Maternity Leave Woes

irishfrisky · May 2017

What are your plans for maternity leave from work? I get a whopping 4 weeks at 60% pay on Short Term Disability... after burning through 2 weeks of PTO. I really thought we had STD for longer than that, I really don't want to go back when the baby is 6 weeks old (or less, if I'm not able to do my physically demanding job up to literally going in to labor). I'm frustrated. I'm going to try to save up as much PTO as I can, but I only earn it so fast. I'm also our primary income so there's just not a feasible way for us to save up enough of a cushion in the next 6 months for me to just be able to take time without pay.

baby3forme · May 2017

I get 12 weeks unpaid FMLA for the entire pregnancy. I plan on saving 6-8 weeks for right before and after baby and using the remainder throughout my pregnancy. With DD2, I only took 3 weeks off PP because I wanted to get a paycheck before Christmas. I plan on returning to work before Christmas this time around too (EDD 11/9).

KLink15 · May 2017

I feel your pain! I work at my family's very small auto repair and towing company, we don't really have a maternity leave, granted I am the only female here. My dad's the owner and he is willing to give me whatever time off I need but it's only paid for whatever PTO I have saved up. We were hoping I could take 3-6 months off but I am not sure if we can truly afford that...

ElizabethSchuyler · May 2017

I'm praying I can take the 12 weeks and even that felt so short the first time. Maternity leave is a joke.

av2323 · May 2017

I have STD which will pay for 6 or 8 weeks (at 60% of salary) depending on the type of delivery. I will take off 8 weeks, 2 of which will be unpaid. We have a decent cushion in savings so it won't hurt us for me to be out of work. I also reach 3 weeks of vacation this year because I hit my 10 year anniversary but I'm trying to save my vacation and sick time for inevitable illnesses. Our maternity leave benefits in America really suck compared to the rest of the world.

DuchessOfCambridge · May 2017

I get 7 weeks paid and am planning on rolling over one week of this year's PTO to pay for an additional week of leave and just taking the other 4 weeks unpaid. Hoping to be able to WFH two days a week after leave is over and have DH WFH three days a week to avoid daycare until baby is six months. I've said it before and I'll say it again, America is effing pathetic in this regard. If men gave birth we'd have two years 100% paid leave.

mariposa_767s · May 2017

I get a whopping nothing for maternity leave. No short term disability, not a percentage of pay, nothing. I do get the 12 weeks of unpaid FMLA, using all of my PTO first. I'm hoping to have at least a week of PTO, but I am having to take time off to get things done at home since I can't get as much done as fast these days plus appointments for the kids. I hope to take all 3 months, but I just don't know if we can swing it. It kills me because I don't want to work. I want to be a mom and a wife. There is not enough support for moms. It's a shame. I had to go back to work at 8 weeks with my son and it didn't help the depression at all...or the mom guilt.

angty1111 · May 2017

I can take 12 weeks through fmla. I'll have enough sick time and vacation time to be paid for the whole 3 months but it will drain my sick time. I took three months off with my first and had enough sick time to be paid and still returned with a lot of time. I've been at the same company for 10 years so I've spent a lot of time accruing it! My husband switched careers last year to real estate and ideally he'll start making enough that I can stay at home for a few years.

CubsFan7 · May 2017

I get 11 weeks of FMLA as I had to already use one week to get pregnant. I do get 4 weeks of vacation a year and have a week I rolled over from last year. I'm taking the week I'll deliver off and start FMLA the week after that so I can have 12 weeks total off. My STD will pay for 6 weeks (at 60%) as I'm having a c-section and my job pays full pay for one week. I'll also roll a week over to next year (as well as my 40 hrs of sick time) so I don't start 2018 off with no vacation/sick time. Overall, I'll get paid for all 10 out of 12 weeks so not bad. I've also started saving money for when baby comes. I'm a terrible saver so I use Qapital to help me save money without knowing. My goal is to have at least one to two weeks of my pay saved up by November.

I've also started buying Target and Walmart gift cards each payday and started buying boxes of diapers so I don't have to spend so much once baby is here. I won't have to worry about having a babysitter as I'll be home for those 12 weeks but we are putting my son in a private preschool so that kinda blows.

