I firmly told my boss that I would be taking 6 months leave due to the pandemic. Not all higher ups were supportive, but it was eventually approved.

My boss said congrats (he's a great guy) and then said he would talk to the finance/HR guy and figure out what leave options were available. He came back and said that we offered six weeks paid, and then beyond that I could use PTO/sick time from both this year and next year. I was very nice about it, but I explained that I needed 12 weeks. We're a progressive company, and I felt that six was inadequate. I am also a woman in tech, and the first woman to have a baby at our company in about six years. I ended up taking my case up to the CEO (it's a small company, only about 60 people) and he said he didn't like to make exceptions, but he would talk to the lawyer and the finance guy, and see what he could do. They bumped the whole company up to 9 weeks! I felt really good about it. I then said I'd be taking two weeks of my own leave, and I'd be fine coming off payroll for the final week, but the CEO said "that wasn't necessary" and that last week was kinda hand-wavy.

All in all, I was very pleased with how it all went down. I was also in a strong position (well liked, long time employee, and one of the few women on the tech team at a tech company that was trying to better at hiring and retaining women) so I'm glad that I was able to make things better for people who will come along after me (and there was another pregnancy the next year!)

My boss informed me that no women has taken as much "leave" as I did in the office. I took 8 weeks.....

I will say that I’ve told a male boss who was very supportive and happy for me and a female boss who soon after I told her started cutting me out of things (when I was still going to be in the office 6 more months) and would “forget” to invite me to team events or lunches. Ugh.

Mine sighed and rolled her eyes both times. Childfree by choice woman super focused on her career.

Anonymous wrote:I just said I'm pregnant and due X date. I plan on being out until X + 12 weeks. There wasn't really a discussion other than that...

Something I should have discussed was who would do my work when I'm out. It blew my mind that NO ONE would get assigned my work and I'd have 12 weeks of work piled up when I returned. It was so much work that it swamped me for the next year. And I received no bonuses because it was all so overdue by the time I got it done. I thought I'd never dig out. Additionally, everyone was always angry at me for not completing my work on time, but truly I was working 10 hour days when I returned and couldn't get to anything. I'm still angry about this. I feel like it was my older female coworkers' revenge for me taking a maternity leave because they never got any.

+1 on this. I told my boss I'm taking the full amount offered by FMLA, my expected due date and X date of returning.

I received so many snarky comments from one of my bosses who returned to work after 3 weeks 10 years ago. UHM 1) It's unpaid 2) why are you blaming me for bad maternity policies during your time?

I just said I'm pregnant and due X date. I plan on being out until X + 12 weeks. There wasn't really a discussion other than that...

Something I should have discussed was who would do my work when I'm out. It blew my mind that NO ONE would get assigned my work and I'd have 12 weeks of work piled up when I returned. It was so much work that it swamped me for the next year. And I received no bonuses because it was all so overdue by the time I got it done. I thought I'd never dig out. Additionally, everyone was always angry at me for not completing my work on time, but truly I was working 10 hour days when I returned and couldn't get to anything. I'm still angry about this. I feel like it was my older female coworkers' revenge for me taking a maternity leave because they never got any.

I informed my bosses I was pregnant, next steps are to discuss my maternity leave plan!

How did your discussion go? Given DC has a few different options in terms of how much leave you can/will take (paid/unpaid, etc,) how did you broach the topic?


There are has been few people in my office that have taken maternity/paternity leave within the last 8 years (2) so HR/Bosses are a bit rusty on working through this.

How did your discussion go? Did you have a timeline in mind or was it an open discussion?