Maternity Leave Advice

ramblebee · January 2018

I know some have shared their maternity leave policies on the appointments thread, but I thought we might be able to collect this info in one place.

I went to my HR and we don't have an official maternity or parental leave policy and there are some "unwritten policies" we are subject to - which feels wrong.

While I know this can vary by industry and location, if you're comfortable sharing your leave info, please do.

I know there has been an official complaints filed at my workplace and I think this might be an opportunity to make a positive change. Would love to see what others experience.

Edited to say - I hope this can serve as a resource for anyone looking to put their workplace policies into context and advocate for themselves and other moms!

doxiemoxie212 · January 2018

My husband (lawyer, NYC) currently gets 4 weeks of fully paid paternity leave. If I still worked at my old job (public relations, NYC/DC), I would've gotten 12 weeks fully paid maternity leave, with the option to take up to 6 months unpaid. Prior to the maternity policy being installed (about 18 months ago), the policy was 6 weeks for a vaginal delivery or 8 weeks for a c-section delivery at partial pay (two of those weeks being paid for by vacation time), with the option to stay on leave for up to 6 months unpaid. It took a man complaining about the lack of a paternity leave policy for there to be a maternity leave policy installed (in a company that was 95% women, a majority of which were mothers). We also had switched from a PTO (paid time off) policy to an "unlimited flexible time off" policy which probably also pushed them toward the decisions since without it in place, new moms could have tried to make the argument that they can take the entire year off at full pay.

marcus7676 · January 2018

I'm an attorney in Boston at a small firm. We don't have any maternity leave. Massachusetts law guarantees 8 weeks unpaid. FMLA does not apply to my firm (too small). Last time, I received STD for 6 weeks (8 weeks with a c-section), which amounted to 60% of my pay for 5 weeks. We don't have a vacation leave policy, but they paid me 3 weeks to account for my "vacation" time. Technically, we qualify for earned sick leave (5 days), but my firm didn't pay me that. I took the remainder unpaid.

My husband (product manager at a large company in Boston) took 10 weeks total (2 after the baby was born, 8 when I went back to work) His company has a parental leave policy. Under that policy, he received 6 weeks of partial salary. He used sick time (30 days, accured) and vacation time to make up the difference and ended up being fully paid for those 10 weeks.

krash_ · January 2018

We don't have maternity leave but we do have FMLA and short term disability. I think FMLA covers me for quite awhile if I wanted to take more time off but we simply couldn't afford that. I am planning on taking 12 weeks off. STD only covers the time that your doctor gives you for medical leave, vaginal birth is usually 6 weeks and c-section 8. I am planning on a vaginal birth so below is how it will break down:

6 weeks STD (4 @ 100% pay and 2 @ 60%)
1 week vacation buy up (we can buy a week of vacation and they deduct it from each paycheck)
3 weeks regular PPT (I have 72 hours accrued now and we accrue 10.72 hours a month)
2 weeks unpaid

Questions I still need to ask:

Will I accrue PPT while on maternity leave? That would be another 32 hours that would help with the two unpaid weeks.
How do I sort this all out when I am out of the office? I do not have access from home so can I just tell someone I have gone into labor and they will submit my PPT hours for me?
Will need to sort the STD stuff out before I leave with third party that manages it but then when and how do I give them my dr's "note?"

I will not be able to take any days off between now and then. I have a floating holiday that I will use for one day we already have planned coming up. After maternity leave I will have some time between coming back and Christmas to accrue some more time so I can take off a few days around then.

ETA: MH doesn't have any parental or paternity leave policy. He will probably just take two weeks vacation when the baby is born. He does have a more flexible work environment and can work from home some he might do that some days if I'm having a hard day.

murraydog2008 · January 2018

I work for the government so we have a pretty good maternity leave plan. You can take 12 weeks for FMLA. I've heard of some people actually taking 18 weeks though if you have enough leave accrued. We have to use our accrued leave to pay for it though. You can take 6 weeks of Sick Leave for vaginal birth or 8 weeks for C-section. And then you use your Annual leave for the rest of the time off. If you don't have enough leave saved up to cover the time off, you can be approved to borrow against future leave which is super nice. Then as you work, you "pay it back". I've been at this job for 7 years so I earn 6 hours of AL per pay period and 4 hours of SL per pay period. I'm thankful that we have a pretty generous leave program here and that I can take so much time off with the baby.

MissKittyDanger · January 2018

No real input here, but it absolutely breaks my heart on how the states deal with maternity leave!

