas - For those who have short term disability policies, are eligible for FMLA and have paid time off accrued - you aren't able to take these independent of one another, correct? As in, you can't take your 6 weeks disability paid at, let's say, 60% of your salary THEN use your PTO time...for arguements sake, let's say you have 6 weeks saved up AND then take FMLA unpaid @ 12 weeks...that's not how it works, correct? You have to take them concurrent with each other for a total of 12 weeks off to ensure job security, right?
This is super confusing every time I try to decipher it, so apologies if I get somethings wrong. I believe you have to exhaust your vacation first, then your short term kicks in. Or, some short term policies kick in after a certain number of days. During that time off work, FMLA is only protecting your job, it's not supplementing income (only maternity leave, a short term disability policy, or paid vacation days =$$).
For me, I "bought up" on the STD policy. So after 8 days of vacation, I should get short term for 6 weeks. Then, I think I can use the rest of my vacation and sick days (about another 2 weeks) once the short term runs out. That's about 9 weeks that I'll get some form of paycheck. After short term and disability run out, so does the money. But, FMLA guarantees my job will be there after taking 12 weeks off. Hope that makes sense! Sad it's such a cobbled together situation for us...
Me: 31; DH: 31 NTNP: May 2015 TTC #1: late August 2015 PCOS Dx: January 2016, starting Femara Feb 2016 BFP: 2/29/16 - Happy Leap Day!
@atcwag FMLA and STD/Maternity Leave are separate things in terms on what the supply; however you are correct that they do run concurrently. The way that most company based STD policies work is that you have to use 1 week (5 days) of PTO before the paid benefits of STD kick in, this is called a "Waiting period". So lets say your company covers 6 weeks of maternity leave then week 1 would be your own PTO and weeks 2-6 would be covered by the company STD policy at whatever rate the company provides. Once you go on STD your FMLA benefit kicks in and that is simply job protection, nothing else. FMLA covers you for up to a period of 12 weeks for your own disability or care of a family member. So basically weeks 1-6 (or 8 if you're a C-section) are for your care and weeks 7 (or 9) -12 are for care of the baby. Either way it's only 12 weeks max for FMLA. Your employer may grant you additional Leave time at their discretion but you must understand that it's not protected by federal law. So as an example I have been at my employer for 10 years and they have absolutely no problem with me extending my leave for an additional month past my 12 weeks of FMLA. That is called Authorized Leave and it can be with or without pay. No, it isn't protected but given that I'm using PTO that I earned then basically it's not much different that being on "vacation". When you use PTO you're back on payroll but just on a continued (authorized) LOA as opposed to STD.
It can get a bit more complicated if your state offers additional protected leave like in the state of NJ. So here we get FMLA and NJFLA. FMLA = Family Medical Leave and NJFLA = NJ Family Leave. Basically the difference is that NJ Leave doesn't cover your own disability but does cover family. In these cases then the leaves begin to run concurrently once your baby is born but not prior SO you could essentially get up to a total of 24 weeks protected leave BUT again this has nothing to do with pay.
Example: I go on bed rest on August 1st and don't have the baby until November 1st. I would be covered under FMLA for Aug 1st - Oct 31st (12 weeks) and then on Nov 1st I would be covered under NJFLA for up to another 12 weeks. The thing with that is that I wouldn't be paid for the second part of my leave because by then I would have exhausted all 12 STD weeks which are the paid weeks. Another example is I go on LOA Sept 1st and have the baby Nov 1st. In that scenario I use FMLA for Sept 1st through Oct 31st (8 weeks) and then NJFLA kicks in on Nov 1st. Since I have 4 weeks of FMLA left both protected leaves (FMLA and NJFLA) run together once the baby is born so I still only have an additional 12 weeks of protected leave for a total of 20 total weeks of protected leave. Again this is independent of pay. Last example is that you work till the day you give birth. In that scenario both leaves run together the entire time for a total of 12 weeks of protected leave.
I know it's a lot but I hope it makes sense. It's a lot to type out vs explain verbally. I tried LOL.
ALL: Please note that my examples on the latter part of my explanation are for the state on NJ and not any other state. Many states do not provide additional protected leave and only offer federal leave (FMLA). And for other states that provides leave similar to NJ it may have slightly different rules in terms of them running concurrently. The other thing I'd like to point out is that your companies (or states) STD policies may vary. What I mean is that most will have the same 5 day waiting period I referenced above but others may have a longer waiting period or a whole different set of rules before you can begin to collect payment.
I get 6 weeks disability, will then take all my vacation/personal time I've been saving which will be about 2.5 months additional, and then FMLA. I hope to use it all and it's a shame that in the US we have such pitiful respect for women and caregivers. I am very lucky with my current employer but it is still very disheartening. I'll probably take 6 months when all is said and done.
