My Employer's Idea of Maternity Leave

The BBQ Pit
1

I am 6+ months pregnant with my first child. Currently I work full time and have been working for this company for over 3 years. When I first got pregnant I checked our employee guide for maternity leave policy, and found no mention of it anywhere. I went to a woman who works in HR who had recently had a baby herself to find out what the deal was. She told me she wasn’t even sure herself, that the head of HR had been stalling about making the policy clear, and that it was changing, and that she was still owed money from her own leave.

I wait a few weeks and talk to my own boss about time I want off, how to cover my leave, etc. and mention I don’t know what the maternity leave policy is. A while later he gets back to me and says it is treated like short-term disability and says I am entitled to 12 weeks off. There is a 2 week delay on disability, but I can save my vacation hours to use during that time and then I get 60% of my gross pay for 10 weeks, or 12 if I have a C-section. I am good with this, it is a drop in income but we can get by with 60% with some planning.

Months go by, all the while I am planning on this deal. Today I get an e-mail from the woman I spoke to first in HR. It says, FYI, this is how maternity leave works. Your first 2 weeks are not paid, then you get 4 weeks at 60% pay, or 6 if you have a C-section. That’s all. FLMA entitles you to 12 weeks off but there is NO pay for 8 of those weeks.

WTF? I e-mail her back, cc’d my boss, and explain I was told I could get 60% for 10 weeks. She comes to me and says no, you were told wrong. Then she says, it’s a good thing your boss asked me for clarification on this or you wouldn’t have found out until you went on leave! Um, hello?? I suddenly have less than 3 months to come up with 6 weeks pay and it’s a lucky coincidence that I even found out at all?? We are going to have to seriously scramble to cover this now and if we hadn’t found out until I was on leave we would be seriously screwed! I could have dealt with this a little better if I had found out when I first asked, 3 months ago!

Not to mention head of HR has been giving me a hard time about taking 12 weeks off period! When I said I was taking 12 weeks, he said “Normal maternity leave is more like 6 weeks.” I’m sorry, and I realize this is common in the US, but I cannot imaging leaving a 6 week old infant and I think it is appalling that the majority of companies here feel this way. That is a tiny baby, especially if he happens to be born a little early. Thank God for FLMA, or I wouldn’t get that time off at all.

This is all just pissing me off. On top of this I can’t get anyone to confirm what is happening with my insurance while on leave (I am coming back part time). I know that they don’t have to let me keep insurance when I am part time, but they have let others do it in the past and led me to believe I might be able to also. Now I don’t know. I can plan around this but I NEED TO KNOW.

Is it so freaking much to ask that they put their policies in black and white in our handbook so I can read them and know what the hell is going on?

Fuck. I need to move to Canada.

2

Yep standard.

Also, that 60% is probably capped. I got something like 42% of my former income. But it was better than when we adopted, I got no paid leave (FMLA does cover it).

You should have gotten a straight answer back when you first asked. It isn’t like this is unusual. (4 out of 4 companies I’ve worked for have the same policy). And the head of HR should know better than to pressure you about shortening leave. That’s one of those “asking for legal trouble.”

You do work for a good sized company, don’t you? Because FMLA does NOT cover small companies, and that would be an unpleasant surprise.

3

Yes, I am sure FLMA applies to me (we have about 120 employees). I know it’s standard and that sucks, but what sucks more is being told our policy was something it wasn’t for all this time.

I just got word that I can’t keep my insurance, either. That’s fine, but I shouldn’t have to harp on them to give me this information. At least I can keep it through my leave (I got that straight from Insurance Company’s mouth).

Why can’t we be more like Europe?

4

Wow, that’s a pretty lousy short-term disability benefit. I’m a leave administrator for our company, which is (thankfully) a bit more generous. It’s also a much larger company, though, so I guess they can afford it.

I think the next inquiry I get from an expectant mother, I can say, “just be glad you don’t work with Velma! It could be a lot worse!”

If you become ineligible for benefits by going to part-time, you should be able to continue them through COBRA for a while (though it will probably be expensive).

5

Shit, I got a big fat 0000$ while I was out on maternity leave. Better yet, I had to pay them out of pocket to keep my insurance up to date while I was out, which was obviously a bit tough what with having no income.

It sucks you weren’t informed up front about the details, but be happy you’re getting anything at all—lots of people don’t.

6

I don’t have time for a long response at the moment, but FMLA does give you more rights than the 12 weeks off. You may find this site helpful: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/

You will also want to check with your disability summary plan description, but IIRC, you should be compensated under the plan for as long as your doctor determines that you are disabled. It is generally 4 weeks after the birth of a child, but again that depends on the doctor and the circumstances of the birth.

7

This isn’t going to come out right, but Velma, at least you have some coverage.
**Shirley’s Tale of Woe that She Is Still Bitter About **
I worked for a small family owned business that was not covered under FMLA.

I had worked there 8 years and I was like family to them. I got involved in the arguments and all that. They were highly dysfuntional. It was a fun job and a pain in the ass at the same time.

When I told my boss ( the bosses daughter) that I was pregnant the first words from her were “When is your last day.” Pretty farking cold, if you ask me.