In Canada we're allowed 1 year, and coming soon {if it's not already allowed} we'll be allowed 18 months. That could also be split with the father.
My H is allowed to take up to 6 weeks from his work {right now he's assuming 4 weeks, but they know that could change possibly - coworker joked after 2 weeks he'll wanna come back lol}

edit
For reference, the way the pay goes while on mat leave
12 months - 55-60% of income.
18 months - 50-55% of income {could be 45% - not sure, this is pretty new}

My job "tops up" for first 3 months

Xtabbikatx · January 2018

My company does not have a maternity leave policy, but my short term disability will give me 8 weeks at 100%

I have 5 weeks of PTO saved and 2 weeks of holiday time. I will also accrue time while I am out. I want to take at least 10 weeks off, maybe 12.

ffw0617 · January 2018

Also an attorney, also at a small firm. No official maternity leave. Under the "Office Procedures" you can take 6 weeks off for medical leave (this goes for anyone whether you have a baby, cancer, surgery, etc) and we have an insurance that give partial pay 60% during that time. But your doctor has to work with the insurance company and according to my coworkers who used it you probably won't get the money under AFTER you return to work bc that's how long it takes. My job does also does employment litigation so even though its small they recognize FMLA and give you 12 weeks (the other 6 are unpaid) guaranteed that you won't lose your job. Sucky part is you MUST use vacation and sick days before the leave kicks in, which is why I'm so easy going about taking off work now, bc I know I'm going to lose whatever is left during maternity leave. Lastly, you have to give your boss an exact date of expected return in order to ensure your job is there. Which sucks bc my money might say one day but once I get my baby maybe I won't care so much about how much I have saved. Either way I'm pretty sure I'm going to take say the full 12 weeks just to be safe, even if I don't take it all.

My job also recognizes "partial parental leave" for men and women (birth & adoption) for up to 12 months. My boss is currently on this, it allows for an excuse to use with the Courts as to why you can't go to trial/ hearings, why you need an extension, etc. Although you work full time you're basically saying my schedule with a new baby is so unpredictable I won't reasonably be able to prepare for trial, meet quick deadlines, etc. during this period. Its very useful in the legal world.

aharv77 · January 2018

I am a data analyst at a fairly small business (less than 300 people) but we are owned by a Fortune 500 company (more than 20,000 people) and thus get to partake in all of their pretty great benefits. For leave I'm getting:

2 weeks of maternity leave paid at 100%
6 weeks of short term disability leave paid at 100%

I'll then have to use 1 week of carried over PTO from 2017 and 2 weeks of PTO that I'm accruing up until my leave. I'm entitled to 12 weeks of FMLA (unpaid) but it runs concurrently with the maternity leave and short term disability so when my PTO runs out after the paid leave, the rest of my time off (about a week) will be unpaid.

I know that for the paid portion of my leave, they still pull insurance payments, etc. but for the one week of unpaid leave, what I would have paid for our insurance accrues and my first check after I am back from leave, I will have a double insurance insurance payment.

What I don't know and am also curious to know is whether or not I will accrue more PTO during the 8 weeks of paid maternity and STD leave.

ffw0617 · January 2018

Its also worth noting that no woman has returned to my job after maternity leave in 7 years. CRAZY. I've even heard stories of the boss begging women to come back. My boss is not anti-family (he has 7 kids, and is on his second wife, who just had a baby in 2017) and he offered for me to work from home if I didn't fee well during the pregnancy, he also said its okay if I take lunch at weird times, and need to step out to get food or meds. I just that the pay is so minimal and benefits sucks to where its so easy to get another job paying more esp if you have 3 months to look.

catlady1215 · January 2018

I work for a large organization so we are covered for 12 weeks with the FMLA.

for DS' leave, I had it nice. I had 12 weeks, full pay. We had separate banks for sick/vacay time that rolled over year to year etc. so I got full pay cause I had been there 10 years and had a ridiculous sick bank saved up that covered my 8 wks so I didn't have to do short term disability. then I used the 4 weeks of vacay I had saved up also.

this time, same employer...however we don't have separate banks anymore. so I can only hold 160 hours at a time in ONE bank for sick/vacay etc or I stop accruing. so that would normally mean anyone taking a leave has to take short term disability (I forget what the percentage of pay they get). BUT, when they changed over from separate banks to one PTO bank, they took all the saved sick time leave we each had and put it in an emergency bank for us. we can't touch it unless we're on a medical leave. and I just happened to have 9 weeks saved up when they did that! so that'll cover my 8 weeks again. Then I'm going to make sure I'm maxed out in my PTO bank before I have him, and that'll cover the last 4 weeks.. full pay.

catlady1215 · January 2018

I should add that I think if the father works under our organization also, we are allowed to do a combined 12 weeks maximum in a 12 year span. so I'd have to give up some of my 12 weeks for him to take off. But DH doesn't work here, so its not an issue but wanted to throw out that part of our policy.

