Question about Maternity leave...

[KirstenB]

I have to agree with Jodi. I think the decent thing to do if you're positive you will not go back to work after the baby's born, is to let them know so they can be searching for a replacement, and you can train them til you leave. I don't think you're going to look good if you take the maternity leave then leave the company.

 

[barkley]

fmla provides 12 weeks of leave for med or birth of a child. employers do not have to provide any of it paid-depending on your employer they may or may let you/not let you use vacation or other non sick leave accruals. if you work in a state with disability insurance they may give a flat 6 weeks benefit following the v. birth of a child (in california you can get 4 weeks prior to birth as well as the 6 weeks after)-longer before or after if the doctor sez so, and longer if it's a c-section. and-any sick leave pay, holiday pay, and some other types of pay are counted against your benefit (so if doc sez out 12 weeks and you have 12 weeks sick leave on the books depending on the wage loss you may/may not get any benefit from a state program-and it's not your choice to use it or not (at my former employer we could'nt use vacation to cover sick days-so pregnant women routinely used up all their sick leave to culminate with covering the seven day waiting period between their first disabled day off and when sdi kicked in. after that they used vacation time to stay in 'pay status' while on 'leave'-actualy had to structure it as combo loa/vacation- so their med benefits continued and they accrued sick leave they did'nt have to use while out. this was the only way unless someone had MONTHS of sick leave they had paid sick time for well baby appointments and those days when the baby was home sick-and pregnancy leave was totaly ineligible for any withdraws from the employee 'leave bank'-that was only for catestrophic unanticipated injury or illness).

with any kind of disability leave even if a doctor sez an employee has to stay out over the 12 weeks-an employer can terminate or consider it a constructive resignation if the employee fails to return the next work day they are schedualed after the termination of the 12 weeks (but in some states that does'nt mean the person will lose their disability insurance benefit-some states allow that 'linkage' to disability that occured when you were employed to continue eligibility after termination/quit-it's very different from unemployment benefits).

an issue that can come up if someone has a baby and returns but gives notice can be with the med insurance. allot of policies carry the newborn with mom for so many days after which they become an 'add on' to the policy. if you work for a company that does this and the add on date is after the date of resignation, you can have issues with cobra coverage (if i remember right with cobra you can only continue existing enrollees/persons-can add on only at the times of year the company has open enrollment, so it could be possible that a child would be the only uncovered person in the family till next open enrollment).

people are right-most companies don't give references anymore, but they do have a way of letting a prosepective new employer know if there were 'issues' they should consider. not so much with union or gov. employers who have clear cut policies on re-hire, but with private employers-all they do is deem you ineligible for 're-hire'. when the prospective employer calls they give employment dates, final salary and your re-hire status. when i did hiring (esp. if the person had been a long term employee of the previous company) our h/r generaly did'nt even let us consider people in this status (esp. if they were 'no re-hire' and it was a job quit vs a termination-indicated something with the job quit might not have been appropriate). and btw-within companies with multiple locations/offices/divisions-sharing employee information is not as protected as from employer to employer-you just request the personnel file and come to your own conclusions.

 

[barkley]

just out of curiosity-anyone know what their state's max state disability benefit (per week) currently is? i was blown away to recently find out california's has been raised to $840 per week! of course it's based on your earnings so not everyone gets that much, but that's not bad $$$ esp. when you consider that it's totaly state and fed tax free.

 

[hornedfrog]

The majority of companies don't give references these days. Only dates employed and they verify title. Reason being, if they give a bad reference, they can be sued by the former employee.

Officially, this is correct. However, where I work it is fairly common for supervisor's to give personal recommendations. I have written/given several for my former employees and know my current supervisor would give me one. As long as we make it clear that a recommendation is only the personal reflection of the person giving it, it is okay. Written recommendations cannot be done on company letterhead and we may not use our titles. And, as a matter of common sense, only positive reviews are given. If a report of mine would not receive a good recommendation, I would just give him the 800# that confirms dates of employment and title and leave it at that. This is, of course, unwritten policy, but it has been universal across the 5 subsidiaries that I have worked under in three different states. Also, our 800# also gives the "eligible for rehire" information.

If you didn't give the proper notice (2 weeks minimum), you would be classified as "not eligible for rehire". We have a lot of people who worked for the company, quit when they had kids (or for other reasons) and have come back to work, bridged their service and plan to retire. If I were to ever quit (a possibility in the near future depending on how things go with the new baby in daycare), I would absolutely give the notice and make sure I was eligible to be rehired.

