Parental leave at a new job
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Anonymous
It looks like you just need to have had wages reported for you (and the associated tax) from your employer for 1 year prior to taking leave. The link below doesn’t say it has to be the same employer. How long have you been unemployed? https://dcpaidfamilyleave.dc.gov/workers/ |
Anonymous
My last employer wasn't in DC. |
Anonymous
Did you perform your work in DC? My employer is based on VA for this area, but our employees that perform work in DC are covered by DC paid family leave. |
Anonymous
| I would ask HR for the benefits handbook/employee handbook before accepting the offer, which would have details of all of the benefits, including parental leave. I think it's pretty standard to ask for benefit details so candidates can assess the full compensation package. |
Anonymous
During a pandemic when they’ve all been gone for two years? LOL No. PP doesn’t qualify - she doesn’t live or work in DC. |
Anonymous
How do you know where the OP lives? |
Anonymous
I got the benefits handbook, and it just says that employees are eligible for family leave if they’ve worked there for over 12 months. It doesn’t say how long the leave is or whether it’s paid. When I asked for details, they told me that eligible employees may receive benefits under DCFMLA, DC Paid Family Leave, and federal FMLA. But again didn’t give me any specifics, including what makes someone eligible. |
Anonymous
I did. But my last employer provided a pretty generous paid parental leave, which I used, so I didn’t need to dip into DC paid leave and thus don’t know the details. Interestingly, DH works from home (in DC) but his employer isn’t in the district, and he was told by DC that he couldn’t get DC paid leave benefits. |
Anonymous
That might be because your husband’s employer is not paying DC SUI on him, which in DC is the common rule for determining if someone has PFL wages and taxes reported on him. It’s a common mistake for employers to not pay DC SUI. DC requires employers to pay SUI and PFL taxes based on where the employee is working. So if it’s remotely in DC or for a customer based in DC, but the employer is based elsewhere, it doesn’t matter. DC expects to be paid for that worker. Since you worked in DC you should have had wages and taxes reported for you for PFL. Your eligibility clock is one year of wages for DC-based work based on the date you would start taking leave. Not sure how they would handle your gap in employment if they can verify wages on the exact 1 year anniversary. I don’t know how precise they are to make sure you worked in DC that entire year or if it really is just based on the one year anniversary. |
Anonymous
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How old are you? Do you have other children and how long have you been trying?
Depending on that, if your odds don't look good I wouldn't stop trying. |
Anonymous
| You won’t be eligible for DC PFL if you haven’t worked in over a year. |
Anonymous
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If that's an important part of compensation for you, these "cross that bridge when you get there" responses don't make sense — you won't know if you don't ask (until it's too late). Like, if you find out down the line that you're expecting and their leave is crap – would you job search anew while pregnant? Maybe. But if it were me, I'd ask upfront if it's that important not a "nice to have."
I know peers who have switched jobs specifically to position themselves with better leave, ones who've started at 6 or 7 months pregnant and negotiated leave with a new company (twice!), and ones who joined small startup teams that didn't have any policy whatsoever and had one started for them because they asked. For what it's worth, I would talk to HR to get as much info as possible about existing policy (sounds like you already did, and actually sounds like they ... don't provide paid leave at all). Then talk to the hiring manager — the person offering the job, that you'd be working for — about the situation. Hiring is hard and expensive. You'd be surprised how there are good bosses who actually advocate for their people, new recruits or otherwise. |
Anonymous
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I started a new job at the beginning of my third trimester. There's a lot of hate on here for pregnant job searchers, but maternity leave just isn't that long in the scheme of things. Any good employer is going to work with you on leave if you tell them before you accept an offer/ start. If they won't work with you, they aren't a good employer and you probably don't want to work there. I didn't qualify for the paid leave at my new job and they weren't able to be flexible (I became a fed), but my supervisor supported me taking 14 weeks of leave. I used my vacation and sick and took unpaid leave. I was surprised that several of my colleagues donated leave. I have a friend who negotiated for a signing bonus equal to about half of the unpaid leave she had to take when she didn't qualify for paid leave based on tenure.
I think that job hunting while TTC is overthinking it a little. It took me three years to make a baby- I really hope it takes you less time, but I know people for whom it took more. However, if you are pregnant before you get a final offer, then I would tell them before accepting the job and negotiate for what you need. A lot of places will be more generous (timing wise) than their handbooks if they are trying to get you to sign the offer letter. If you aren't pregnant yet when you get the offer, you might think about pausing for a few months to get that sweet paid leave. |
Anonymous
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My last kid, I didn’t stop TTC by my new company had paid leave with only 3 months of tenure. I also qualified for FMLA after 11 months due to hours worked.
It took me 4 months to get pregnant. Other pregnancies took 9 months and first month on the two in the middle that didn’t work out. I wouldn’t change my TTC plans for a job but I would judge a potential employer lack of stand alone parental leave in 2022. |