DH works for a smaller privately owned chain of a franchise. So they don't have a paternity leave in place. he's basically just telling them umm I'm taking off atleast a wk and a half. but he wants to ask if he can do it without pay instead of using his vacay time.

ramennoodlegif · January 2018

Maternity Leave where I work consists of 8 weeks paid @ 80% through STD, regardless of method of delivery, with the option to either use the remaining 4 weeks under FMLA unpaid, or paid through accrued PTO.
When DD was born, my company had offered supplemental STD insurance, which I had taken advantage of several months before TTC. I had just let the supplemental coverage lapse when we found out about DS. Luckily, between saved PTO and holidays, I was able to extend the amount of time I stayed home anyway.
After the initial 8 weeks of STD, my employer allowed me to work from home 16 hours a week, and come in for a half-day on Fridays, with DS. The residual 20 hours was unpaid, but this arrangement kept me from having to enroll DS in daycare until he was a little older, and allowed me to keep DD in daycare for three days a week, thus preventing losing our spot and having to pay the enrollment fee again.
The only thing I dislike about company policy, aside from the obvious, is that DH works for the same company and we would have to split FMLA if he wanted to take some.

rnielsen321 · January 2018

@MissKittyDanger
Fellow Canuk here... You are lucky you get top up!! Both places I have worked/work do not. That being said, I am just crushed to hear how little leave is available, and the general lack of job protection there is South of us.

And to clarify EI pays out 55% of your base salary up to $51,700... if you make more than that, it is capped at that amount.(Max $541 a week) If you are taking the year.

They have approved the 18 month leave. If you are taking 18 months it is capped at 33% of you average earnings. (Maximum $381). There is built in job protection, in that they need to hold your role, or a similar one for you.

These can be shared between partners, and there are allowances if Baby is early and has to be in NICU or cared for, that can extend your leave as well.

We are indeed lucky...

AFM - I told work finally, what a relief. It is hard to look thing in a 19w plus sized STM bod.

ffw0617 · January 2018

Its crazy what you have to go through just to be a mom. Sigh. My personal maternity leave plan is to pray for a miracle (like in my case Immigration Reform- I'm an Immigration Attorney). My job gives 20% of fees to employees who refer cases. I could easily make my salary referring 3-4 cases a month, which is one more month I could afford to stay home.

doxiemoxie212 · January 2018

Found this article I read ages ago about Patagonia's parental leave/child care policy, and oh man, it's so wonderful. So just a friendly reminder that if you're in need of a coat or something, support Patagonia. https://work.qz.com/806516/the-secret-to-patagonias-success-keeping-moms-and-onsite-child-care-and-paid-parental-leave/

sunshineandwhiskey · January 2018

My leave is slightly strange because, as a teacher, I may have this kid during a "non contract" period. I'm a 10-month employee, even though I choose to get paid through the summer. So there are a couple possibilities. No matter what i get 12 weeks FMLA, but we cannot afford that since it is unpaid.

1. I make it to my due date or c-section date (depending on what i decide) and I only get the summer off

2. This kid comes early, but less than 6 weeks early, and I have to use the FIVE sick days I have, and all other days are unpaid.

3. This kid comes early, by 6 weeks or more (i hope not - cook baby, cook!) and I can apply for STD, its unpaid for the first 4 weeks, so I would have to use my FIVE days, and then the rest is unpaid, and then the last two weeks are 75% of my normal pay. If its c-section I get 8 weeks so it'd be split 4 and 4.

Hoping for #1 haha

ramblebee · January 2018

Thank you all for contributing to this thread so far!

Working as staff in higher ed at my institution we have no policy, it falls under "sick leave" and FMLA. FMLA starts the day the baby arrives (we must alert HR) and we must use sick time (max 6 weeks for natural birth, 8 weeks for c-section) and PTO for the remaining of the 12 weeks. If we don't have PTO to cover the remaining, it is unpaid.

I believe the federal law for FMLA says (1) FMLA must be used concurrently in a block for births, (2) a workplace can make parents who work at the same place split the 12 weeks, and (3) only guarantees that the job or similar job will be there when you return.