 

[salmoneous]

At my current employer, the amount of time off (paid and unpaid) is fixed. You can pretty much go out as early as you feel necessary, but that just means you come back to work earlier. Most woman stay as long as possible pre-birth to maximize time with the baby.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I worked until my due date and said FORGET THIS!!! My first week was unpaid anyway (no vacation and no sick leave left and you must be out for one week before STD kicks in). It was totally voluntary--but since I had the baby within the week--by the time HR followed up to check my status---I was grandfathered that week and STD kicked in the following Monday.

I think between vacation time and what not--moms to be make their plans accordingly. Some have that luxury and some do not. Some have a more lenient work place that will hold their job longer and some have some medical need to no longer be working (yes--in some pregnancies, they can know ahead of time when their doctor wants them to stop working.)

Just do what you can and what works for you and keeps your job safe. I ended up returning early--at about 9 weeks post partum..I didn't even exhaust all my FMLA. So while FMLA is there for you--nothing says you must take it all at once. That was how I worked around it.

I've known a couple of other working moms who when they had their babies were going stir crazy by the end of the 12 weeks.

 

[summerrluvv]

just out of curiosity-anyone know what their state's max state disability benefit (per week) currently is? i was blown away to recently find out california's has been raised to $840 per week! of course it's based on your earnings so not everyone gets that much, but that's not bad $$$ esp. when you consider that it's totaly state and fed tax free.

170.00 a week here. Pathetic.

 

[DisneyfeverTN]

Our maternity leave works like this:

We have short term and long term disability. As soon as the doctor writes you out of work and considers you disabled, we send the claim in to the disability company. If approved, the disability pays you 60% or your gross pay from the 31st day of disability until 6 weeks after the baby's birth. For the first 30 days, an employee can use any sick or vacation days they have available.

If an employee has been with our company longer than 5 years, and after she has used all or her vac & sick days, we will pay her 60% of her gross until the disability kicks in (if it she doesn't have enough vacation time to reach the 31st day).

We do let employees stay on a leave-of-absence longer than 6 weeks after the baby's birth. Our company is very accommodating to our employees. We have had many employees take longer than the 12 weeks allowed by FMLA and it has never been a problem for them to get their old position back.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Thanks for the replys. I have another question.... What happens if that you get through the beginning of the maternity leave and you decide not to go back to work? What if you are getting paid the STD for the first 6 weeks? Do you have to pay that back? Do you have to go back to work for a set amount of time and then quit???

I did that with my last pregnancy... actually the company also changed hands and I was able to collect unemployment after the 8 weeks.

 

[golfgal]

just out of curiosity-anyone know what their state's max state disability benefit (per week) currently is? i was blown away to recently find out california's has been raised to $840 per week! of course it's based on your earnings so not everyone gets that much, but that's not bad $$$ esp. when you consider that it's totaly state and fed tax free.

That is not entirely true. The disability benefits are not taxed IF you pay for them out of money that is already taxed. If your employer pays for your STD/LTD or you pay for them out of pre-tax dollars, you will be taxed on the benefits. Also, are you confusing this with Workman's comp pay? LTD/STD is based on a % of your salary and I know that if DH was in your state, this would not meet his salary % of LTD or STD that his company offers.

Summerluv, I find it hard to believe that New York had such a low threshold for disability pay. Again, it should be a percentage of your salary and if you are thinking workman's comp, I still can't believe that it isn't higher given that salaries/cost of living in NY is so high. What are they thinking? Is there something else available in NY for injured workers? The max benefit in MN is $750/week.

 

[DebbieB]

I work in insurance. NY has a law that the employer has to buy disability insurance, just like they have to buy Workers Comp insurance.

Here is the state disability insurance website:

http://www.nyahsa.org/nyahsa_services/n00000004.cfm

The max payout on the state insurance is $170 per week. Of course, the employer can buy a plan with higher benefits through a private insurer. I think the state plan was designed for small employers who would otherwise not provide disability pay.

 

[golfgal]

I work in insurance. NY has a law that the employer has to buy disability insurance, just like they have to buy Workers Comp insurance.

Here is the state disability insurance website:

http://www.nyahsa.org/nyahsa_services/n00000004.cfm

The max payout on the state insurance is $170 per week. Of course, the employer can buy a plan with higher benefits through a private insurer. I think the state plan was designed for small employers who would otherwise not provide disability pay.

So there is an option for more coverage. The $170 isn't going to help anyone.

