anybody else completely pissed about maternity leave?

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[Post New]08/19/2011 14:29
Anonymous
I work for a huge "household name" company, OP, and I gpt exactly the same as what you're getting. I actually had to go on bed rest at 36 weeks so I used up the waiting period and started getting disability at 60% of my salary. I did get an additional 8 weeks of disability after my c-section, but because of the bed rest I had started eating into my FMLA and the company was expecting me to come back when the baby was 2 months old. When I begged, my boss made an EXCEPTION and allowed me to take an additional month, unpaid of course.

I think before I thought about getting pregnant I was under the general impresion that regardless of where I worked I would get some decent amount of paid maternity leave. Sadly that's not the case and yes, it sucks.
[Post New]08/19/2011 14:46
Anonymous
American companies are awful with maternity leave, paternity leave, etc. it seems to be the norm here
[Post New]08/19/2011 15:26
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I work for a major international organization and we get 12 weeks maternity leave with full pay. Anything else on top of that would come out of FMLA.


This is rare i think for places other than law firms. would you mind sharing where you work? thanks!
[Post New]08/19/2011 15:29
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Whether its taxable depends on whether you or your employer pays the insurance premiums.

PP here- my employer does may the insurance premiums, but the provider is still saying it is taxable- hoping your are right and the rep I talked to was just mistaken!!
[Post New]08/19/2011 16:03
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:As an IMF economist, I get 3 months of maternity leave plus accumulated annual leave (3 months in my case) at 100 percent salary. One of the perks in an organization full of Europeans (for whom this is worse than what they get in their home countries).


Yep. I worked for an environmental non-profit headquartered in the Netherlands, and got three months' paid.
[Post New]08/19/2011 16:18
Anonymous
I have ZERO paid leave.
[Post New]08/19/2011 16:57
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:As an IMF economist, I get 3 months of maternity leave plus accumulated annual leave (3 months in my case) at 100 percent salary. One of the perks in an organization full of Europeans (for whom this is worse than what they get in their home countries).


Stop griping. I 've worked at IMF for many years and I'm a US citizen who knows the uutrageous perks that non-US citizens receive. If you don't like it, go back home.
[Post New]08/19/2011 16:59
Anonymous
OP, as you can see, you are better off than a lot of other women. If you don't like
[Post New]08/19/2011 18:13
Anonymous
PP, if YOU pay the premiums, then it's not taxed. If you r employer pays the premiums, then it is taxed. However, my company pays the taxes on top of the premiums, so I THINK I will get 60% of my salary pre-tax which is effectively the same as my whole salary post-tax. I'm not even pregnant yet, though, so I haven't confirmed this with HR
[Post New]08/19/2011 18:17
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:As an IMF economist, I get 3 months of maternity leave plus accumulated annual leave (3 months in my case) at 100 percent salary. One of the perks in an organization full of Europeans (for whom this is worse than what they get in their home countries).


Stop griping. I 've worked at IMF for many years and I'm a US citizen who knows the uutrageous perks that non-US citizens receive. If you don't like it, go back home.


I wasn't griping. Am US citizen as well. Just explaining why intl organizations have better maternity leave policies.
[Post New]08/19/2011 18:56
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Whether its taxable depends on whether you or your employer pays the insurance premiums.

PP here- my employer does may the insurance premiums, but the provider is still saying it is taxable- hoping your are right and the rep I talked to was just mistaken!!


Your employer paying the premiums IS what makes it taxable. The lack of straight answer may come from the fact that they may not take taxes out of the checks you receive, but you will owe it at the end of the year.
[Post New]08/19/2011 18:56
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Fed here. You can only accrue up to 240 of annual leave (because they don't want people accruing 1000s of hours and getting it in cash when they leave, I guess). But you can accrue sick leave as well on top of that, though I don't know what the limit is. With #1, I had enough leave banked that I got 3 months, but with #2, I will only have enough leave for 4 weeks paid and will take another 8 weeks unpaid.


Feds can accrue unlimited sick leave but only 6 weeks of that can be used for maternity (unless you have a C-section, in which case it's 8 weeks). After your 6 weeks of sick has been used you can switch over to annual leave, but that's still only a total of 6 weeks + another maximum 240 hours of annual for a total of 12 paid weeks (3 months).


NP here. I took more than that off in sick with the Fed. government. Wasn't an issue for me. Probably depends on how your particular department interprets FMLA or if they decide to be lenient.
[Post New]08/19/2011 21:41
sybersus
Member Offline
This country is so backwards in terms of maternity leave. My European relatives are amazed at how little we get paid for, and my nonprofit does pretty well by us for U.S. standards:

- 6 weeks paid maternity (or paternity if you're a guy) leave.
- If you opted in & paid the premiums yourself, 6 weeks of short-term disability (8 for Caesarian) -- since this is not a benefit and something we pay 100% of with post-tax dollars, we are not taxed on this.
- Use of as much annual leave as you would like.

You can't take sick leave, but they say that's because you'll need it when you come back. We aren't covered by the DC FMLA (too small for it) but the standards is to take at least four months of maternity, annual, STD, and unpaid leave. Some people take more.

My job has crappy pay, but overall pretty good benefits, especially for dads. (6 weeks of paid paternity leave seems pretty amazing to me!)
[Post New]08/19/2011 22:15
Anonymous
hhmmm. Booz Allen Hamilton?
[Post New]08/20/2011 18:17
Anonymous
OP: No, you are not alone, sadly, there is no protection for working expectant or brand new mothers and their infants in our country.
I have the 6 wks (=4wks pay) or 8 wks (=6wks pay) at about 40% pay (via short term disability insurance *I* paid for).

The only profession that appears to have good fully paid maternity leave for several months are lawyers in certain large law firms.
The laws of our nation are made by lawyers. Hmmm.

It was published that we are the only ones in the world (!), except for two other countries in Africa, that have no laws regarding paid maternity leave.
Even FMLA only applies under certain conditions, and of course is all unpaid... and really is only there to 'hold' your job for a bit.

How often will a pregnant woman or new mom be asked to resign or let go for some supposed other reason? - we can only guess, but I'm sure it happens more often than one thinks.
And how many women out there do not qualify for FMLA, have no disability insurances, and have to haggle out something with their boss - I've heard women who had to be back after 2 wks!!! It's just so wrong.

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