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I think it depends on what state you are in. Also, I think your doctor has to say your are not able to work.
It depends on the company, but most companies do offer short term disability that pays 66% of your salary (at least my company does) while you are out on maternity leave.
Having said that...some companies require employees to use up all of their other available time first: vacation, sick time, personal days, etc before short-term disability kicks in.Other companies allow the employees to choose. I think my company allows us to choose a combination of STD, vacation, and sick time.
I so wish my company offered something like that. No luck for me there.
I had just started talking with HR about my maternity leave when Moose became an Angel Baby. In the end, I got my 6 week maternity leave with full pay even though the HR person gave me a hard time and wanted me to come to work the following week. Excuse me. No. Anyway, I think it's determined by your state and company. In my case, it was up to the state.
@JsDragonfly:Any chance, given that you are a few years out, that you could find a job that offers paid maternity leave?
Thanks everyone! I'll definitely look into the state.
@Janna19..nah, I'll definitely be sticking with this company. It's pretty standard in my industry to not offer any kind of benefits, awesome right? lol ...not
At my company you get 6 weeks paid maternity leave (8 weeks for a c-section). But if you have a pregnancy-related complication that prevents you from coming to work, that gets extended with a doctor's note. It's not "disability" because it's just a paid leave. So if you have a premie baby that prevents you from returning to work, that's a really nice benefit. Afterwards, you can enact the FMLA thing, but i am not sure how it works for that. I have a friend who had a baby and is enacting FMLA before her husband deploys, though, so they all get a little more time together. If you are literally unable to work, i could see how that could be a disability issue, but at my company they just extend your paid maternity leave. I bet you have to be real messed up to get that, though!!!They don't make you exhaust your other options here, though.
Good luck, JS! Companies without benefits really suck and I think it just varies depending on the companies. Some of my friends work for places where they get partial pay and some get full pay and some are just S.O.L, depending if they have worked there for awhile or not.
Look into your short term disability and get ALL the information you can. I looked into it recently and we have the option of adding the term for getting paid a certain percentage of your salary (thankfully mine is pretty high) for 6 or 8 weeks. Then, the rep tells me that there is a 2 week waiting period before benefits go into place. That takes 2 of those weeks noted above. So in actuality, I only get paid for 4 or 6. That depends on natural birth or c-section.
Oh, and I have to use every bit of my PTO (Paid Time Off instead of Vacation and Sick time) before I can use the Short Term Disability.
DEFINITELY check into every option you have at your work. OH and make sure you set this up before you're pregnant. They won't let you use it for maternity if you add it while you are pregnant.
I'm not too stressed yet because I have a sneaky suspicion that I'll be able to work from home. I'm not expecting my full salary or anything, but I'm sure they'll work something out with me that would allow me to atleast make something for 6 or so weeks. I guess the flip side to not having any benefits is that my job is flexible. While they would never let me work from home now, my boss has dropped hints that when I do have a kid someday that "we'll find a way to make it work." So, I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope and pray! lol
Does your work have Aflac? A friend of mine had an oops pregnancy, and thought she was going to be out of luck, but when consulting with HR realized she signed up for Aflac when she started, so she's covered.
Not to hijack the thread, but it just amazes me how horrible maternity benefits are in this country. My company is very generous (12 weeks paid) but that is nothing compared to what my same company offers in other countries (6 months paid in England!). People who come here from other places are appalled at the 12 weeks and they don't even realize that this considered extremely generous...
I was just looking into this at my job yesterday and was AMAZED to discover that there were no paid maternity benefits. I work for the state and really figured that there would be something... anything... but all we have is FMLA that guarantees that your job will still be here when you get back. It really is terrible that the US has such horrible maternity benefits.
@otb: Nope...we have zilch. I've always paid for my own regular health insurance...Thankfully, when my husband and I got married, I was automatically covered on the military's insurance. But as far as disability insurance, maternity leave, etc...we're pretty much left to fend for ourselves as far as my job is concerned. :(
@Janna19: I agree...I read an article about the maternity benefits of other countries and was amazed.
I have it through my company, not my state. I think you can get a policy BEFORE you become pregnant, on you own. A few of my pregnancy planning books cover laws & other policies (like insurance) that are helpful to consider, so you might want to peruse the library or your local bookstore, if google isn't panning out.