 

[barkley]

That is not entirely true. The disability benefits are not taxed IF you pay for them out of money that is already taxed. If your employer pays for your STD/LTD or you pay for them out of pre-tax dollars, you will be taxed on the benefits. Also, are you confusing this with Workman's comp pay? LTD/STD is based on a % of your salary and I know that if DH was in your state, this would not meet his salary % of LTD or STD that his company offers.

Summerluv, I find it hard to believe that New York had such a low threshold for disability pay. Again, it should be a percentage of your salary and if you are thinking workman's comp, I still can't believe that it isn't higher given that salaries/cost of living in NY is so high. What are they thinking? Is there something else available in NY for injured workers? The max benefit in MN is $750/week.

it is true-in california-workmans comp. and most private disability insurance payments are taxable but our state program is exempt from both fed/state taxes. in the state of california there is a mandatory participation (with very few exceptions) state disability program for non work related injuries/illnesses that is employee funded and administered by the state. contributions are pre-tax dollars taken every time a paycheck is issued-and benefits from the program are totaly exempt from any form of taxation. this program provides for both short term and long term disabilities-up to a max of one year. it is not paid out based on any percentage of salary-it is a fixed amount based on the earning of a person during a set base period (and the benefit is not related to their current earnings). the program was enhanced a few years back to include a 'paid family leave' provision that allows employees to receive 6 weeks of paid benefits to care for an ill spouse, parent or child-AND to bond with a newborn or adopted child (but that kind of benefit is taxable) so in a two parent household-mom could get disability pay for the number of weeks california provides or her doctor sez-whichever is greater, and dad could get paid family leave for 6 weeks to bond-but only dad's part would be taxable.

 

[summerrluvv]

So there is an option for more coverage. The $170 isn't going to help anyone.

IF your employer opts to purchase that under separate policy. Mine doesn't unfortunately based on what other girls that have been on maternity leave have told me. I did however, notice that there are two different NYS Disability amounts being deducted on my pay check. Both are a dollar or two, but it's two separate things. I'll have to ask.

Long term disability is a higher amount, as that is based on what you have paid into SS. I think you have to actually be disabled for 6 months or longer and pregnancy doesn't qualify for that.

 

[golfgal]

it is true-in california-workmans comp. and most private disability insurance payments are taxable but our state program is exempt from both fed/state taxes. in the state of california there is a mandatory participation (with very few exceptions) state disability program for non work related injuries/illnesses that is employee funded and administered by the state. contributions are pre-tax dollars taken every time a paycheck is issued-and benefits from the program are totaly exempt from any form of taxation. this program provides for both short term and long term disabilities-up to a max of one year. it is not paid out based on any percentage of salary-it is a fixed amount based on the earning of a person during a set base period (and the benefit is not related to their current earnings). the program was enhanced a few years back to include a 'paid family leave' provision that allows employees to receive 6 weeks of paid benefits to care for an ill spouse, parent or child-AND to bond with a newborn or adopted child (but that kind of benefit is taxable) so in a two parent household-mom could get disability pay for the number of weeks california provides or her doctor sez-whichever is greater, and dad could get paid family leave for 6 weeks to bond-but only dad's part would be taxable.

Wow, I am surprised that the federal government lets them get away without paying any kind of federal tax on that income. I can see where the state would waive the tax since it is a state mandated program but not the federal government.

 

[barkley]

Wow, I am surprised that the federal government lets them get away without paying any kind of federal tax on that income. I can see where the state would waive the tax since it is a state mandated program but not the federal government.

i was realy surprised when i found out during a pregnancy-never got anything to report with to the fed irs so i took all the stubbs i'de saved the previous year to the cpa-and he showed me the ruling that exempted it

what's REALY wierd is because of the way some of our gov. agencies are set up and have shifted from fed to state to county (and back and forth in some cases)-and have been under the jurisdiction of other agencies decades ago-some gov. retirees find out at retirement time that they fall under obscure irs rulings that exempt their pensions from state and fed taxes (something to do with health and safety disability pensions-but people who never worked in the field but work for agencies that used to be under the same bureau ). realy wierd stuff here.

 

[DebbieB]

It depends on where the disability payment comes from. If you pay individually for disability coverage (after tax), then the payments are considered insurance claim payments, not income. The amount you paid in is like insurance premium. If the employer pays for the plan, then it's income.

The lesson is before you accept a job, be sure to find out what benefits they provide. If they will not be giving you enough disability payments in case of a sudden illness, you may want to look into an individual policy to protect yourself.