Maternity leave policies at small non-FMLA companies?

[tschofield]

Hi! I am new to the boards and 13 weeks pregnant. I work in a small office (5 people total) and we don't currently have a maternity leave policy. I am in charge of researching what other companies do, so I was hoping to get some insight from women on this board who might work for small companies and what their maternity leave policy is.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Hi. I am in a 4 person office with no maternity policy. In fact, I was the first person to stay after getting pregnant! I have been here a long time so they were willing to be flexible. They granted me a three month leave of absence and I also had to pay my full medical premium the months that I was out. I had enough vacation and sick time saved up so that I applied it to my first month - so i just had two months unpaid. We planned for this in advance and banked two months of my salary before I went out. I work for a non-profit. They pay and bennies may not be the best, but the work is rewarding and the schedule is somewhat flexible.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! That is helpful!

[Anonymous]

I'm in a 10-person office. We don't have an official maternity leave policy but we do have "extended personal leave" for things like baby, adoption, sick parent, etc. It grants you 90 days of unpaid leave. You can use any accrued sick or vacation time to offset the unpaid portion of leave. I will also still get my medical/dental benefits paid for by the company. I will not accrue sick or vacation leave during this time.

[Anonymous]

My five person office didn't have a policy...we don't even have formal sick or vacation days.

I just started in January and baby is due in November.

They're giving me 8 weeks paid leave, and I've taken very few vacation/sick days thus far...no extended vacations at all, maybe a day here and there. I'm also planning to take another 4 weeks of unpaid leave but I haven't formalized that yet.

[Anonymous]

I used to work in a small FMLA office and I was the first person to go through pregnancy and a maternity leave. Our policy became 6 weeks paid and 6 weeks unpaid.

[Anonymous]

I'm also new to the boards and 13 weeks pregnant and I'm so glad tschofield asked this question. I'm going to be negotiating leave in my small non-FMLA office soon (which also has no formal policy on the books) and have been wondering the same thing about leave policies. Thank you to all who posted on this. I will definitely be using the information.

[Anonymous]

I work in an 12-person office. Our formal maternity leave policy provides for 4 weeks paid and 4 weeks unpaid leave, although we also have a long-term disability policy that kicks in after 30 days of "disability" for which no benefit is payable ("disability" includes pregnancy) and it pays 60% salary. So in practice, I believe this means that pregnant women receive their full salary (i.e. 20 days paid leave) for the first month post-partum, then receive payment of accrued annual/vacation leave for the 2nd month (i.e. the 20 days unpaid leave), then receive the disability payments for the 3rd month. We are (per the terms of the policy, not by law) not "guaranteed" anything beyond the 8 weeks (4 paid, 4 unpaid), and the policy expressly states that after the 8 weeks if we do not return, we can be terminated, although in practice the 2 women who have had babies while here have taken 3 months and 4 months, respectively, with their pregnancies. I've also been told by the Office Manager that 3 months is the max. for maternity leave and "nothing is guaranteed if we ask for more than 3 months off," but again, one co-worker who was on bedrest during her pregnancy and then had twins, took 4 months off, and they seemed fairly willing to accomodate that schedule. I have yet to break the news to the powers that be as I am only 10 weeks, but I should know more about how it all works in about 2-4 weeks once I actually DO break the news. Congrats and good luck to you!