When I was nearing my due date, I had planned to take the summer off ( which is our slow time anyway and nothing my one trusted co-worker couldn’t handle by herself.) and come back part time in the fall. Part time on the busy days of the week.

This was poo poohed by this boss. God forbid she actually worked a full day ( she actually left the office daily to go teach aerobics to seniors. Oh, and she was in her late 30’s with two kids.)

She basically told me I had a two week leave after my son was born because, in her mind, that was all she needed after her two fucktardously kids were born.
(preemies. In the hospital for 6 months with each of them. She went back to work and visited them at nights and weekends. One son, the elder, has a Forrest Gump IQ of like 75. He ain’t going nowhere in life. parents gave up on him. Nice, no? The other one was a little shit, like future politician shittiness.)

I thought I could telecommute from my home. As I was the only employee way back in 1998 to have a computer and two phone lines in my house, setting this up would have been a peice of cake. Frankly, just some software and I would have been in business. Making money and staying home. I liked my job and was very good at it. Millions of dollars in sales every year for 7 years.

Why wouldn’t you want to keep an employee whom your clients knew, knew well and did her job right? It still makes no sense to this day.

My boss wanted me in the office still because she wasn’t sure how it would all work out. Because she would actually have to do work then.

Her parents never got involved with the entire issue and when I left on my maternity leave (one week before due date) I was so angry at the backstabbing I’d had.

I never went back in. Never called them. Fuck 'em.

They went out of business after 9/11. Probably before that, but I don’t know all the details.

8

I know I could be getting nothing at all. I’ll expand to include all craptacular maternity leave plans in my ranting. I think the mindset on maternity leave in the US in general is ridiculous.

I don’t have to resort to COBRA because I can get coverage under my husband’s insurance. It is just not nearly as good as mine, but it is better than paying for COBRA. I can keep my flex account here to help with the higher co-pays and such.

Things may be actually looking up a bit. My boss, the one who told me about the policy in the first place and was wrong, feels bad that he misinformed me and is going to try to make things “more equitable.” I appreciate that he is willing to admit he gave me wrong information and is at least trying to do something for me. He’s really a good guy. My main problem is with our HR director, but he is notorious for not being up front about stuff. Getting the run-around on all this is what’s really making me crazy.

Aitara thanks for the heads up. It seems so wrong for me to have to hope to be considered more disabled to get coverage.

9

Velma, sorry you had to find out this way. I knew before becoming pregnant that in this country, you’re lucky if you get 6 weeks leave. And, the money you receive during that time is called disability. Disability. Not parental, not maternal, disability. Jeezum.

I miss Canada, and one year leave mandated. Ahhhh.

10

That totally sucks but you’re lucky to be getting what you’re getting. Lots of people don’t get a dime for maternity leave and paternity leave is practically non-existent.

Outta curiousity who’s watching the kid after you go back to work? You said you can’t imagine leaving a 6 week old kid and I’m wondering why 12 weeks is the magic number ???

11

Who says you can’t keep your insurance? From the EEOC:

12

I never realized how lucky we were that my husband got two weeks paternity leave. I wonder what maternity leave is like at his company?

13

I’d be cautious about dropping your insurance with the intention of returning to it later. Seems to me that gives the insurance companies more wiggle room than you want to give to them. Plus, wouldn’t you want your baby on the better insurance?

14

I’m sorry but that sort of logic truly makes my brain hurt.
Why should Velma consider herself lucky because her company has a crappy maternity leave policy?
Yes, it is better than nothing at all but I’m sure that’s cold comfort.
Despite the lip service we pay to family values in this country, we actually offer very little support when it comes down to allowing mothers and fathers adequate ppaid leave.

I recently finished ** Paris To The Moon**, Adam Gopnik’s memoir of the 5 years he and his family lived in Paris.
Towards the end of their stay, they give birth to their second child.
Mr. Gopnik is is (pleasantly) astounded by the fact that his wife qualifies for a full 4
night stay at a very comfortable maternity hospital.
When he questions a co-wroker about this policy, the co-worker replies (and I’m paraphrasing here) “We had a choice to build tanks or to treat every preganant French woman like royality. We choose the latter.”
Makes sense to me.

15

Oh, the field day I could have with this:

When he questions a co-wroker about this policy, the co-worker replies (and I’m paraphrasing here) "We had a choice to build tanks or to treat every preganant French woman like royality. We choose the latter."

if we were in the Pit :wink:

16

6 weeks? Damn.

My sister got six months and her company gave her full pay for the first two. I didn’t question it at the time, but after seeing it written down and reading this thread it seems like a lot. They must really want her back.

Concensus of opinion within the rest of the family is that when it comes time to leave her baby she’ll just quit her job.

17

Well, please don’t let me stop you, Abbie Carmichael although I’d suggest opening a different thread. :slight_smile:

18

You already are.

19

I think Abbie Carmichael’s tongue was lodged firmly in his cheek when he made that remark, Ferret Herder.
And lord knows, we haven’t had enough “The French suck, why yes they do” threads in the Pit during the last year or so.

20

Damn those cheaply-made sarcasm detectors.