FMLA and PTO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you accrue your PTO, or is it lump-sum at the beginning of your fiscal year?

If you accrue, you’ll be better off because you will start earning PTO when you go back to work. I was in this situation (depleted PTO during maternity leave, then went unpaid), and was able to cover illnesses and dr appointments after a month or two back at work. I didn’t take the full day for routine appointments—I took the first appointment of the morning and went to work a few hours late.

If you get lump sum, it will be harder.

No it's hard when you accrue too. I was throwing up sick after baby started daycare. I mean close to me deathbed, so taking off a few hours of sick leave wasn't an option. I only accrue 2 weeks of sick leave a year, so I was quickly on LWOP status for being sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you accrue your PTO, or is it lump-sum at the beginning of your fiscal year?

If you accrue, you’ll be better off because you will start earning PTO when you go back to work. I was in this situation (depleted PTO during maternity leave, then went unpaid), and was able to cover illnesses and dr appointments after a month or two back at work. I didn’t take the full day for routine appointments—I took the first appointment of the morning and went to work a few hours late.

If you get lump sum, it will be harder.

No it's hard when you accrue too. I was throwing up sick after baby started daycare. I mean close to me deathbed, so taking off a few hours of sick leave wasn't an option. I only accrue 2 weeks of sick leave a year, so I was quickly on LWOP status for being sick.

No one said it wasn’t hard. It’s harder when you get lump sum. A lot also depends on when OP delivers and carry-over policies.

[Anonymous]

OP here: I accrue, and plan to use no PTO between now and then. I can carryover a lot, but that will be irrelevant for years to come!

Thanks all for your perspective. I'm sorry to hear others have been in similar circumstances. I had hoped this was unusual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I accrue, and plan to use no PTO between now and then. I can carryover a lot, but that will be irrelevant for years to come!

Thanks all for your perspective. I'm sorry to hear others have been in similar circumstances. I had hoped this was unusual.

When are you due?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like this is common but wasn't the case for me. I'm at a large PR agency that isn't family-friendly day to day (maximizing billable hours at all costs is the norm) but I took the full 16 weeks covered in DC, had 6 paid for by work, 7 by STD and took 3 weeks unpaid. I came back to work with 10 days PTO still in the bank to finish out the year. This felt normal but I guess I should be grateful that I was allowed to do that because it has been a mental lifesaver to take a few days off each month to be with the baby.

[Anonymous]

How do people handle having little to no time off with young children?

[Anonymous]

This is the first thread that I've ever seen people be sympathetic to the op about not enough maternity leave. Normally people keep ranting that op should have got a new job instead or something equally dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do people handle having little to no time off with young children?

We don't handle it well. First year is just one long blur without a vacation. Besides even if you have annual leave, your work will be piled up and coworker's upset they had to cover for you for 12 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do people handle having little to no time off with young children?

Honestly? We made the choice that my husband wouldn’t take leave and he’d handle sick days. And very, very lucky my mom can take her or we split days with him working in the morning and me grading in after Noon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do people handle having little to no time off with young children?

Honestly? We made the choice that my husband wouldn’t take leave and he’d handle sick days. And very, very lucky my mom can take her or we split days with him working in the morning and me grading in after Noon.

Same here, except I'm the one who doesn't take off unless absolutely necessary. I had to go back to work at 6w pp, and in the 20 months since then, I've taken 3 days off due to my own illnesses or appointments. I drag myself in to work no matter how I feel. I'm required by my company to use PTO between Christmas and New Year's, but other than that, I only take time off to cover sick days for our DD.

[Anonymous]

The best part about this whole thing OP is that you'll probably do the same amount of work as if you had never left. So your work gets the same amount of work done, but gets to save money because they didn't pay you for 12 weeks. Unpaid maternity leave is a big win for companies.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I was off for 16 weeks and paid for 8 of them. I had the option of 6 months, but wasn't comfortable not having a pay check for 4+ months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I was a bit shocked to learn about all of this, since my company claimed to be so family friendly. I would hardly call this a family friendly policy. But I was especially surprised to find out that I couldn't take off LWOP. That costs them almost nothing (I am a contractor to another organization, who is fine with me taking LWOP). I work in the district, but taking off more FMLA time won't solve my problem past year 1.

I can't believe you are shocked! Your employer is providing you with PTO and a disability policy to help cover your wages. They are letting you go negative on leave. They are holding your job open in compliance with FMLA. How many hoops is a "family friendly" employer supposed to jump through? Who is going to do your job while you are gone? They are going to have to pay that person too. Are they paying for your continued benefits like health, dental, etc. during your absence?