Oh and ladies taking STD for the first time, remember that if you get health insurance through your job, you'll have to pay for your healthcare insurance out of that money while you are on leave.

RiverSong15 · May 2017

I get 6 or 8 weeks of STD benefits at 2/3 pay, depending on type of delivery. However, a lot of STD benefits have a 1 week unpaid waiting period. So really, it's only 5 or 7 weeks paid at 2/3 pay. Then, my company gives us 1 week paid. Then it's all unpaid FMLA. My state law says FMLA can't start until after STD benefits end for some companies, so I may be eligible for 18 to 20 weeks off, mostly unpaid. I could use PTO to cover some of it, but I want to save PTO time for the inevitable sick days and doctor visits after the baby goes to daycare.

SweetMelissa4 · May 2017

I am eligible for 13 weeks fmla (it's a state thing), but my STD has a 30 DAY WAITING PERIOD. During that time, I'm forced to burn through all of my PTO. If I run out (which I will, I've been there less than a year), it goes to unpaid leave until STD kicks in. Medical FML only works for 6-8 weeks, depending on delivery type, so STD is really only in effect for 2 weeks if the delivery is vaginal. I know it's more than some, but, yeah. Whooooopiiieeee for 2 weeks pay at 60%. The remaining FML time would be unpaid. I will be switching to H's insurance and going off mine (open enrollment now, our insurance effective dates are 7/1-6/30, so I also get screwed deductible wise), so I will probably tell them I'm not coming back after collecting my whopping STD $. I'm lucky that H does alright for himself and we're working on saving a ton, or I would have to seriously consider returning to work after 6-8 weeks. I don't know how the ladies that have to do that do it. I'm sorry.

pawcall · May 2017

Week 1 - 100% paid by my PTO
Wk 2-7 - 60% paid by STD
Wk 8 - 100% paid by my PTO
Wk 9-12 - unpaid, unless I go back to work.

Using 2 weeks of PTO will leave me with 68h of PTO to use between now and November which I will need since my son will have at least two more procedures/hospital stays before baby is born.

Thankfully I am able to work flex time when I have an appointment and don't need to use PTO every time.

captainfoxtrot · May 2017

Damn. This makes me really appreciate my company. 18 weeks paid. It's so embarassing how backwards the USA is in regards to maternity leave. I was very excited about my 18 weeks when talking to my Canadian friends, and they were like "We get a year!"

After the 18 weeks, I'm hoping to get to WFH 1-2 days a week.

ElizabethSchuyler · May 2017

@captainfoxtrot Damn, lady. That's NICE. My last company had 3 weeks paid in addition to 50% short term disability, but we could only max out at 12 weeks due to FMLA. Three weeks paid is really generous compared to what most moms go through. Let us know if your company is hiring

DuchessOfCambridge · May 2017

@captainfoxtrot right? I feel super lucky about having 7 weeks paid. Which is not even good. But is in America. As our nation's leader would say: Sad!

cmessamore · May 2017

I only work per diem, so I get the standard 12 weeks unpaid FMLA. (No STD and No PTO).

When I had DS3, I was part time. I was on bed rest from 20-something weeks on and wasn't allowed to go back to work until I was 16 weeks post-partum due to medical reasons. Because it was medical, my job could not fire me, but they did switch me from my particular part time shift to quote "something comparable" when I came back (hence why I was in a hurry to switch from part time to per diem). Maternity leave sucks.

mariposa_767s · May 2017

DuchessOfCambridge said:

@captainfoxtrot right? I feel super lucky about having 7 weeks paid. Which is not even good. But is in America. As our nation's leader would say: Sad!

"So sad!!" if he has enough Twitter character spaces left. Honestly, I don't foresee us getting paid maternity leave anytime in the near future. Women's rights in the workplace are so far behind here. Not to mention our president is a business man first. No CEO wants to pay out maternity leave.

baby3forme · May 2017

Make sure you ladies save some time off for after your maternity leave especially if you are BF!! I got mastitis a month after coming back to work and had to take 4 days off. It drained all of my sick time which is no fun with a newborn!

