Maternity/Paternity Leave

Louise_Belcher · March 2020

What, if anything, does this look like for you?

What country are you in?
How long will you be off?
Will you be taking any time off before baby arrives?
Will this time be paid?
Could the current pandemic or financial climate effect your leave?
Does your spouse/SO get paternity leave or will they be taking any time away to be home? If so, how long and is it paid?
Do you have any questions for others?

Louise_Belcher · March 2020

I am in the US

I plan to take of 12 weeks. My employer does not have a formal maternity leave, but do have generous sick and vacation time. I am 3hrs short per week for meeting the FMLA requirements that would grant me the ability to take off 12 weeks unpaid. My work will not allow me to come back until I have doctors approval which is received at 6 or 8 weeks depending on if I have a vaginal or c delivery and my wonderful boss will let me take vacation for the rest.

At this point I plan to work until baby comes.

The time should all be paid. The first 6 or 8 weeks I will use sick leave and the remaining 4-6 weeks I will have to use vacation time.

At this point it doesn’t seem like current events will change this plan, but two weeks ago I didn’t think I would be working from home so who knows what could happen.

H works for the same university and does not have paternity leave. He could use FMLA and vacation time, but won’t. Likely he will take 1 week off and a second week at reduced time. He is a professor and I am due the first week of fall semester. So poor timing.

swizzlemalarkey · March 2020

What country are you in? US
How long will you be off? I want to take 12 weeks but I have no idea
Will you be taking any time off before baby arrives? No unless medically necessary
Will this time be paid? For my company I will for sure get 2 weeks paid. Depending on what I’m doing by then I could get up to 6 paid. Anything else will be unpaid but I will qualify for FMLA. I am planning on saving all my vacation and sick time. Unless I get sick. I get 3 days sick pay (barely anything) and my vacation time accrues over time based on how many hours I work. Idk how much I will have by then. I am also thinking about using STD if possible to help supplement H’s income.
Could the current pandemic or financial climate effect your leave? Possibly, right now I’m working but so many things depend on if we are moving to Oregon or not
Does your spouse/SO get paternity leave or will they be taking any time away to be home? If so, how long and is it paid? It depends on if my H is going back to salary or not. I know for salaried managers they get 6 weeks paid but I think that might just be women? If it’s men too that would be sweet. If not then I know dads usually get 2 weeks paid at our company. Not sure if he will take his time with me or after me so baby is home for longer.
Do you have any questions for others? How do you survive? Lol

mflowers929 · March 2020

I'm in Canada. Our maternity/parental leave is Federal, so my answer will be pretty similar to any other Canadian moms we have here.

As long as we've worked at least 600 hours in the past 52 weeks, we're eligible for Maternity/Parental leave. The first 17 weeks are Maternity only, and the remainder of the time is parental, which can be used by either parent or split between them.
We have a choice of 12 months or 18 months. For the 12 months, the entirety of it is paid at 55% of gross income. For the 18 months (which is what I'm doing this time) the first 17 weeks are at 55% and then remainder is paid at 33%. We get child tax as well, which is why I'll be choosing to do the 18 months this time.

We also can take up to 15 weeks of sick leave prior to baby coming, which is also paid at 55%. I'm considering asking to be put off from work now since my anxiety is so bad with everything going on. If I do, with the waiting time my sick benefits will start at 19 weeks and end at 34 weeks, at which time they'll automatically switch over to maternity.

Since DS was born, they implemented a 5 week use it or lose it Paternity leave, which is also paid at 55%. DH will be taking his 3 weeks paid vacation from his work and then the 5 weeks so he'll be home with me for 8 weeks, which will be really nice, especially after a c section.

boymommatwo · March 2020

US

I am planning to take 12 1/2 weeks off. Planning to take off on a Wednesday (day before c section) but don’t want to return to work until the Monday before Christmas (short week as I get that Friday off for the holiday and it will be paid).

I am not planning to take any time off before baby is born.

