For working moms...

[jenrose66]

How is your maternity leave? I work for a big company and mine sucks! I mean I guess it is "standard" but I talked to HR today and was so upset.

We get 6 weeks unpaid FMLA and that's IT. If we have any vacation/sick time we have to use it as part of FMLA. I asked if I can just take my 6 weeks of maternity and then use my vacation and sick time on top of it and they said no.

Is there anyway I can get more than 6 weeks? Are there loopholes?

What was your maternity leave?

 

[SC Minnie]

I work for a very large co (over 50,000 employees worldwide) and ours is 6 weeks full pay (which is unusual) anything after that is either your vacation time not taken or is unpaid.

I though with FMLA you should get 12 weeks unpaid. ?

 

[dmslush]

How many employees does your job place have? To be covered by FMLA, it has to have a minimum of 50 that fall under certain criteria. If they do have enough employees to fall under the Act, you should be able to take 12 weeks off.

Read this and see if it applies to you.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/

 

[CathrynRose]

How is your maternity leave? I work for a big company and mine sucks! I mean I guess it is "standard" but I talked to HR today and was so upset.

We get 6 weeks unpaid FMLA and that's IT. If we have any vacation/sick time we have to use it as part of FMLA. I asked if I can just take my 6 weeks of maternity and then use my vacation and sick time on top of it and they said no.

Is there anyway I can get more than 6 weeks? Are there loopholes?

What was your maternity leave?

Do you have vacation you could put on top of it?

Im fortunate, I have a paid maternity leave, although I wont be using it anytime soon - or at all, for that matter. Im done.

Good luck figuring something out!

 

[CEDmom]

I don't mean to rub salt on your wound but I have to say my company's policy is very generous. DH and I adopted but the leave in the same for adopted/biological children. I got 12 weeks paid leave and then was able to take an additional 12 weeks unpaid with my position secure. The unpaid part was setup under the family leave act. You might want to look into that at least. I think my company had the standard 6 weeks paid leave up until about 1998. Good luck.

 

[jenrose66]

Thanks for all the replies. I checked the gov website that was in dmslush's link and it definately said 12 weeks.

My company is definately over 50 employees. I work for GEICO and they employ over 20,000 associates throughout the US.

I think I'm going to print the information from that website and show it to my hr department. They were really mean to me. They said we only get 6 weeks from fmla and that it is all unpaid. They also said that if I have any sick time or vacation time going into my 6 weeks that I would have to use that at the same time as my fmla. in other words if I have 4 weeks of vacation/sick time then I would get 4 paid weeks off and 2 upaid weeks; but still only 6 weeks total.

It just doesn't seem right to me...

 

[Monte Cristo]

Wife works for one of the major US pharmacies and she will get 6 weeks paid with an additional 6 weeks unpaid if she wants to take it.

Now, my company gives me NOTHING but my vacation time, but who am I to complain....you ladies are doing all of the work!

 

[jodifla]

I got six weeks paid, then up to six uppaid. I ended up taking only 10 because I was burning through all my vacation time during the last six weeks...

I'm suprised to hear you only got six; it does seem like it should be 12.

 

[DisneyLovingMama]

How long have you been with the company? That often affects the type of benefits you're eligible for.

I got disability before DS was born and 8 weeks after (due to c-section). Due to the time I've been with the company, that broke down to 4 weeks at 100% pay, then 8 weeks at 60% pay. After my disability, FMLA started and I used up my 20 accrued days of vacation (100% pay), then went unpaid for the rest of the 12 weeks.

Good luck! Something isn't right about what your HR department told you, unless you've only been with your company for a short time.

 

[Ava83]

I work for a huge company and we have 6 weeks or 8 depends (at 100%) on the delivery and then can build in vacation time and then 12 weeks of FMLA.

The interesting thing is the maternity leave falls under short term disability.