DuchessOfCambridge · May 2017

@mariposa_767s NY actually is rolling out paid leave. It's still just 12 weeks but both mom and dad can take it and it's 2/3 of your pay. It'll be fully in place by 2018, starting out smaller first. It's no Canada leave but some parts of the country are at least taking (baby) steps.

JDW0325 · May 2017

I have 6 weeks paid 100% and I have 6 weeks vacation/sick saved up I can use. If I didn't have that saved, I would just take it unpaid.
My husband gets 2 full weeks paid paternity! Pretty rare (unfortunately) so we are happy!!!

misschanandlerbong15 · May 2017

I'm with @captainfoxtrot - this makes me appreciate the company I work for as well, I get 16 weeks paid at 100% and I also have about 3.5 weeks of PTO remaining that I can use as needed, but we'll see about that as we get further along

rosalie12 · May 2017

I just gave notice at my old job, and with that, lost my STD. But it was a choice I was willing to take because the STD wasn't much pay anyway. So I did confirm with my new job that I can still take 12 weeks, and they were awesome about it, but the only pay I will get will be whatever PTO I accrue between now and then. So, like 1-2 weeks tops. I'm going to save as much as we can and pay some bills ahead, but it will be a challenge.

mariposa_767s · May 2017

@duchessofcambridge I had DS in New Jersey and they have state maternity short term disability. It was really nice and I felt very naïve when I realized only about 3 states do that.

dragonfly87-2 · May 2017

I work in education, so kind of lucky with our timing.

I have the following set up:

12 weeks FMLA + 4 weeks of standard time off (Winter Break, Thanksgiving Break and February Break) = up to 16 weeks off
Short-term disability = 5 weeks paid at 60%
Flex Days = up to 15 paid, will likely use 10
Paid Time off: during standard vacation time = 4 weeks

I plan to take about 10 weeks off full time, return during the 11th week for 2-3 days a week and do that for about 4 weeks.

ShePersisted · May 2017

Sigh I miss my old firm. I got 6 months fully paid when my son was born and was allowed to work from home one whole year after I returned. It was the best. This time I'll get 12 weeks paid and perhaps any left over PTO which I think I could take in advance up to 4-5 weeks so that should give me 16 weeks. Not horrible at all and I'm sure they will be open to a flex schedule when I get back.

I want to hug you all ladies who don't get too much time after the baby is born and don't have the choice to stay home. This is hard and I hate so much that we as a country don't recognize the irony of how hard we make it on new moms.

rms924 · May 2017

@captainfoxtrot where do you work and where can I send my resume

j/k I love my job but wow that's amazing.

@CubsFan7it never occurred to me, but HR has informed me that the weeks where I am using STD, my medical costs will go up. Just a heads up ladies- it's worth asking about not only your pay coverage but your medical coverage as well.

ETA: to recognize @CubsFan7 & my coverage

My company gives 6 weeks paid full and 6 weeks at 60% using STD. That's supposed to be amazing. With my son I only took 8 weeks (6 weeks paid, 2 weeks unpaid) and that was brutal. I would not recommend to anyone but my husband had just lost his job and we needed the income.

dragonfly87-2 · May 2017

@mariposa_767s Honestly, it's a tough financial spot to be in. As the equivalent of a CEO (I am ED of two schools), I am completely torn on the issue. We are only 100 employees, so not a huge district by any means. So our situation is a bit different.

Obviously, as a pregnant woman and mother to be soon, I would love much better maternity leave pay and plans. But, working in public education, the funding just isn't there to do it. There is no way we could pay someone for a full year or even six months of salary, plus put another teacher in the classroom to cover them. Education funding is crap in our state (and the US in general) and it's only getting worse. So it's not that I don't want to pay it, but we can't afford to pay it.

I have had some employees (women/mothers) tell me I don't care about maternity concerns because I don't have children. Which is incredibly hurtful, especially because my own journey to motherhood hasn't been the easiest at moments. They don't know I am pregnant now, but I do care about these issues and I am have implemented changes to improve it (i.e., purchased STD for the entire organization, which pays 5-6 weeks at 60% pay) and restructured contracts to make it easier to take time off/offered more flex days. But it isn't always easy.