What I wish America would get is that a birth is not an illness and FMLA is not a substitute for a parental leave policy.

In contrast, MH who works for a craft brewery owner by a larger brewery gets 9 weeks full pay parental leave.

@krashke you have a good list of questions going. When I spoke with my HR person they said I could give me supervisor access to enter my time in our automated system or there was a paper form I could fill out.

I found a really good spreadsheet on another Mom's group someone uploaded to help track your FMLA time. I will come back and try to upload or link it here for others.

amys614 · January 2018

I'm a pharmacist in Illinois working for an independently owned company, but with about 300 employees.

We have no official maternity leave policy, but our jobs are protected by FMLA for 12 weeks, unpaid. I have been with the company for 5 years and have banked about 7 weeks of vacation in that time. We had no policy about limits of rolling vacation, but that is changing in 2019. As of Jan 1st, we are accruing 6 days of sick time per year so I will have a few days to use come June. They did this because of a law, not because of generosity.

To my lawyer friends, not sure if you are able to answer this or anyone else who has experience in this: the new law in our county, effective July 1st 2017, requires companies to give 6 days of sick time per year. Our company is just putting into place as of Jan 1st 2018. If the law went into effect July 1st of 2017, shouldn't they be required to back pay the accrued sick time from the date the law was put into effect in order to be compliant? I know it would only mean 3 more days for me, but hey 3 days is 3 days, especially when you work somewhere with zero maternity benefits.

RatParade · January 2018

I just spent an hour with HR yesterday trying to figure out our leave policy. It is all so confusing to me! But here it is. I work for the State of CA.

Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) allows 4 weeks off prior to the due date with a doctors note (which I'm told is easy to get) at 55% pay. Once the baby is born, PDL allows 6 weeks (8 if c section) at 55% pay. Then Paid Family Leave (PFL) provides an additional 6 weeks at 60-70% pay. So that equals 12 weeks at partial pay after the baby is born.

We have 1 year of job protection, but anything taken after the 12 weeks will be unpaid. We have the option to supplement with leave though. FMLA provides 12 weeks of employer paid benefits, and then California Family Rights Act (CFRA) provides another 12 weeks of employer paid benefits. So that's 24 weeks. Anything after that I will have to pay the employer contribution of my benefits (~$1200 per month).

So I plan to take 6 months off. 12 weeks will be partial pay, the rest will be unpaid (I'm choosing not to supplement with leave), and there will be about a month at the end where I will have to pay an extra $1200 for benefits coverage before I return. Seems to me like CA has a pretty sweet policy!

@krashke Here's my work's answers to your questions in case you're interested

Will I accrue PPT while on maternity leave? That would be another 32 hours that would help with the two unpaid weeks. I will not past the 12 weeks that are covered, as the time I'm taking off will not count as service time (so the time won't count towards my retirement either)How do I sort this all out when I am out of the office? I do not have access from home so can I just tell someone I have gone into labor and they will submit my PPT hours for me? There are a few forms I have already filled out and given to HR with my tentative leave and return date, and then once I'm on leave I need to file SDI with EDD and with Kaiser and give copies of the paperwork to my HR department. I also will submit timesheets to HR for the time I'm taking off prior to me leaving.Will need to sort the STD stuff out before I leave with third party that manages it but then when and how do I give them my dr's "note?" At Kaiser the doctor's note is really an FMLA form that they fill out when I go on leave. I need to give our HR a copy of this form within 30 days of receiving it. I also need to give them a copy of the birth certificate within 30 days to get baby added to my coverage. I'm planning on just mailing all these forms in.

MissKittyDanger · January 2018

@rnelson529 I know law offices that don't do top up, so I'm pretty luck

I knew it was 55 or 60% but couldn't remember which, thanks for clarification!

I admire you to hold your tongue on not telling them! We're a small office so I told my coworkers pretty much right away :') which I was glad when I got morning sickness

they both have kids {varying ages} so they understood

helenbz · January 2018

Wow this thread was interesting to read!

Im from the UK, so this was also very very sad to read. I live in the US now so I’m in the same boat.

I work for a non profit domestic violence agency. I can use my accrued leave time which should work out to about 4-5 weeks by June.

hubby works for the FAA so gets FMLA for paternity but we’re planning on him taking about 2-3 weeks depending on what happens.

My non profit tries to be family friendly so I can work from home if I’m not ready to come back after my leave, and I am able to bring baby to work with me for most of the first year as long as it doesn’t prove too much of a distraction.