My company provides short-term disability for 6 weeks, during which I can get 60% of my salary. All I have to do to get it is call a phone number that my HR lady gave me when I give birth. They will notify my company and start my maternity leave automatically.
California, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico have state mandated short term disability plans.
STD plans vary by employer and may depend on your years of service and employee status. Like jillocb mentioned above, it is typical for the employer to make you burn through your vacation, sick and personal days before STD commences.
I'm in Texas and at my particular job, the company pays for short- and long-term disability benefits for everyone. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but we get 6 weeks of 100% pay thru STD (8 weeks for a c-section). We can also use vacation and still get paid. What happens after that is where I still need some clarification but it looked like you could have LTD kick in then and get maybe 70% of your salary for a certain additional period of time. My company is pretty good about holding your job for you if you want to take an extended (but somewhat reasonable) amount of time off...you just have to be ok with not getting paid.
@candicemcc: You have to find out the waiting period for LTD benefits to kick in.
I got 6 weeks of Short Term Disability at 60% pay. You need to check with your employer.
I'm kind of bumming. My employer does not offer any paid, and I accrue 23 days of paid time off each year, starting after the 4 month probabtionary period. I'll have been employed for 16 months when I'm due. I get an extra 7 days of Extended Illness Leave that I can use, but that leaves me with just over 6 weeks of leave.
I haven't told work I'm pregnangt yet, since it's still super early, but I'm starting to worry. I really wanted a full 10 weeks home at least. If I could manage 10 weeks, then my step mom would come in to watch the baby for two weeks until my husband finishes the school year and will be off all summer. Then we can post pone day care until about 5-6 months. I'm so excited to have a child, but this aspect is SO stressful.
Check with your employer & state. @brwneyedgrl had it right about Cali...but depending on your employer, you might get a little more. For example, as a public high school teacher in CA, I get 4 weeks off pre-birth, 6-8 weeks off, post birth, at 55% of my salary by law. In CA, you can also apply for another 6 weeks of Paid Family Leave, but must do so within 12 weeks of birth. However, my employer increases the paid salary amount from 55% to 60% for the first 10-12 weeks (the Short term disability, not the paid family leave). Also, like @jillocb mentioned, I have to burn my paid leave first. So, I have been hoarding my paid leave (I think I'll have about 6-7 weeks) & carefully planning days so I can take off a max amount of time before school ends. Signing up for secondary insurance (like AFLAC) can help (I did that last year, just in time!).
Be mindful that in other countries, they pay more taxes to get those maternity benefits. But the US does have a not so great medical insurance situation compared to other 1st world countries...based mostly on the fact that, as a capitalist country, private citizens want to control their own money & therefore must bear the price of their own medical insurance & education...it's the price we pay for not giving the government more money to take care of us. (sorry, as a social studies teacher, I have to teach my students the history behind our economics)
Hi there - can I ask what state you live in? State run disability programs are run in the above mentioned states as well as CA and NJ.
If your company doesn't offer STD for purchase or provided to you at no cost, it will be pretty costly to get it outside of your company. You may be covered under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which guarantees your job for 12 weeks (6 weeks for your actual delivery and 6 weeks to bond with your baby). That is unpaid though unless you supplement it with your vacation or time-off.
I work in my company's benefits department and know a bit about disability and leave of absence, so PM me if you have more questions!
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So, I am royally confused and hoping some of you bees can enlighten me! One of my friends told me that before she got pregnant she got short-term disability to help cover the loss of her salary while she was on maternity leave. I had no idea this was possible and haven't gotten a clear answer through googling.
The hubs and I have discussed having kids in the next few years and are looking at our options towards covering my salary while I'm on maternity leave. We do have health insurance that covers prenatal care, birth/delivery, post partum and the babe...Obviously, you want to have enough money set aside to cover the mom's salary ( or the dad too if he can take leave), but if you can get short-term disability to cover a part of your salary, it seems like it's a no brainer because then you wouldn't dry up your savings. I have seen one google search that says maternity leave is not a disability, therefore won't be covered. I have also seen the opposite. Even if maternity leave isn't covered, it seems like the insurance is good to have incase something happens during your pregnancy where you can't work.
So, is this true? Is it a myth? I'm just curious to see if you guys have utilized this tool (and if so, what company did you use).
Thanks a bunch :)