Maternity Leave and the workplace
 

didn't know where to place this thread so I came here...

Within the past 6 months, we have had at least 4 people who went on maternity leave and are coming back. One of my other co workers had questions about how the laws works as far as businesses in conjunction with maternity leave.

Question for GC: Outside of federal and state mandates, should businesses be more obligated to do more for pregnant mothers to encourage a positive work attitude?

If you could improve existing laws, what would you do?

I think we only get the 6 required weeks here, but not having had a baby and dealing with FMLA I don't have too much of an opinion. I know that they have places where women can go to pump when they get back if they so desire.

The 6 required weeks (usually 8 if you had a c-section) is generally the time period that you qualify for disability pay after birthing a baby. FMLA allows you take 12 weeks off without your company being able to penalize you. Employers have no obligation to pay you anything for any of it if they don't offer short term disability pay in general for surgeries, etc. No matter what, you are entitled to 12 weeks without pay per year as part of FMLA. This can be for your medical issues, to care for a new born, or an aging/ill parent, etc.

At my work, short term disability kicks in after you've had 7 calendar days off work (5 work days) and is paid at 60% of your pay. When you get back, all of your paychecks for the rest of the year are reduced because they have to deduct what you pay for health, dental, etc. at a higher rate since you missed the 6 -12 weeks of those deductions while you were off work.

We have one of the shortest and weakest maternity leave policies of any developed country. Most of Europe and Canada have 6-12 month paid leaves. But, our priorities are pretty messed up anyway and to have leaves that long would be a socialist redistribution of wealth so it's not done here.

I don't think businesses should have an obligation to do more, but if the goal is to encourage a positive work attitude, then businesses should want to do more. Happy employees = more productivity.

That is how my company works- except for the reduced pay for medical deductions- we have to send in a check to cover the amount rather than it being deducted throughout the rest of the year.

Oh, and FMLA only applies to companies with 50 or more employees, and since my company has less than that, they don't have to comply with it. However, to keep employees happy, we do follow the guidelines and allow for FMLA-type time off.

As far as other things my company does- they set up a pumping station for Moms who want it and we have "flexible hours as long as they are not abused"- so if I have to take one of the kids to the doctor, I can take a long lunch to do it. Or on the days that my sitter has her night college classes, I can adjust my schedule to 7:30-4:30 (rather than 8-5). But those things are open to employees without kids as well. So if my co-worker takes a long lunch to go dress shopping or something, it's okay as long as it's not everyday or abused.

I believe in maternity and paternity leave. This should be part of the employment contract along with health insurance and so forth.

I don't know about "obligated," but it is wise if company's want a successful work environment. Smart companies know that happy and successful employees are GOOD employees.

We are such hypocrites in this country. We pretend to be all about families but we're not. You don't have to have a child to know that a few weeks/months is not enough time to settle in with your new baby and family.

I think if we looked at maternity leave as being a family thing and not a woman thing, things might change. In Germany for example (the company I work for is based in Germany), mommies get a whole year of paid maternity leave while our female employees in the states get 12 weeks total.

I agree. It should be all about families, not a woman thing.

People confuse feminism and women's empowerment with everything being a "woman thing." I cringe at woman-only baby showers and prefer co-ed baby showers (they are really fun :)) or some equivalent. The men help to create the babies so why do they always get a break. Rhetorical.

My company offers the required 12 weeks FML, but it is unpaid. And I can understand it being unpaid - after all, there are many employees here who won't get pregnant in a given year and therefore won't be taking 12 weeks of paid time off. However, I do think the option for unpaid leave should be extended to at least 6 months.

The parent company of my firm is based in France, all orders from the top come from France, we get company correspondence in English AND French, etc. and yet our benefits in no way resemble our French colleagues'. It really pisses me off.

Speaking from personal experience.... maternity leave sucks compared to the rest of the developed countries of the world. I did not get short term disability, I was told my company did not participate in that for maternity leave. I had to save as much vacation time as possible. I was covered under the 12 weeks of FMLA, but I knew if I wasn't back at 6 weeks, I would regret it. I even took my babies in to work with me so I could catch up on stuff while I was on leave, my job was that high-stress. Pumping was not a problem, as I asked for and was given my own office so I could close the door.
A friend of mine in Londonderry (NoIreland) had a baby around the same time... and she had the whole next year off, paid.

this sounds like a miss america question, lol. congrats, you just won the interview portion of the competition!

i need to look up my company's rule about paternity leave.

lol

Question...

For the countries that do allow maternity leave up to a year, is the firm compelled to hire someone else to do that person's job while they're gone? Or does their work just get shoveled onto their coworkers' load?

I understand and do agree that parents should have more time off, but speaking as someone who had to partially take on the workload of someone w/ an FMLA issue, the only thing that got me and the other people affected through it was knowing it was going to be over soon. If we'd had to work like that for a year, there would have been several nervous breakdowns.

It sounds great the way other countries do it, but think about the people who are left behind as well.

I hear ya. The question is whether the costs outweigh the benefits. We'd have to know all the costs to the employers, families, and overall society.