@Ash9614 & @TrulyBlessed22 - Totally should have clarified why I was asking before ya'll typed all that! Props to you! This is baby #2, so I realize how leave works. I was confused by @mszobota comment above. Sounds like she's using her FMLA after PTO and STD, so I don't know if she had a special provision with her employer or whether different states had different policies on using concurrently or...
No worries @atcwag maybe someone else will find it helpful
In terms of @mszobota you can begin FMLA at any point within 12 months of your baby being born so if her employer is granting an Authorized Leave then she can opt to take PTO prior to going on FMLA therefore extending her time out of work but in reverse. So basically job protection significantly past delivery as opposed to pre or immediately after delivery. The job wouldn't be federally protected during her time away that wasn't officially FMLA. It's essentially not much different than what I will be doing (extending my time away using PTO) but it sounds like she may do it in reverse...not sure why but she may have a reason for doing it that way.
As far as STD is concerned that must be taken for your own disability so that coincides with being taken out of work for bed rest or something similar OR delivery of your baby.
My husband is self-employed so he's not banking on being able to take time off, but we're hoping he can at least get the first few days after birth to stay home with us. I work under contract for a university and my contract is up about 6 weeks before I'm due, so I won't be immediately renewing my contract. Husband and I are hoping and have been trying to prepare for me to be able to stay at home. But if I do go back to work, it will be mid January, when the Spring semester starts. I have no paid maternity leave through the university since I am contracted.
@TrulyBlessed22 Thank you for taking the time to write that! Oregon has OFLA which is probably similar to NJFLA and I had no idea how it all worked together so that helped me a lot!
Me: 29, DH: 29 Married 9/27/14 TTC #1 since 8/15/15 BFP: 1/2/16, EDD 9/13/16 - MMC 2/10/16 BFP: 3/17, EDD 11/23/16 November 2016 April Siggy Challenge - April Showers
NP @zrain glad I could help. While I am not familiar with Oregon's state leave you're correct that it most likely works works similar or possibly even the same as NJFLA. Most state sponsored protection laws operate similarly because they are offered above and beyond Federal protection. Basically, a state benefit can't be less than what is offered federally.
Anyway, it' best to check with your HR Dept for specifics on your state leave. They may be able to provide you with a sample leave calendar so that you have a visual on how long your leave could go.
I'm a SAHM, but my husband is going to take his 2 weeks worth of vacation all at once. I wish he could take longer off but I'm blessed to not have to worry about maternity leave.
Re: Maternity and Paternity leave plans
My husband gets two weeks paternity leave, but he works from home, so I'll have an extra set of hands available, if needed. He'll also have time to take off around the holidays - my first kid was born in early December, and it was great having holiday vacation overlap with the newborn. I don't think I spent a full week on my own with my first until he was a month and a half!
Sydney Elizabeth born 9.24.14
Anyway, my job offers 6 weeks of maternity leave at 100% pay and then I transition to 6 weeks of "bonding" time from the state. The bonding time is paid at approx 66% of your pay but it's capped, so depending on how much you make the % is even less than that. So that's 12 weeks total and then I'll likely take an additional 3-4 weeks of PTO to get me as close to 4 months as possible. This is exactly what I did with DD and it was nice to have the added time with her.
With our 1st I planned on stopping work approx 1 week before my due date but DD had other plans and arrived 13 days early so I actually worked up till the very end and turns out that, for me, it wasn't bad. Should my pregnancy go as well this time around then my plan is to work till the end as well so I can get the most time possible with the baby.
https://nymag.com/thecut/2016/03/new-york-revolutionary-family-leave-paid-time-off.html
Wont kick in till 2018, but may effect my future plans for a possible number three.
The only other person I saw on the Where are you From? Thread from NY is @ZoeFer but maybe there are others out there? Either way, very very exciting and long overdue. I'm hoping other states follow suit and this actually gets funded when budget time rolls around.
I feel bad for all you US mommas. I wish everyone got something similar to what Canada offers.
It's such a horrible system. I don't want to put a 3 month old in day care, but we also need to work.
<a href="http://www.thebump.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Parenting Tips"><img
My husband just started a new job and we found out they provide a week of paternity leave, so we're excited about that.
DD born Oct 2014 via C-Section (footling breech)
Baby #2 (AND #3...SURPRISE!) Due Nov 17, 2016. Found out it was twins at 18+5!
As in, you can't take your 6 weeks disability paid at, let's say, 60% of your salary THEN use your PTO time...for arguements sake, let's say you have 6 weeks saved up AND then take FMLA unpaid @ 12 weeks...that's not how it works, correct? You have to take them concurrent with each other for a total of 12 weeks off to ensure job security, right?
