Did anyone negotiate their mat leave?

[boiler717]

So, as I expected my boss asked. He wants to talk tomorrow about ideas for leave (so early!!). I want to be as vague as possible but I know he's worried -- we are a small company and I have one FT staff in my dept who isn't able to do a lot of my job for various reasons.

We have standard leave policies but he indicated we could be flexible. If you negotiated leave, can you tell me about your experience?

[preppy]

We have a standard leave policy of 10 weeks paid. I negotiated my overall leave and did WFH starting at 38 weeks, the 10 weeks paid, then I am using 2 weeks PTO and additional unpaid time (3ish weeks depending on when I go into labor) to return Jan 4. It is a slow season for us so it wasn't a big deal, and I am taking the extra time unpaid so it was easier to negotiate. I also negotiated on my travel for when I return.

My boss also wanted to discuss leave really early but I asked her to wait until later in my second trimester and she obliged. Once we got to a point where I was more comfortable discussing she had me write out all of my requests and I submitted them and we discussed them. I then asked her to email me formally acknowledging the requests since she can be crazy and I wanted it in writing. I then sent it to my HRBP so they had a copy of the plan.

[Susie]

I'm going to, but haven't yet. "Policy" for our firm is 6 weeks vaginal delivery/8 weeks c-section with no pay from the firm (we have shitty STD).

I fully plan to negotiate though, because that is the same policy for staff as attorneys, but staff and attorneys are disparately affected by it. Staff has PTO, attorneys do not. That makes a pretty big difference. I'm the first attorney leave since that policy, and I'm also the first ever partner to take parental/family leave.  Dude, a partner with almost 10 years in at the firm should not get shittier treatment than the receptionist who had a baby a couple months ago!

I want 8 weeks fully out, and I'd rather stay out for 12. I also want some pay in that window of time. I am willing (I think) to work at least a little from home between weeks 8-12 at least on clients where I have specialized knowledge. It remains to be seen what I can work out.

[meltoine]

When I was planning to go back during my first PG I did, sort of. My office had no formal policy (and it was overseas, so no FMLA or anything). When I told my boss I was pregnant she basically asked me what I wanted. I told her that I had to go back to the U.S. to deliver, so I'd be leaving at 34 weeks and I'd be back when my kid had a passport, which could be 3 months or could be 6. She was fine with it because she understood it was a unique situation.

Then I wasn't allowed back in the country after I left, so I never went back. Oh well.

[aprilsails]

I'm in a different situation since I am in Canada. My company has to give me up to 1 year mat leave, but their policies only qualify me for the basic government EI amount, which is less than 30% of my salary. I am going to be asking for a top up from the company of about $500 per month (so $6000 total) for a guarantee that I will return at the end of the year or owe the money back. This will shut up my husband who thinks I am getting a rough deal, as compared to most of our friends who work in government and receive 85 - 95% of their salary for the year.

The reason I feel comfortable doing this is that I've put in 8 years with the company, worked more overtime than anyone else in my pay bracket, and will have completed an $180,000+ project single handedly during my pregnancy. Our company also operates across provincial lines, and the policy for Quebec is that employees get a top up to 85%, which is bullshit since I live 20 km from Quebec and do more than half my work over there.

I've started to draft an email but am trying to figure out if I should send it directly to corporate or go through my local (clueless) bosses.

[lindsaymg]

I didn't have to negotiate per say. We get 12 weeks. 1 week paid in full, weeks 2-11 paid at 70% and you pay the other 30% from ETO/PTO.

However, our company is moving from ETO to PTO this year, meaning we have to clear out any back ETO by year end and we were given PTO this year that has be zero'ed out by year end. We have these benchmarks/caps of how much back ETO we have to take by the end of every quarter to ensure it is off our books. This means people have TONS of leave to take this year.

As someone who has worked at my company for 9 years, I am in the highest tier of leave so I have tons of back ETO plus I get the highest tier to PTO. So I wanted to combine a few weeks of leave in addition to my Maternity leave--- which I do have to discuss with my management. I have been keeping myself at the max so I have additional leave to take but those caps are done by quarter (I am due in August, so end of a quarter), so I have to play with the dates a lot to get the most bang for my buck.

Since I have placenta previa my OB thinks we will schedule a c section 1-2 before my due date but I won't know that until the end of June and in my role we need a few months notice to figure coverage out so my boss asked for a few scenarios.

Scenario one-- when the OB checks next month my placenta has moved so no scheduled c section needed.
Scenario two-- Scheduled C section 1 week before due date.
Scenario three-- scheduled C section 2 weeks before due date.

I sent the boss this email on Monday and he was going to review it and make sure that it works out coverage wise. He hasn't responded yet. I am going to ping him tomorrow. I need to know if this is ok as it will determine what ETO/PTO I take this summer.

[boiler717]

Update! So my company doesn't have 50 employees within 50 miles, so I'm not even FMLA eligible. I got more than what I asked for so I would encourage anyone at smaller companies to negotiate if possible.

[Deleted]

May 20, 2015 19:40:19 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Update! So my company doesn't have 50 employees within 50 miles, so I'm not even FMLA eligible. I got more than what I asked for so I would encourage anyone at smaller companies to negotiate if possible.

That's awesome! What did you end up getting?

I didn't respond because I didn't negotiate my leave but I was the first person in the history of the company to have a maternity leave. We weren't eligible for fmla and had no std so my boss told me that I could get 2 months paid, including my PTO of about 4 weeks I had banked. But 2 months before I had my baby, we got bought out by a chinese company and they said that 2 months was not long enough and that I could have 3 months paid, as they get in China. It worked out so well for me. I just hope they don't change it before my next leave.

[boiler717]

May 20, 2015 22:43:21 GMT -5 @missy1 said:

May 20, 2015 19:40:19 GMT -5 boiler717 said:

Update! So my company doesn't have 50 employees within 50 miles, so I'm not even FMLA eligible. I got more than what I asked for so I would encourage anyone at smaller companies to negotiate if possible.

That's awesome! What did you end up getting?

I didn't respond because I didn't negotiate my leave but I was the first person in the history of the company to have a maternity leave. We weren't eligible for fmla and had no std so my boss told me that I could get 2 months paid, including my PTO of about 4 weeks I had banked. But 2 months before I had my baby, we got bought out by a chinese company and they said that 2 months was not long enough and that I could have 3 months paid, as they get in China. It worked out so well for me. I just hope they don't change it before my next leave.

I asked to stop travel at 33 weeks, work until delivery, 8 to 12 weeks paid "as much as possible", and to wait to travel for 1-2 months once I start back at work.

My boss offered me to stop travel at 30 weeks, fully paid medical time off prior to delivery, paid time off from Dec 23 to delivery (EDD 1/4), 12 weeks fully paid maternity leave after delivery, no travel when I return until I give the okay. I am completely shocked and so grateful for my wonderful boss. He was surprised I thought there was a chance my leave wouldn't be fully paid; I was like, well I live in America....