My understand in Canada is that the government/taxes actually pay for the up to the year of time off. So the financial cost does not fall on the employer. So that is a different situation. I know there are great long term benefits and increased employee retention when there are good parental leave practices in place, but it is a cost that not all institutions can afford.

froggy994 · May 2017

I'm a teacher. At my district I can take 12 weeks fmla. Since I'll have a csection, 8 weeks will be paid using my sick days, the the next 4 are unpaid. I'll get two weeks of winter break extra since they're nonwork weeks.

jess0211 · May 2017

My boss and I are discussing my maternity leave, coverage while I am out (which I am struggling with because I am the only person in my organization who does my job), and my schedule when I return at the same time as my yearly evaluation. Sigh. Slightly worried about this. I am entitled to 12 weeks FMLA so I am not worried about that I am more worried about changing my schedule when I return to work.

kwaldy · May 2017

I get 84 days (yep, that's how it's written in the policy) paid maternity leave - equals out to 12 weeks, because it includes weekends. I also am saving the hell out of my personal leave, so I might take 2 extra weeks. Playing it by ear... I feel so incredibly lucky to have a job with the policy it does. With my first, though, the policy was only 6 weeks of leave.

Roliepoliecoley4 · May 2017

I get 12 weeks of FMLA. However, I did sign up this year for an "enhanced" STD, so I get 100% pay for weeks 1-4, and 75% for weeks 5-12, instead of 75% / 50%. For an extra $15 a month, you can't beat it!

weedee4 · May 2017

18 weeks paid. Plus, I will add 4
weeks of vacation time so it'll come out to a total of 22 weeks paid. I honestly had no idea how horrible the maternity leave policies are for employees in this country until my friend told me of her company's dismal policy and I started doing more research into it after I found out that I was pregnant. I'm incredibly thankful that my company offers such a generous maternity leave benefit because I realize the struggle families have to deal with on this issue.

KMRR86 · May 2017

@dragonfly87 yes in Canada we get 17 weeks of maternity leave and 35 weeks of parental leave. Parental leave can be taken by either parent or divided between the two parents. Leave is paid by the government (employment insurance) at 55% of your income and as well families are eligible for a monthly child tax credit as well. You have to have worked a certain amount of hours prior to your leave to qualify for the paid leave. Some employers will top up the 55% to a certain point but yes, they payments come from the government. For example my own employer tops up to 100% of my pay for the first 6 weeks of my leave.

The mat leave situation in the US is absolutely ridiculous and I can't believe that such an advanced country has such an archaic system.

DuchessOfCambridge · May 2017

@KMRR86 preach, girl. We can't believe it either or why it won't change.

kalenp · May 2017

I work part time (3 days a week) and not enough hours to qualify for FMLA. So I only get 6 weeks job protected time off and I have to burn through all of my vacation to get paid. With my first I had 4 months (3 paid, one unpaid) and with my 2nd I had 12 weeks. I cannot imagine only having 6 weeks off. Particularly with a winter baby. We're still pondering the right move.

Edit to clarify time.

dragonfly87-2 · May 2017

@KMRR86 It is archaic, but it is also because Americans are sadly very individualistic and tax adverse. We want public benefits, but do not collectively want to pay for them.

So so while it pains me to not see better benefits, I wonder how many of us ladies would voluntarily raise our taxes. Canadians pay an unemployment tax and employers pay a portion. In the US, only employer pays a small fee. Also, in the US, we can utilize, depending on income, lots of tax deductions that Canadians do not have. Our system definitely doesn't value parental or maternity leave, but we also don't fund it via traditional mechanisms.

DuchessOfCambridge · May 2017

@dragonfly87 I would absolutely raise my taxes. I don't think it's necessarily a matter of us needing to raise our taxes though. The corporate tax rate is stupid low and about to become ridiculously lower. The wealthy are capped at a low (for them) rate as well. We have so many loop holes allowing corporations to utilize tax havens. This is a huge part of why we don't have money, the middle class cannot afford to keep America afloat and yet that is who bears the burden. That aside, I would be fine paying increased taxes. In Canada it's not all income tax (or so I've heard), some of it is sales and I've heard from many Canadians they don't feel that it hurts them and NHS feels "free" because the hit to individuals is so negligible. Americans are quite selfish and don't understand they could benefit as well from paying a bit more. I would love if the next generation was able to have national healthcare, solid parental leave, and even throw in free higher education in there. Other countries have been doing it for ages and it's working out great for them.