 

[lecach]

My last job was a large corporation. I had DS in December 2004. I got 2 weeks paid before my due date, 6 weeks paid for regular delivery, 8 weeks paid for csection, and 2 weeks parental leave. So 10-12 weeks at 100% paid. Thank heavens I had DS while working there. When I took my current job there was no way I was ever going to have another child so I didnt ask about maternity leave. Now that I think I might want another I found out that we only get 5 days paid. We can take 12 weeks but only get paid 5 days. Man - I sure do miss the benefits at my last job........

 

[Buttercup26]

I was able to take Short-Term Disability (6 weeks) for maternity leave. I did have to use all my vacation & sick days at the same time (required before using disability). But with all that combined was able to get 9 weeks completely off and 2 "short" hour weeks (5 - 6 hours per day instead of 8).

eta - That was all PAID time off, very nice!

 

[nwdisgal]

I work for a very large co (over 50,000 employees worldwide) and ours is 6 weeks full pay (which is unusual) anything after that is either your vacation time not taken or is unpaid.

I though with FMLA you should get 12 weeks unpaid. ?

I agree. I thought that that 12 weeks FMLA was now a national law? I had it with both my kids (youngest is 10 now).

 

[joshsmom]

I had six weeks paid and then could take up to 12 more weeks of vacation, comp, or FMLA. Vacation/Comp was paid. I was off 12 weeks total.

 

[puffkin]

I haven't met with HR yet, but my understanding from my supervisor who just came back from maternity leave is:

6 weeks paid (regular delivery) or 8 weeks paid (c-section) and this is covered under ST disability. After that you have to use up all vacation/personal days. After that, you can take unpaid up to 12 weeks total which is covered off FMLA. So in my instance, I will most likely get 6 weeks paid with disability, use 2 weeks of vacation, and then get to take 4 weeks unpaid until I am required to be back at work.

We are a large company (over 20,000 worldwide) and you have to be here over a year to qualify for FMLA. I think it is a fair policy, but I am a little upset that I have to use up all my vacation days. What happens if something comes up during the year that I need to take off for.....oh well, I guess I will just have to call in sick then. I don't usually condone doing that, but they kind of put new mothers in a bind with that and I don't want to sacrifice my time with a new baby.

 

[Blondy876]

Although I work for a large school district (I'm a teacher) my school is sub contracted so we have our own policies. When I got pregnant there were no really polices in place (and we don't qualify for FMLA). My boss and I sat down and came up with what worked for us.

My due date was October 11. School started on September 6 and I worked until September 19. That was when my doctor wanted me done. I used temporary disability for 8 weeks and when it ran out I took the rest of the school year off unpaid. I got to be home almost an entire year. Financially it was tough but so worth it.

 

[delilah]

When I adopted my son, I got two days off. To clarify, I was a self-employed physician. As our practice was set up at the time, I would have been responsible for overhead if I had decided to take any time off. Overhead is about $12,000/mo. In addition to this, if I am not working, of course, I do not get paid. My husband took FMLA for the three months that were required that one of us stay home with our son when he first arrived. I became a hospital-employed physician three months after my son arrived, as my fellow physicians and the hospital administration recognized that they had a very disgruntled co worker on their hands. Now, I have vacation days, CME days, and holidays. Plus, I have a steady pay check (when self employed, I had large fluctuations in take home pay).

 

[Christine]

Our maternity leave falls under short-term disability. If you choose not to participate in the short-term disability plan, then you get no maternity leave.

It covers 6 weeks (which is what they've determined is the amount of time it takes to recuperate). After that, you have to start using your vacation and sick time.

 

[disneychrista]

PDL (pregnancy disablity leave) and FML (family medical leave) are not the same thing. They can run concurrently but are two seperate things. Ask your employeer specifically about FML.

 

[cabmom]

In Ontario, Canada we get 52 wks paid. It's called Maternity/Parental Leave, covered by our Employment Insurance. It's 55% of our wages. I'm off now til November 14, 2006 and delivered Dean on November 14, 2005.

I'm glad I live here!

Marilynn