Maternity Leave Policy- What's yours?

[Anonymous]

Contractor for the government. I get 8 weeks of STD because I'm getting a c section. I get paid 66% of my salary. After the 8 weeks, I can take fmla or work from home for a month. (My program manager is awesome and letting me telecommute, if I want to.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which one of the lawyer ladies contributing here will lobby (or sees any chance to?) to CHANGE the laws and bring our country out of the 19th century and bump us up above Lesotho and Swaziland in maternal policies?

Is it not interesting that of all working professions, lawyers (if working for a law firm) get the most generous leave (5-6 mo paid not unusual) while the rest of the female workforce in the country is in the pits?

FWIW, only very large firms offer these policies. I am the PP poster/disgusted lawyer - sadly, if Congress imposed mandatory sick leave/maternity leave policies on Corporate America, pundits (especially Republicans and small business owners) would go nuts!!!!!!! Some would say that it would put companies out of busniess (which is why the FMLA doesn't apply to companies with less than 50 employees). I don't agree with those arguments, but sadly, I'm not sure we'll ever see this change in our lifetime. You've seen how people have responded to low-wage and hospital workers' demands for mandatory sick leave (some companies grant NO sick leave - on what planet is that realistic for ANYONE?) - it has gone nowhere. It's as if women aren't really wanted in the workplace, because if they were, there would be more efforts to create family-friendly options so we could transition our careers as our child-rearing responsibilities ebb and flow. Instead, like the posters who have contemplated not coming back after maternity leave, we often have to make an impossible decision that really benefits no one--not us, not our families, and certainly not one-demensional, white male-dominated, Corporate America--in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Federal Government, Expected Service Agency: ZERO maternity leave, ZERO STD... but you can use any accrued sick and vacation time and take up to 6months of LWOP. They will also advance you sick and vacation leave (up to the amount you would have earned by the end of the year). It sucks royally, especially for newer feds who only accrue 4hrs of leave a pp. Thankfully my husband and I have been saving for my planned 12 of leave but 10 of those will be unpaid. This is definitely an area where the feds are MAJORLY lacking.

[Anonymous]

From what I hear about big law firms in DC, I wouldn't trade a few weeks/months of paid leave for the long hours required when you actually return to work. While far from ideal, I can better deal with unpaid leave for a short time period with a job where I can actually manage to balance work and family in the long run.

[Anonymous]

I wish we had better policies as a nation but I can't complain about my situation - I'm with a medium sized trade assocation and we have no maternity leave, 6 weeks short term disability paid at 80%, then you use your vacation/personal leave. Luckily we do have a decent vacation package so I was able to accrue enough time to have another 6 weeks of full paid leave, for 12 weeks off total. I went back to a reduced schedule.

DH works for another company, for profit and very family friendly, and he got 2 weeks paid paternity leave.

For my second, I will not have as much accrued leave. I will want 6 weeks in addition to the 6 week short term disability so I likely will need to take the 6 weeks at either 60-80% of pay. Luckily we can afford that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:<50 national nonprofit in DC.
STD pays 5 weeks at 60% (after 5 sick days).
Runs concurrently with DCFMLA (16 weeks unpaid).
Can use accrued vacation/sick during FMLA. (We accrue 12 days sick/15 days vacation per year.)

DCFMLA is actually 16 week medical PLUS 16 weeks family.

[Anonymous]

EVERYONE - PLEASE READ THE POST CALLED PSA ON DCFMLA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which one of the lawyer ladies contributing here will lobby (or sees any chance to?) to CHANGE the laws and bring our country out of the 19th century and bump us up above Lesotho and Swaziland in maternal policies?

Is it not interesting that of all working professions, lawyers (if working for a law firm) get the most generous leave (5-6 mo paid not unusual) while the rest of the female workforce in the country is in the pits?

FWIW, only very large firms offer these policies. I am the PP poster/disgusted lawyer - sadly, if Congress imposed mandatory sick leave/maternity leave policies on Corporate America, pundits (especially Republicans and small business owners) would go nuts!!!!!!! Some would say that it would put companies out of busniess (which is why the FMLA doesn't apply to companies with less than 50 employees). I don't agree with those arguments, but sadly, I'm not sure we'll ever see this change in our lifetime. You've seen how people have responded to low-wage and hospital workers' demands for mandatory sick leave (some companies grant NO sick leave - on what planet is that realistic for ANYONE?) - it has gone nowhere. It's as if women aren't really wanted in the workplace, because if they were, there would be more efforts to create family-friendly options so we could transition our careers as our child-rearing responsibilities ebb and flow. Instead, like the posters who have contemplated not coming back after maternity leave, we often have to make an impossible decision that really benefits no one--not us, not our families, and certainly not one-demensional, white male-dominated, Corporate America--in the long run.

