britchicknyc

Although this was covered briefly in the "Cost of childbirth" thread, I thought I would post as an individual thread to get a better response.....

Am just interested in the maternity leave entitlements your jobs have. I currently work for a British company so mine is great at six months fully paid plus 4 weeks vacation, but I am hearing American companies are much meaner.....

So if you don't mind I'd be interested in what you all get.....

Thanks!

Rete

Much meaner. Most here in NYC are three months. Not sure what the pay structure is though for maternity leave, i.e. full, 2/3rds, 1/2? Pls whatever accrued sick/personal and vacation time you have.

sid_s

Ours is 12 weeks off total. 6 weeks are paid (or 8 weeks if you have a c-section). Pretty crap. I think this is the legal minimum for most companies.

We got a bit short-changed on the paternity leave. Most companies are required to give fathers 12 weeks unpaid time off also. But me and hubby work for the same company so it did not apply.

Ash UK/US

I was just looking in the and book I was given when I started work... it is listed under the family leave of absence and says you can take up 12 weeks but says nothing about any part of that being paid.

When my daughter was born my husband had to use his vacation time to spend time with her.

Ash

Englishmum

For anyone who has been away from the UK for a few years, here is the latest info on Maternity and Paternity leave rights.....after reading it I really do think that Americans (or expats working for most US companies here) get a raw deal compared to all the parental benefits Europeans get.

http://www.forparentsbyparents.com/p...ts_rights.html

I don't think there is any Universal benefit ie. Child Benefit in the US is there - or most other countries?. New mums in the UK also get home visits from midwives and health visitors.

I think that all new babies in Britain get some sort of 'Baby Bond' from the UK govt. of 250 pounds (which they can't get hold of until they are 18).

elfman

pretty shite:

At my company you are eligible total of 12 weeks unpaid leave for the birth of a child whether you're male or female, but nobody ever takes even half of that, as far as I can tell. If both parents work for my company, then they can take a total of 12 weeks unpaid leave between them.
I work for the largest engineering consulting firm in the USA.

Englishmum

How is Mrs Elfman? Not long now until your little one will be here...

Is her company offering better maternity leave terms than yours?

I wonder why the women at your company don't take their full entitlement of maternity leave? It seems so sad that they have so little time to bond with their babies.....do you think they're afraid of losing their jobs if they don't return to work ASAP?

woodsey

its outragous that its so crap, even though I'm living in the US, I'm technically still on maternity leave from my job back in the UK and my son is 3 in October LOL, I get up to 5 years off, extended to 8 if I have another child, I'm guaranteed a job at the same grade if I choose to go back after that period, obviously I'm not getting paid anymore but I got 6 months full pay. Speaking to people here, 12 weeks here seems to be the norm, with 6 weeks of it paid if you're lucky.

Bob

Who knows as the place the missus just got bought out, but it was currently 6 weeks paid, 2 weeks unpaid....can be taken pre or post natal....managers above a certain level can have 3 months, especially if they have a doctor say they need time off, mainly for those on the 4 day schedules...

sid_s

Some people did seem to think it was quite decadent of me to take the full 12 weeks when only 6 were paid. Most people just take the 6. And I am talking about people who could certainly afford to be unpaid for a couple of months.

There is definately something in the American work culture that encourages people to behave as though they are "indispensable". I think it's a personal pride thing as well as maybe a paranoia. I work with people who have only 2 weeks of vacation a year, and they make a point of not using it!!

elfman

She's doing fine, thanks, 11 weeks to go - and yes, her lot are way better than mine when it comes to maternity leave: 13 weeks paid leave, at the end of which she gets her old job back, and she could also take a further 13 weeks unpaid, after which they would still gaurantee her a job come back to, just not necessarily her exact same old job. Plus she has a really good boss who allows her to work from home a day or two a week and has told her she can work from home for the last six weeks up to the due date, so she won't have to suffer commuting on NJ Transit all through August. Her boss is British, by the way.

snowbunny

You're guilt-tripped into it. After my first was born I was told by my manager that I needed to come back to work at 9.5 weeks -- because there weren't very many white female American engineers and I needed to do my bit for my race, gender, and nationality. (he was an immigrant from an Oriental country)

I told him that while there might be precious few SWF American engineers, my daughter had precisely one mum and that SHE needed my time more.

Another day I was racing to finish a project in the hardware lab and was mumbling under my breath about needing to leave by 5.30 pm in order to get my kid on time. Two male coworkers rolled their eyes and said they *wished* they could leave at 5.30 pm.

I turned on them and said "well, you bloody well can -- walk out the door. No one is stopping you. You think a kid is like your racquetball game, that you can pick up as you have time? NO. A kid is every day, all the time and can't wait for you to decide to pay attention to them. You want to go at 5.30 pm and play racquetball, no one is holding a gun to your head. WALK."

britchicknyc

All pretty awful it seems! I was vaguely thinking of changing jobs before trying to have a baby, but it seems that I am better off staying put. Six months fully paid seems too good to give up!

American companies are just awful with these types of benefits (plus the dreadful attitudes to vacation time)

jjmb

It always shocks me when I go into a store like Walmart or the local big chain here - HEB, seeing heavily pregnant women standing checking out customers and packing bags. It was in another thread that it was pointed out that checkout clerks over here don't get a chair to sit on. Why on earth do people put up with these working conditions.

No wonder I'm worried stiff about working over here.:scared: but at least I can't get pregnant anymore, so that one less concern

snowbunny

No labour regulations.