I'm a mom and I am on board with paid leave for maternity but we also need to remember that our choices have consequences for other people besides ourselves, like our employers and coworkers. I was grateful to get my short term disability, not complaining about being unable to take a vacation after having a baby. sheesh

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I was a bit shocked to learn about all of this, since my company claimed to be so family friendly. I would hardly call this a family friendly policy. But I was especially surprised to find out that I couldn't take off LWOP. That costs them almost nothing (I am a contractor to another organization, who is fine with me taking LWOP). I work in the district, but taking off more FMLA time won't solve my problem past year 1.

I can't believe you are shocked! Your employer is providing you with PTO and a disability policy to help cover your wages. They are letting you go negative on leave. They are holding your job open in compliance with FMLA. How many hoops is a "family friendly" employer supposed to jump through? Who is going to do your job while you are gone? They are going to have to pay that person too. Are they paying for your continued benefits like health, dental, etc. during your absence?

I'm a mom and I am on board with paid leave for maternity but we also need to remember that our choices have consequences for other people besides ourselves, like our employers and coworkers. I was grateful to get my short term disability, not complaining about being unable to take a vacation after having a baby. sheesh

I'm a PP. For me, it wasn't a point of taking a vacation, it was the fact that I had no PTO left and a baby (now toddler) in daycare who was sick every few weeks. For that first year, I was off at least 1-2 days every month dealing with DD's colds, recurrent ear infections, norovirus, etc. Combine that with two serious illnesses in our family that required more time off for either DH or myself and travel to another state to support that family member, and it was rough. It is better now that she's older and her sick days are few and far between these days, but juggling sick days that first year, with little to no PTO saved up, was challenging.
But that's how things go for lots of people. I'm fortunate I had short term disability, and I know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
OP here: I was a bit shocked to learn about all of this, since my company claimed to be so family friendly. I would hardly call this a family friendly policy. But I was especially surprised to find out that I couldn't take off LWOP. That costs them almost nothing (I am a contractor to another organization, who is fine with me taking LWOP). I work in the district, but taking off more FMLA time won't solve my problem past year 1.



I can't believe you are shocked! Your employer is providing you with PTO and a disability policy to help cover your wages. They are letting you go negative on leave. They are holding your job open in compliance with FMLA. How many hoops is a "family friendly" employer supposed to jump through? Who is going to do your job while you are gone? They are going to have to pay that person too. Are they paying for your continued benefits like health, dental, etc. during your absence?

I'm a mom and I am on board with paid leave for maternity but we also need to remember that our choices have consequences for other people besides ourselves, like our employers and coworkers. I was grateful to get my short term disability, not complaining about being unable to take a vacation after having a baby. sheesh

I'm a PP. For me, it wasn't a point of taking a vacation, it was the fact that I had no PTO left and a baby (now toddler) in daycare who was sick every few weeks. For that first year, I was off at least 1-2 days every month dealing with DD's colds, recurrent ear infections, norovirus, etc. Combine that with two serious illnesses in our family that required more time off for either DH or myself and travel to another state to support that family member, and it was rough. It is better now that she's older and her sick days are few and far between these days, but juggling sick days that first year, with little to no PTO saved up, was challenging.
But that's how things go for lots of people. I'm fortunate I had short term disability, and I know that.

OP here: To be clear, I'm NOT asking that my employer provide me paid leave, I'm asking to be able to take UNPAID family leave. That's why I'm surprised. I get NO paid leave (unless you count 5 weeks STD at 50%) period! They are forcing me into a corner to use all my PTO from newborn to year 1 (we have 5 weeks of disability, and must use a week of PTO before it kicks in). If I take any time beyond I will use my remaining PTO in a week, and I need to stagger time with DH who is taking as much time off as he can (and we both will make up hours nights and weekends).

So, after this hectic schedule, we will reach year 1 with baby. And then there is NO way for me to take time off for: a family wedding, religious observances, my illness, a child's illness that DH can't cover, a family illness, etc. I may have used "vacation" earlier, but in reality what I've just described is normal life. If I go negative, I just perpetuate the problem.

Also, I my job will partially get covered by other employees who I covered for when they were out due to family illnesses and childbirth - other "choices" they made (should they not have attended to dying family members? or had kids?).

The most irritating part of this for me is that my company will not be hurt if I do not work - at most, the organization that they contract me to (with a crazy overhead) will be "hurt". And that organization is not only fine with me taking some extra unpaid leave, they think it will make me more productive down the road. As you all know, starting work again at 6 weeks is certainly doable, but as PPs pointed out, they are exhausted and drag themselves to work when sick. Not good for the bottom line. I'm sure clients will be thrilled when I show up with pink eye and sneeze on them.