I didnt think about whether i accrue more leave while im on leave @krashke but I’m going to check that out today!

marcus7676 · January 2018

@amys614 It depends on the law in effect. For example, the law may have passed on July 1, but it might not require employers to actually start accruing time until Jan 1. I know Massachusetts put out a ton of information for the public on the earned sick time here - - try googling and you might find your answer.

ramblebee · January 2018

Here is a link to the FMLA tracker. It is an excel spreadsheet with instructions on the first page, tracker on the second. I'm not affiliated with the institution it is from, but I plan on modifying it for my own use.

https://www.filedropper.com/fmlatrackingspreadsheet

=caenis= · January 2018

(I live in the Netherlands)

By law, I get 16 weeks of paid leave. You do have to take part of that before birth - you can choose either 4 or 6 weeks before your due date. If you give birth early, great - you still get 16 weeks total. If you give birth late, you actually get a little more than 16 weeks total. Which is nice because you are guaranteed 12 weeks+ after birth.

My partner gets a whopping 2 days paid paternity leave. Impressive...

Both moms and dads get a certain amount of unpaid parental leave. If you have a full-time contract (40 hours per week), it's something like 6 months. You can take it all at once or in increments until your kid turns 8.

I'll do my 16 weeks of paid leave, then probably tack on two months of the unpaid parental leave.

My partner will take his 2 days. He will probably use his unpaid parental leave to drop down to a 4-day work week so I'm not all by myself with a toddler and a baby quite as often.

wibadgersfan · January 2018

I work in healthcare, my husband works for the state. We each get one week paid maternity/paternity leave and after that it's STD.

My husband will probably just take the one week because at his job his STD doesn't kick in until after 30 days. He has to use PTO for anything beyond the one week.

At my job, my STD kicks in after the first week off the job. I'll only get 65%of my pay beyond the one week. I hold our benefits so I'll use my banked PTO for those. I've been with this company for 10 years, so I accrue a day and a half PTO each pay period.

emiliadkay · January 2018

This thread is so interesting and such a good idea.

I work at a large company, and we get (what seems to be a fairly standard) 6 to 8 weeks paid out at 100% under short term disability and then the balance of your FMLA 12 weeks either paid using vacation time or unpaid. What I didn't realize until recently is that the company requires women to use all but one day of their vacation time for the year to cover that gap 4-6 weeks. I.e., if you wanted to take a few extra days unpaid and save that vacation time for, I dunno, taking the baby home for Christmas you're SOL. Is that common? We probably would have used almost all my vacation regardless because unpaid time off is hard to swallow, but being limited to one day means we'll probably spend Thanksgiving alone this year, and that's sad. And I really feel for women who give birth in, say, January. What do you do for the next 11 months??

emiliadkay · January 2018

Also +1 for Patagonia. The stuff they're doing right now to protect public lands is amazing, and their baby puffers are adorable to boot

doxiemoxie212 · January 2018

@emiliadkay my guess is they do that so they don’t risk having to pay out your vacation time monetarily if you quit during/right after maternity leave. That was why my old company switched to “unlimited” time off. They were having to pay people out like 36 banked vacation days when they quit, etc.

jsl82 · January 2018

STM here and will have such a drastically different maternity leave experience this time.

With DD I was at a company that I HATED, but was in NJ which had one of the best maternity leave policies in the country (NJ, NY and CA are the best states to have babies). My HR department was horrific and I had to get all my paperwork and find out how and what to submit by other pregnant and recent mom employees. NJ's policy was that STD covered the first 6 weeks at 60% pay and the next 6 weeks were covered by the state. All of the paperwork was confusing and there was no one to help me with any of it. The state declined my FMLA so I only had 6 weeks paid.

This time around my company is so family friendly and aim to make maternity leave painless for the parent and the company. I found out I was pregnant my first week on the job so I will only have 13 weeks paid. My coworker is due in 5 weeks but has been with the company for 2+ years so she has extra time and will be out 5 months. I have a meeting with our maternity leave specialist in February to discuss my initial plans and workload so we can make plans to have my work covered while I'm out. The company offers the same leave to men and women, so fathers can take 13 weeks fully paid too. It's so nice being at a family friendly company.

