MAXIMIZE maternity leave?

How are you guys maximizing time with these laws? Confused on how to use them

For Washington FMLA you can get 16-18 weeks paid at I think 80% of your normal pay. That’s 4 months. Dads can also apply for Washington FMLA and get 12 weeks.

How it works is you need to apply after your baby is born and it take 2ish weeks for it to approve but you can backdate your claims. Claims pop up every Sunday and if you submit your claim every Sunday your pay will hit every Tuesday.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions! I just wrapped up my maternity leave this week 😭

**if your work covers 3 months paid, I would use the FMLA after that you have a year to use up your FMLA it doesn’t need to be right away. So ideally you could have 7 months paid for maternity leave! (So lucky!)

I just did this in WA. There’s a difference between maternity leave (state and possibly your work) where they give you time off to recover from delivery. It’s 6 weeks in WA for vaginal birth and more for c-section. Then after that the state gives you another 10 weeks for FMLA that can be used anytime within the first year. Whereas maternity leave overlaps with your works maternity leave FMLA doesn’t. So if your work doesn’t split it out then you can get your three months plus 10 weeks. The six weeks is almost always a wash, companies require you to apply to help fund the expense but FMLA is where you have more flexibility. Alternating FMLA, your leave, and PTO (which accrues in some cases while on leave) can really help extend.

I have a question. So I am a private nanny. In Seattle, who is pregnant, my employer pays me through payroll.

There's nothing in our contract that says anything about maternity leave.

As I didn't know when I would get pregnant. We have been trying for a while.

I'm 10 weeks today and told my employer yesterday. She was excited for me, but than immediately wanted to know my timelime.

I wasn't planning on quitting my job. But it is against the law for my employer to insist that I am resigning from my position if pregnant?

Can I still file for medical leave through my job if I have been paying all appropriate taxes for the last year and working 40 hours each week?

How do I file?

Hey Tianna- I worked for a nonprofit with under 50 employees and they were not required to keep my job for me (they did, but they’re not required to). I imagine your situation would be the same. The answers are on the state FMLA website— there’s a section for employees and for employers. Have a look at both. Maybe your boss would be willing to hire a sub while you’re gone. Hopefully you guys are able to have clear communication and have the same goal to work out how you can stay together.

can you pls explain more. My company said that I need to apply for PFMLA and disability, and they would top off the remaining amount (I earn more than what state covers) for 16 weeks total. And all of that will overlap. How can I not make it overlap?

My job stacked my PFML and FMLA so that the paid leave from the state was first and my FMLA was second for a total of 30wks or so. Not all jobs can do this so you’d have to ask if that is an option.

(Note - see correction in below comment - 16-18 weeks total)

Just to clear somethings up in this thread - FMLA is federal law, job protected leave at certain size employers and unpaid. Washington has the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) which also offers some job protection and doesn’t require a year of work. Many employers will require concurrent uses of leave - so they top up what you get under PFML. PFML gives 6-8 weeks medical for birth, and then 12 weeks bonding. Best bet is working with your HR to see what your company requires. Hope this helps!

this is good info, except that combined medical & bonding caps at 16 weeks vaginal birth, 18 weeks c-section or other qualifying complications.

you can take your bonding leave any time within the first year! If you used medical at the start and then only some of your bonding, you could use the rest before baby turns 1

Ah. Good call. Forgot about the combined cap! Yes in total 16-18 weeks.

The 6-8 is often the STD running in combo. We really need to make this all simpler!!!