Maternity Leave

I posted about this a while back and I was so confused about my leave policy. I finally figured it out with the help of LIW ladies!

You should check what your particular employer offers, b/c each employer is different. But the general NYS rule is from the day you give birth they will give you 6 weeks of short-term disability leave for a ******l birth and 8 weeks for c-section. If you go out earlier, b/c your OB says you have to be on bedrest or something, you will get paid disabiltiy then as well. Since my employer doesn't offer any paid leave, the disability is $170 week,

The FMLA of 12 total weeks (without any pay, in the case of my employer) will start after my diability is up (you have to be employed for at least 12 months and there is a minimum size of the company, like 75 employees or something in order for the company to give FMLA). So, if I take 8 weeks of disability, I will have 4 more unpaid under FMLA.

I'm going out 3 weeks before my due date, since I have that in paid vacation time.

I've been reseraching as well, not yet pregnant, but thought I'd better find out what's what and how much I need to save.

There is no real maternity leave law in the US (only 1st world nation w/o paid national maternity leave - Australia is working on theirs and Europe has anywhere from 6 months to a year paid for BOTH parents). Each company has it's own rules so check into it. Also ask about work share, reduced work week, etc. Those are all good things to know if you plan on going back to work.

Another option that a lot of people don't know about is that you don't have to take all of your family leave in one chunk, you can take 2 days a week until the total 12 weeks are up, or a cominaton of that. It's still not paid, but it could be helpful if you can't afford to not work for months on end.

Sorry, on a political note, 'the Bush Administration has removed the 'Baby UI' rule. The rule would have allowed states to use their unemployment funds as a safety net for parents who need time to care for their newborn and adopted children'. This and more info is posted on the nationalpartnership.org site, if anyone wants find out more. I've started writing letters to my representatives. Figured it can't hurt.

I feel like I need to post a disclaimer, in case anyone thinks I'm pushing an agenda. I just hadn't heard anything about this on the news, and since I was researching family leave, etc. I found it very interesting.

I found this on the Worker's Comp website.

For more information on maternity leave you should contact the U.S. Department of Labor regarding the Family Medical Leave Act at 1-800-959-FMLA, and the Disability Benefits Bureau of the Workers' Compensation Board at (518) 474-6674 or at their website: www.wcb.state.ny.us

Another reason to hate George W. Bush

Maternity leave really varies up to the company. And my other thought why can we write the word sperm on this site but not v a g i n al?