Meanwhile our president is just funneling taxpayer money into his stupid GD resort and will waste more taxpayer money on an absurd racist wall. I literally feel like I am dealing with a child not "the greatest country in the world". America, you're the reason we can't have nice things.

P.S. I don't hate America and I do like living here but I don't like the selfishness and lack of thinking about women as human beings.

britduhr · May 2017

I work at a small non-profit with under 50 employees, so I DO NOT EVEN QUALIFY FOR FMLA. My organization, which is made up almost entirely of women leaders, offers the following policy:

-6 weeks unpaid disability (SINCE WHEN IS CREATING HUMAN LIFE CONSIDERED A DISABILITY?!) with continued health coverage (you would still owe your monthly premiums). Job is safe and guaranteed upon return.

-6 weeks unpaid parental leave during which you receive 6 days of medical coverage SIX DAYS. Baby gets 30 days. I have to assume that "days" was a typo in our handbook. You do not accrue PTO. You are not eligible for paid holidays (was anyone else planning on milking the holiday season for their mat leave?! Oh well.) They will make "every reasonable accommodation to hold your position for you".

I have 138 hours of sick-time saved up and am about to hit 15 days of vacation this summer, so I'll do my best to negotiate something better. My boss and I are on really great terms and I know she values my work, so my hope is that she reacts well to the news and takes it well when I explain to her why I think our maternity leave policy is a punishment. I will happily go to the board of directors to plead my case. We are a non-profit that primarily serves women living either in poverty or on the line. Women who often receive no time off after giving birth (some have gone back to work 2 weeks after giving birth. Some even less than that.) In my opinion, we are a part of the problem if we can't offer something as basic as a humane maternity leave policy to our own employees.

In terms of costs to the employer, while I totally agree that government subsidies would be an incredible incentive and take a huge burden off of businesses with smaller budgets (#goals), the issue is cultural. We tend to greatly undervalue investing in our employees in any way that doesn't translate to a direct benefit to the bottom line. Especially women.

Even so, numerous studies have shown that if you invest in things like fair and humane maternity leave policies, you not only retain more employees, but they're often more committed and loyal to you upon their return. THE MORE YOU KNOW.

I don't know if anything has shocked me more in my life (besides last years election because WHO SAW THAT COMING) (I mean that platonically/a-politically. Sticking to my MAT Leave rant here) than learning that TEACHERS (arguably the most female-dominated field in our country? Maybe rivaled only by nurses?) have the most garbage maternity leave policy ever. How?!

I'm not sure if anyone else feels like this, but this is my first time being pregnant and I never expected to feel the need to defend it on so many fronts. To defend that I'm still a valuable person. So over people and the boxes they put us in.

jess0211 · May 2017

Reading this board makes me so angry and sad. The policies in the US are so antiquated and backwards.

dragonfly87-2 · May 2017

@DuchessOfCambridge Yes, it absolutely is complex and a lot of it has to do with corporate, wealthy and other tax breaks/deductions that disproportionately favor the wealthy. So I don't think it's entirely a matter of the individual citizen raising their own taxes. But my understanding is that EI in Canada is largely funded through unemployment tax that is paid by individual employees and the corporation. So it's a mix. In the US, the unemployment rate per employee for organizations is a joke. I believe my organization pays about $7k a year for 100 employees. But it's not designed to give a lot of time off. And then individuals don't pay anything. So it's a lot of things, but we don't even start at the right point from the EI/unemployment perspective.

I would happily pay a higher unemployment tax personally if it meant better benefits overall. But it's a collective effort and a system-wide issue that must be addressed.

mariposa_767s · May 2017

@dragonfly I was referring more to the companies the boast millions in revenue not allotting money for their employees. I understand there are places that simply don't have the funding for it. I think our tax structure is so messed up and it's only going t get worse. There are some very selfish and self centered people here and the rest of us suffer. I commend you for doing what you can for your people. Our political climate just isn't conducive to doing what's right and when it is, the ones who can won't.

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