Help me understand maternity leave

[Anonymous]

Federal employee here. This may not be how it is at your job, but I would talk to your supervisor. As a supervisor, I approve however much leave people ask for, including leave without pay. For my own maternity leave, I talked to my boss and he said okay. I’m planning to take 4 months, which ends up being 17 weeks. Our agency is so big, It’s better just to talk to my supervisor and I’d only raise to HR if something was wrong, like my boss denied something and I wanted recourse.

[Anonymous]

It is the employer’s choice whether to run FMLA concurrently with other leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP that is just for DC. Also no way a doctor will approve more than 6 or 8 weeks for STD - 6 weeks vaginal, 8 weeks c section.

Why? When DS was born, my doctor asked me how many weeks I wanted and used that number

Yep, same here. Depends on your OB.

Bump since I was reading the DC FMLA thread...is this common? My employer offers more than the 6/8 weeks for STD but you need a medical reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP that is just for DC. Also no way a doctor will approve more than 6 or 8 weeks for STD - 6 weeks vaginal, 8 weeks c section.

Why? When DS was born, my doctor asked me how many weeks I wanted and used that number

Yep, same here. Depends on your OB.

Same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP that is just for DC. Also no way a doctor will approve more than 6 or 8 weeks for STD - 6 weeks vaginal, 8 weeks c section.

Why? When DS was born, my doctor asked me how many weeks I wanted and used that number

Yep, same here. Depends on your OB.

Bump since I was reading the DC FMLA thread...is this common? My employer offers more than the 6/8 weeks for STD but you need a medical reason.

I know someone who had the note come from the baby’s pediatrician citing feeding reasons for a longer leave.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! My HR made it sound very strict so it’s reassuring to hear it may be OB/pediatrician dependent. Please share any other experiences or “tactics” to maximize my leave!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in DC so not exactly sure about VA law, but there's "Medical FMLA" and "Family FMLA" and both are 12 weeks at the federal level (for me in DC we get 16 weeks each). My doctor wrote my medical leave for "minimum 6-8 weeks" and I applied and was approved for the 6 weeks. (If it changes, I just need to resubmit a doctor's note saying I need more weeks.) After that 6 weeks, I'll start my "Family FMLA" which for me in DC will be 16 weeks, for a total of 22 weeks.

If you can take medical and THEN family leave (meaning they don't overlap), you would use a doctors note for 6-8 weeks of medical, then get another 12 weeks. So not quite your 6 months, but it guarantees your job when you return. At my job I can take "extended leave" for longer but there's no guarantee I get my job back after. Only you know your employer and whether they are likely to wait for you to return or dismiss you after FMLA runs out.

My best guess is that you do 6 weeks of medical FMLA on short term disability.
Then do 8 weeks of paid employer leave on family FMLA.
Then you could take 4 more weeks using either your own accumulated leave or unpaid, maxing out your 12 weeks of family FMLA.
After that it's not job protected.
You could also ask or hope your doctor will approve you for more than 6 weeks of medical FMLA, but they'll need a reason to document and you wouldn't know that until after you give birth.

This is terrible advice and does not apply at all to OPs situation. Please ignore and Pp please don’t give advice when you have no idea what you’re talking about.

[Anonymous]

OP FMLA only applies for 12 weeks total so getting your Ob to sign off on some bogus medical excuse (if they do) won’t do you much good. Ask for unpaid leave or a leave of absence. Talk to HR to understand. So much of the previous advice is truly terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My company (very large employer in Virginia) provides eight weeks paid maternity leave to be taken after short term disability is used up, which is 6 weeks. So that brings me to 14 weeks paid. If I don’t care about losing pay, are there any legal protections that allow me to stay out longer than that unpaid, i.e. can I then use FMLA after that? Ideally I’d like to take 6 months, and don’t care if a significant chunk of that is unpaid as long as my job is protected.

Your employer does not have to hold the same job for you. They have to have an equivalent position with same pay.

[Anonymous]

FMLA runs concurrently with other leave.

[Anonymous]

FMLA is 12 weeks, following the birth or adoption of a child for employers of a certain size- sounds like your company fits that bill. Your employer has to make a similar job available to you for at least 12 weeks following the birth/adoption.

Your employer’s maternity leave is their own policy and has nothing to do with federal leave. Your employer can choose to run maternity leave concurrently with FMLA or they can let you take it afterwards, but that is completely up to them. They also can let you take unpaid leave. Again, up to them. They are only legally required to hold your job during FMLA. You could be laid off while on non-FMLA leave. Just fyi.

I would talk to your employer and see what they say!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP that is just for DC. Also no way a doctor will approve more than 6 or 8 weeks for STD - 6 weeks vaginal, 8 weeks c section.

Why? When DS was born, my doctor asked me how many weeks I wanted and used that number

How does this work? Isn't STD capped?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FMLA runs concurrently with other leave.

This is not true. My employer offers some paid leave without “invoking” FMLA. I can use the laid leave and then “invoke” FMLA for an additional 12 weeks of (unpaid) leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My company (very large employer in Virginia) provides eight weeks paid maternity leave to be taken after short term disability is used up, which is 6 weeks. So that brings me to 14 weeks paid. If I don’t care about losing pay, are there any legal protections that allow me to stay out longer than that unpaid, i.e. can I then use FMLA after that? Ideally I’d like to take 6 months, and don’t care if a significant chunk of that is unpaid as long as my job is protected.

Find someone at your company that has taken parental leave and ask, they will know the insider tips. Even if they are flexible/supportive, sometimes managers are not familiar with how the policies work and just refer employees to HR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FMLA runs concurrently with other leave.

This is not true. My employer offers some paid leave without “invoking” FMLA. I can use the laid leave and then “invoke” FMLA for an additional 12 weeks of (unpaid) leave.

I agree the FMLA doe ls not automatically run concurrently but it can. My recollection is the employer has to actively invoke FMLA— tell you that the 12 week count has started— in order for the clock to start.

That said, if your employer doesn’t and you take 16 weeks and then tell them you want 12 more because they didn’t give the required notice you may cause some friction.