PP here. Yes, I know... and I agree. The argument that a national policy similiar to the rest of the developed world would put companies out of business reminds me so much of the one that a nonsmoking policy in bars and restaurants would lead to mayhem and closed facilities...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which one of the lawyer ladies contributing here will lobby (or sees any chance to?) to CHANGE the laws and bring our country out of the 19th century and bump us up above Lesotho and Swaziland in maternal policies?
Is it not interesting that of all working professions, lawyers (if working for a law firm) get the most generous leave (5-6 mo paid not unusual) while the rest of the female workforce in the country is in the pits?

You speak as though it's a level playing field, and it's not. Law firms have much, much bigger incentives to put these policies in place than most other work places. It's been very hard for them to retain female talent, because law firm jobs tend to be extremely unfriendly to those with families (which generally hit working moms harder). Not only does this mean that good talent leaves the firm, but it also means that it's harder to recruit female attorneys in the first place (both because they scrutinize the polices and because they look to see how much of the senior talent is female).
Even with such policies, women are still leaving such firms in droves, because it's just too hard to balance work and life. What they get for in an amazing maternity leave policy, they make up for in miserable hours the rest of their lives at those firms.
I'm not saying that the maternity leaves most people get aren't atrocious -- I think it's absolutely appalling. That said, it's not a matter of skilled negotiating that's going to change things. The companies need to have the incentives and the incentives are very different at law firms than many other places.

I see what you are saying. Keep in mind however that there are many other professions that are just as well educated or trained (and thus the talent you speak of -just in a different field), and have very long hours with difficult family-work balance that do not get these kind of policies at their companies! I guess what I'm saying is that possibly some large law firms started this and others then had draw even to compete, so that now as a young professional in your field you have the luxury in a sense to compare policies and look at how much senior talent is female, and so on, (the incentive was created and not a given) but in fields where EVERY company you could possibly work for has policies that suck, and where they obviously do not care because the young female talent has to work SOMEWHERE - there is nothing you can do, is there - unless laws would be changed...

[Anonymous]

12 wks fully paid at large rich nonprofit, up to 16 under dc fmla

[Anonymous]

Trade Association
About 15 employees
6 - 8 weeks paid STD after birth (not sure what they do if you need early bedrest before);
Paid 100% leave for rest of the time up to the 3 month mark. This part is my employer's incorrect interpretation of what they need to do now under FMLA. I know that's not right - I know they are too little for FMLA to even apply to them (that they do acknowledge but believe in following its approach - as they understand it - anyway). I expressed surprise at this interpretation but they are insistent and are putting it in place for both me and another mom to be in the office.
After 3 months, you have to use accrued vacation/sick leave all up before you can then take unpaid leave for any time left over. We don't let much leave accrue though and they are fine w/ letting you use as needed within a given year once you come back to work (vs. you can only use once you accrue in a pay period) so this is fine.

I will note that this new policy is much different from when I was out on leave a few years ago w/ same firm which was paid STD for 6 - 8 weeks followed by the ability to use as much vacation time as I had to pull from in that calendar year but the rest was all unpaid. I was permitted both times to take as much unpaid time as I could get my supervisor to OK.

[Anonymous]

Contract Research Firm (in MD, so DCFMLA doesn't apply) of a few thousand employees...
No STD, no maternity leave- you can use as much sick/vacation time as you have, and the rest is all LWOP to finish out your FMLA. I've been sick throughout the pregnancy so I've already run out of personal time and been digging into FMLA- I'll probably end up with only 7-8 weeks left after baby is born.
The only upside is that my company tends to be very flexible re: plans for returning to work- I'll probably start coming back for a few hours at a time from home, then a few hours from the office here and there, etc. But I can telecommute and have flexible hours for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:<50 national nonprofit in DC.
STD pays 5 weeks at 60% (after 5 sick days).
Runs concurrently with DCFMLA (16 weeks unpaid).
Can use accrued vacation/sick during FMLA. (We accrue 12 days sick/15 days vacation per year.)



DCFMLA is actually 16 week medical PLUS 16 weeks family

Meaning the initial 5d sick and 5w STD should count as medical and THEN there would be 16w family after that? Interesting. That's not how the lawyer our HR person consulted interpreted the law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:<50 national nonprofit in DC.
STD pays 5 weeks at 60% (after 5 sick days).
Runs concurrently with DCFMLA (16 weeks unpaid).
Can use accrued vacation/sick during FMLA. (We accrue 12 days sick/15 days vacation per year.)



DCFMLA is actually 16 week medical PLUS 16 weeks family

Meaning the initial 5d sick and 5w STD should count as medical and THEN there would be 16w family after that? Interesting. That's not how the lawyer our HR person consulted interpreted the law.

That's correct, the STD would count against the medical portion of FMLA, and then you would have an additional 16 weeks of family FMLA after that. I will admit that our HR did not explain it correctly to me either. They made it sound like it was a total of 16 weeks medical + family, not 16 weeks each in a 24 month period. The family leave can be used any time during the first year after you give birth/adopt.

[Anonymous]

I get 12 weeks Family Medical Leave, but it's ALL completely unpaid. My company does not give short term disability, so I can't get paid through that either. They have let me work from home 2 weeks before my delivery date.