leave from work

i am always reading about people taking off work and getting paid etc. I guess I live in the wrong state. I worked up until about 10 days before delivery and went back at 6wks pp. All of which was unpaid. I worked for the company for 2yrs prior to delivery. I work 40+ hrs a week and sometimes doubles 16+hrs a day and am on my feet most of the time, and lift.  And you can only take 12wks FMLA per year total.

How do people get paid? is it through your health insurance? My husband covers our health insurance. tell me what i need to do so when i have another I can get paid :)!!!

My company is the same as the previous poster. I had short term disability when I started on bed rest. We get one week at 100% pay for every year worked there. Then, it drops to 60%.

It's the company you work for's decision. I am very fortunate that my company offers great short term disability. Mine is 100% for up to 4 months. But that is really rare. In fact, since I am finishing my master's degree and will be moving on soon, we decided to TTC last year so I could have maternity leave benefits this year, otherwise we couldn't afford it. It's definitely something to look into when considering a job!

Carrie

In California we pay into a short term disability insurance that is state funded. So when you need it it is there, however we have to pay into with whether you ever uses it or not.  It pays 55% of your income. If enough hours are worked we are entilited to 12 weeks of FMLA and 12 weeks of CFRA for pregnancy. This time does not run concurent. So - in theory a total of 24 weeks.

Disability will pay you for a portion of the 24 weeks. 4 weeks prior to delivery, 6-8 after - unless your Doc writes you out prior to that or extends you after your 6-8 weeks. They they honor your Docs note. When the Docs note runs out the state then will pay 6 weeks of paid family leave - there are not extentions for that.

My hubby's company has a short term disability plan they pay into. If something were to happen to him he gets paid 90% of his income for as long as he is on a Docs note. It is a privately funded plan, not a state funded insurance. So, they state would pay us a portion and then the plan would make up the difference to meet the 90%. Oh man how bad do I wish my employer had this!

I think you can get a privately funded plan your self - like AFLAC - but probably would need to do so prior to being pregnant. I am looking into this for the future. If we start to TTC in the future, then I will start it up.

I can get 15 weeks on short term disability from my work (fed gov) at 70% before baby is born.  I get one full year at 55% from my province then my job (fed gov) tops me up to 93% for a year.

We have excellent benefits up here in Canada contrary to what the Republicans will have you believe.  I also never pay a dime when seeing the doctor but our taxes are higher then most.  Fair trade, I'd say though.

I haven't been on leave due to maternity..however I do think that this country is messed up when it comes to maternity leave.. It should be like some other countries... where they pay you 100% of your salary while on maternity leave...

It is a life changing event and it should be treated and considered as such... too sad that none of our government people that are in charge don't change this.

I will be cobbling together my three months of paid time  with saved-up vacation days, extra grant funding that I leveraged, and savings. :P

I think it depends on the state, your insurance, and the company you work for. I had 6 weeks since I had a vaginal delivery. The first week was paid from my PTO bank, the next 5 paid at 100% through short term disability, I could have taken an additional 6 weeks, unpaid, and been covered under FMLA. HOwever, I had exhausted my FMLA due to bed rest and issues with pregnancy. However, I had the option to build the time back up and take my remaining 6 weeks, unpaid, all at one time, not in increments, as long as I did it before my son turned one. This is what I did, and it worked out because we got to go visit family in Morocco for a month when he was 8 mths old and it gave us time to budget/plan for the unpaid time off as well. However, given the option next time I will take all 12 weeks at one as I was just not ready at 6 weeks, it was so hard to come back!

Like someone else said it really depends on the company. I work for Bank of America and we have WONDERFUL benifits. If I leave before the baby gets here, I have to use 5 days of vacay or PTO or no pay for a week. Then, short term disability kicks in at 100% of my salery. AFter the baby gets here, I get 12 weeks paid. Not all will be FMLA since I was off with morning sickness off and on for 6 weeks. If I wasn't getting paid, I am not sure how we would manage the time off.

Where is the *like* button!

I am able to take up to 65 weeks leave if needed.  15 weeks of sickness benefits and 50 weeks of parental leave, all through the province at 55% income.