For me, I "bought up" on the STD policy. So after 8 days of vacation, I should get short term for 6 weeks. Then, I think I can use the rest of my vacation and sick days (about another 2 weeks) once the short term runs out. That's about 9 weeks that I'll get some form of paycheck. After short term and disability run out, so does the money. But, FMLA guarantees my job will be there after taking 12 weeks off. Hope that makes sense! Sad it's such a cobbled together situation for us...
NTNP: May 2015
TTC #1: late August 2015
PCOS Dx: January 2016, starting Femara Feb 2016
BFP: 2/29/16 - Happy Leap Day!
@atcwag FMLA and STD/Maternity Leave are separate things in terms on what the supply; however you are correct that they do run concurrently. The way that most company based STD policies work is that you have to use 1 week (5 days) of PTO before the paid benefits of STD kick in, this is called a "Waiting period". So lets say your company covers 6 weeks of maternity leave then week 1 would be your own PTO and weeks 2-6 would be covered by the company STD policy at whatever rate the company provides. Once you go on STD your FMLA benefit kicks in and that is simply job protection, nothing else. FMLA covers you for up to a period of 12 weeks for your own disability or care of a family member. So basically weeks 1-6 (or 8 if you're a C-section) are for your care and weeks 7 (or 9) -12 are for care of the baby. Either way it's only 12 weeks max for FMLA. Your employer may grant you additional Leave time at their discretion but you must understand that it's not protected by federal law. So as an example I have been at my employer for 10 years and they have absolutely no problem with me extending my leave for an additional month past my 12 weeks of FMLA. That is called Authorized Leave and it can be with or without pay. No, it isn't protected but given that I'm using PTO that I earned then basically it's not much different that being on "vacation". When you use PTO you're back on payroll but just on a continued (authorized) LOA as opposed to STD.
It can get a bit more complicated if your state offers additional protected leave like in the state of NJ. So here we get FMLA and NJFLA. FMLA = Family Medical Leave and NJFLA = NJ Family Leave. Basically the difference is that NJ Leave doesn't cover your own disability but does cover family. In these cases then the leaves begin to run concurrently once your baby is born but not prior SO you could essentially get up to a total of 24 weeks protected leave BUT again this has nothing to do with pay.
Example: I go on bed rest on August 1st and don't have the baby until November 1st. I would be covered under FMLA for Aug 1st - Oct 31st (12 weeks) and then on Nov 1st I would be covered under NJFLA for up to another 12 weeks. The thing with that is that I wouldn't be paid for the second part of my leave because by then I would have exhausted all 12 STD weeks which are the paid weeks. Another example is I go on LOA Sept 1st and have the baby Nov 1st. In that scenario I use FMLA for Sept 1st through Oct 31st (8 weeks) and then NJFLA kicks in on Nov 1st. Since I have 4 weeks of FMLA left both protected leaves (FMLA and NJFLA) run together once the baby is born so I still only have an additional 12 weeks of protected leave for a total of 20 total weeks of protected leave. Again this is independent of pay. Last example is that you work till the day you give birth. In that scenario both leaves run together the entire time for a total of 12 weeks of protected leave.
I know it's a lot but I hope it makes sense. It's a lot to type out vs explain verbally. I tried LOL.
ALL: Please note that my examples on the latter part of my explanation are for the state on NJ and not any other state. Many states do not provide additional protected leave and only offer federal leave (FMLA). And for other states that provides leave similar to NJ it may have slightly different rules in terms of them running concurrently. The other thing I'd like to point out is that your companies (or states) STD policies may vary. What I mean is that most will have the same 5 day waiting period I referenced above but others may have a longer waiting period or a whole different set of rules before you can begin to collect payment.
No worries @atcwag maybe someone else will find it helpful
In terms of @mszobota you can begin FMLA at any point within 12 months of your baby being born so if her employer is granting an Authorized Leave then she can opt to take PTO prior to going on FMLA therefore extending her time out of work but in reverse. So basically job protection significantly past delivery as opposed to pre or immediately after delivery. The job wouldn't be federally protected during her time away that wasn't officially FMLA. It's essentially not much different than what I will be doing (extending my time away using PTO) but it sounds like she may do it in reverse...not sure why but she may have a reason for doing it that way.
As far as STD is concerned that must be taken for your own disability so that coincides with being taken out of work for bed rest or something similar OR delivery of your baby.
Married 9/27/14
TTC #1 since 8/15/15
BFP: 1/2/16, EDD 9/13/16 - MMC 2/10/16
BFP: 3/17, EDD 11/23/16
November 2016 April Siggy Challenge - April Showers
NP @zrain glad I could help. While I am not familiar with Oregon's state leave you're correct that it most likely works works similar or possibly even the same as NJFLA. Most state sponsored protection laws operate similarly because they are offered above and beyond Federal protection. Basically, a state benefit can't be less than what is offered federally.
Anyway, it' best to check with your HR Dept for specifics on your state leave. They may be able to provide you with a sample leave calendar so that you have a visual on how long your leave could go.