Parental/Maternal Leave

[Eclipse]

Hi, I used to be a pretty regular Greekchat poster, but not lately, but thought you guys might be able to help me do some quick, unscientific research. I work in HR and am working on a Parental Leave policy for my company. I am checking to see what other companies are doing. Can you answer for me, to the best of your knowledge, the following:

Does your company have a separate parental/maternal leave policy (beyond Disability or FMLA)?


IF so, is it paid, or unpaid?


Basics of the policy (how much time, % of salary, who is eligible, etc.)

What type of company/industry (name is not needed, but if you want to feel free!)

Approx number of employees

Thanks!

Before you ask, no this is not the only research I am doing :-D

[DSTRen13]

No.

[Tippiechick]

Nope. Other than FMLA, if you choose to have a kid, you are SOL. I like this, because I don't want to train someone to do a job they'll only have for a few months until the mom decides to come back.

And, let's be completely honest here... If you have a baby in daycare, you're probably gonna get called to come see about the kid every time it has more than 3 runny diapers in a day or runs a slight fever or has a slight rash. And, if the kid gets sick, it'll be the mom (99% of the time) who has to take a day off b/c the daycare won't let the kid come back. (From my own personal experience...)

It is an inconvenience to those you work with to have a policy allowing you to take time off for parental or maternal leave. If you need time off, quit. Otherwise, don't bother me or your co-workers because you chose to have a child.

[AGDee]

My employer only has FMLA (unpaid unless you have saved up your vacation time) and disability (6 weeks after birth, 8 for a c-section). For disability, you are unpaid for 15 calendar days (again, unless you've saved up your vacation time) and then it's 60% of your pay. It's a health care system with 22,000 employees. Few people take beyond the 6-8 weeks because they simply can't afford it. It's hard to save up that much time off unless you've been planning for a couple years.

[Munchkin03]

Does your company have a separate parental/maternal leave policy (beyond Disability or FMLA)?

Yes. Right now it's really nebulous since until fairly recently, the women who had children simply ended their careers, and their husbands became primary breadwinners. Now, we have had a lot of single mothers having children, as well as women who want to come back to work--even part time or working from home. I imagine by the time I have a little Munchkin, it's going to be more set in stone.

If so, is it paid, or unpaid?

For the first 4 weeks, it's paid. Afterwards, FMLA kicks in.


Basics of the policy (how much time, % of salary, who is eligible, etc.)

See above.

What type of company/industry (name is not needed, but if you want to feel free!)

Construction industry

Approx number of employees

50

I can honestly say that I don't feel any resentment when those who have children have to leave early, or at a moment's notice, if their kids get sick. Look, life gets messy. These are the same people who have covered for me when there's been a death in the family and I've had to fly back to Florida right away. For us, when someone leaves for maternity leave, they tend to stay involved with major projects, at least on a phone-call basis, to keep the client happy and to maintain continuity. Otherwise, we don't hire any new people--everyone just picks up the slack, because we never know when someone else is going to need that support.

[ISUKappa]

Does your company have a separate parental/maternal leave policy (beyond Disability or FMLA)?
There is no set policy - it's totally at the discretion of my boss. Thankfully, he's very generous. I got 6 paid weeks off with my son and 8 paid weeks off with my daughter.

IF so, is it paid, or unpaid?
Paid.

Basics of the policy (how much time, % of salary, who is eligible, etc.)
Like I said, it's at the discretion of my boss. I was fortunate to have the time off that I did. I never use all my vacation time last year, so if I needed, I could have used that.

What type of company/industry (name is not needed, but if you want to feel free!)
It's a very small, family-owned publishing company.

Approx number of employees
10

[Tippiechick]

Originally Posted by Munchkin03

I can honestly say that I don't feel any resentment when those who have children have to leave early, or at a moment's notice, if their kids get sick. Look, life gets messy. These are the same people who have covered for me when there's been a death in the family and I've had to fly back to Florida right away. For us, when someone leaves for maternity leave, they tend to stay involved with major projects, at least on a phone-call basis, to keep the client happy and to maintain continuity. Otherwise, we don't hire any new people--everyone just picks up the slack, because we never know when someone else is going to need that support.

That's awesome that you work at a job where people can do your work for you. But, in a lot of offices and specialty niche workplaces, you can't just have someone pick up the slack because the person taking time off has specialized skills or responsibilities.

Life does get messy. And sometimes having a kid means you should stay home or find a new job if you end up in a specialty niche. Hey, if you're in an industry where you won't cause me any inconvenience as a co-worker or boss, spit out all the kids you want.

[WinniBug]

I work for a small Catholic School and I'm due in April. I had the "maternity leave talk" with my boss a couple weeks ago to clarify what my responsibilities are going to be when I'm out, how much time I get off and what % of my salary I'll still get.
She told me that it's a "read between the lines" kind of deal, that it's not technically covered in our contract. What she did tell me is that I'm good for 6 weeks off and that my salary won't get docked. I'm still responsible for entering grades into the gradebook, and since my due date is 7 weeks before the end of school, I'm also responsible for the first week's lesson plans.
I think this is a pretty good deal. :-)

[AKA_Monet]

Hi Eclipse! Long time no see! Hope all is well with you and yours! PM me. Don't have an answer to your main question, though... LOL.

Take care!

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by Eclipse

Does your company have a separate parental/maternal leave policy (beyond Disability or FMLA)?

We get six months total, if needed, per pregnancy.

IF so, is it paid, or unpaid?

Six weeks paid plus up to 20 weeks unpaid (again, if necessary)

Basics of the policy (how much time, % of salary, who is eligible, etc.)

100% of salary for six weeks. Actually, I've discussed the option of doing four weeks off and then four weeks part-time which my boss is amenable to. Only full-time salaried staff are eligible. We have almost as many interns/part-timers as we do full-time staff. It's difficult to go full-time with my company.

What type of company/industry (name is not needed, but if you want to feel free!)

It's a non-profit...won't mention the industry (you can find that elsewhere on the site if you look hard enough though).

Approx number of employees

We have two executive staff members for the non-profit, five full-time non-profit staffers, a bunch of interns/part-timers and like 10 county/state employees working at our site.

We also get paid "Summer Fridays" (six Fridays off, six Fridays half-day from Juneish through Labor Day), plus like 12 Holidays, 12 sick days (which accrue from year to year), 12 vacation days (only five can carry to the next year), 4 personal days plus we get extra vacation days depending on tenure.

So, what's that? Like 10+ paid weeks off per year? We also get 100% of our healthcare premium paid.

If y'all hadn't figured it out by now, I'm at my job for the benefits! LOL! The pay is kinda depressing, but if I tallied up the cost of my benefits, I'd have to make almost $10,000 more just to make up for the lost benefits and break even.

[Senusret I]

^^^ Your job is like mine (although I am unsure what the maternity leave situation is).

We don't do summer Fridays, but we get the same winter break that public school kids here get. Why? I don't know. It was helpful when I went to Boston over the holiday.