ffw0617 · January 2018

@emiliadkay my job is the same way. You have to use all your sick leave and vacation days BEFORE the STD kicks in. I’d imagine it’s to keep people from getting the STD then quitting and getting a lump sum for their leftover days as Doxie said. For that very reason I’m very open to use my vacation days now (i don’t want to return to this particular job) I’m using a vacation day Monday (were traveling for DH’s grandma’s 75th birthday this weekend). I’m sure I’ll take a long weekend for my birthday next month, and days when we travel for our baby shower in DH’s hometown. TBH I feel like even if I quit bc I want longer than the 12 weeks off I could come get rehired, my job has a pretty high turnover rate and is pretty much constantly hiring. Our office is about 15 ppl, I’ve been here 7, almost 8 months and 4 people have quit.

abteamb · January 2018

I also work at a school. I'll be using my local and state days if baby comes before my contract is up. DS is due June 11. My contract ends June 14. I'll probably have to use 1-2weeks while under contract. The new school year contract starts August 1. Not sure if I'll take some time in August, or just return on the 1st. Giving me roughly 6 weeks paid with the baby. I also will be starting at a new school next week and they don't know I'm pregnant yet!

bearmoons · January 2018

Maternity leave has been stressing me out. I've worked at my hospital for 10 years. 10 years! Anyways, we are protected by FMLA for 12 weeks. The first 2 weeks are "probation" and you have to use your accrued time to cover it. Then, you get 4 weeks of STD pay at 60%. The last 6 weeks again go back to you using your own time. The issue is, that we can only roll over one year's worth of vacation time each year. So there is no way to save up enough to cover your time. We also get 10 personal days per year that cannot be rolled over. And then 8 sick days/year. During the time that you are responsible for, you HAVE to use your time. So I cannot elect to take 50% or 0% if I have time in my bank. So basically, all of the time I've saved will be used. (I will only have about 9 sick days come June because I broke my ankle last year and used 2 weeks worth, and from 2013-2015 I went back to school full-time for another MS and lost all my sick bank then because I went to convenience hours). The biggest thing I found out is that you are responsible to cover your benefits- so even if I run out of time and am taking 0%, I still have to pay for all my benefits (roughly 16 hours/pay period worth of my income). This also has to be paid when I'm on STD.

Maternity leave sucks in the US.

twelvetwosomeonenew · January 2018

After reading all of this, I am so so thankful for he compant i work for! I have been with the company for a little more than 5 years. Which gives me 5 weeks of paid vacation, each year we are given 40 hours of "personal time" and 40 hours of sick time. When I have baby, I will get 16 weeks of leave paid at 100% of my salary & it doesn't touch ANY of my PTO.

glitterfingers · January 2018

Ughhhh I can’t believe the weekend is almost over.....

I work for a private company with 400 employees in CA and my benefits are essentially the same as @RatParade with some minor variation but it amounts to about 16 weeks paid leave at 60% pay (including 4 weeks before due date). The FMLA provides an additional 6 weeks unpaid (FMLA 12 minus California paid 6 weeks). I can use sick or vacation time to make up the 40% difference or I can use it after paid leave runs out.

As others have mentioned if you take unpaid leave and normally pay for a portion of your health benefits through your paycheck, you have to figure out what (if any) payment you owe for health benefits during the unpaid portion. Some employers will help you accelerate payments in advance, others you have to pay back in some fashion when you return.

buffalove1211 · January 2018

Public school teacher in California. I'm pretty sure the policies that affect me most are school district specific.

1st I must deplete all my acquired sick days. The savvy work around is to take off BEFORE the baby is born for however many days you have acquired. I have about 14.
Then I get 6 weeks of full pay for a vaginal birth and 8 weeks full pay for a c-section.
After that I get 12 weeks of half pay for child bonding time.

Having a June baby kinda screwed me over because the 6 or 8 weeks starts from the date of birth. I will already be getting full pay for being on summer break, but the 6 or 8 weeks cant be 'saved for later'.

krismhl · January 2018

I work for a company with 200+ employees. We have no official maternity leave or short term disability. I receive 2 weeks of sick time and 3 weeks of vacation time a year and all of it rolls over year after year with no cap. I have about 5 weeks of sick time and 3 weeks of vacation I can use now. I continue accruing time while I’m out. I also have supplemental short term disability that will pay 60% salary. I’ll probably take the full 12 weeks per FMLA with 4 weeks at 60% pay. My company has also offered to work out reduced hours if I want it.

Even though we don’t have the greatest option for maternity leave my company pays for all of mine and my family’s insurance coverage and most of the deductible. That’s been a huge help for us.

Want a personalized experience?

Maternity Leave Advice

Re: Maternity Leave Advice

Choose Another Board

Search Boards