Yes, my time off will be paid. The first week I will have to use PTO, the following 7 weeks (c section) I will short term disability (I previously bought up so I will receive 80% of my pay). I get 4 weeks paid parental bonding which I will use some with short term disability to end up with 100% pay for those weeks. Then the remaining time will be the rest of the paid parental bonding and PTO. Luckily this time I calculated and only need to have 96 hours PTO for maternity leave. I qualify for FMLA so my position will be protected.

I do not see what is currently going on affecting my job or leave. Also, I already telecommute from home before all this.

My husband gets 2 weeks paid paternity leave which he will take when the baby is born. He may use additional week of vacation at that time too. After I go back to work he will use another 2 weeks of vacation time before we start the baby at daycare (which baby has been registered for since February).

jennifer_louise · March 2020

US - mine is similar to a lot of ladies here. I get 12 weeks, most of it will be paid. The current pandemic may complicate things a bit because I'm using my sick leave to fill out time spent watching my kid since schools are closed. I have been at my company for a long time, though, so I should have enough as long as we're not in isolation for more than 8 weeks 😬

Last time, I thought 12 weeks leave was about right (I was ready-ish to go back) but I think 16 weeks would be even better.

The thing that makes me angry is paternity leave. MH gets 2 weeks. 10 stinking days!! I know lots of hubbies get nothing. I'm riled up on his account.

emohay1988 · March 2020

What country are you in? Israel
How long will you be off? Had planned on 6 months. Here it's 3 months at 100% pay and an additional 3 months at no pay. All through the gov, not the employer.
Will you be taking any time off before baby arrives? Not unless i'm having complications
Will this time be paid? It would be covered by sick leave
Could the current pandemic or financial climate effect your leave? Yes. My hubby lost his job last week due to the crisis. The tech industry in Israel is reeling right now. So depending on our financial situation at the end of the year, I might go back after 3 months.
Does your spouse/SO get paternity leave or will they be taking any time away to be home? If so, how long and is it paid? Pretty sure men get a week off or something when the baby is born and they are allowed to replace the mother for part of the mat leave if they want.

cabearit · March 2020

What country are you in? US
How long will you be off? 3 months off/ 1 month part time to ease back in
Will you be taking any time off before baby arrives? My work will send me out two weeks before my due date.
Will this time be paid? Yes. My company is amazing. The last time I had a baby it was unpaid and so stressful.
Could the current pandemic or financial climate effect your leave? I hope not, but that has yet to be seen.
Does your spouse/SO get paternity leave or will they be taking any time away to be home? If so, how long and is it paid? My H is in-between jobs right now, so we hope.

angbaby83 · March 2020

What country are you in? U.S.
How long will you be off? I’ll take 12 weeks
Will you be taking any time off before baby arrives? Not planning on it. I worked up until my water broke with my daughter. I need to save up my leave for after.
Will this time be paid? Not fully. I’ll use pto and extended sick leave plus short term disability but some will have to be unpaid. Last time I had almost 3 weeks of extended illness so I got my 12 weeks pretty much paid but I used all of it and I think last I checked I have two days of extended sick time.
Could the current pandemic or financial climate effect your leave? Probably my husband was supposed to start a job and this pandemic delayed it. We are using up saved money right now so that may affect my ability to take time unpaid. Ugh
Does your spouse/SO get paternity leave or will they be taking any time away to be home? If so, how long and is it paid? I don’t know about leave with his new job but I am guessing not.
Do you have any questions for others?

robinj716 · March 2020

What country are you in? United States
How long will you be off? 12 weeks per the federal FMLA policy
Will you be taking any time off before baby arrives? No, I will work up until I can’t anymore.
Will this time be paid? It will be paid using a combo of my sick and vacation time.
Could the current pandemic or financial climate effect your leave? Not that I am aware, but that could change I suppose.
Does your spouse/SO get paternity leave or will they be taking any time away to be home? If so, how long and is it paid? He can take leave under FMLA too, but it’s unpaid and he makes more so we need his income, he will probably take one month using sick leave and then return to work.

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