Paid maternity leave

My main concern is having enough time to bond with my baby but now I have to worry about missing to much time from work and possibly getting fired smh

I’m a teacher - Not sure where you work but paid maternity leave doesn’t exist . Where I work the only option is called FMLA . I can get partial pay only because I’ve paid into the disability system .

i work a federal job and they offer fmla and paid maternity, but it was later explained you can't use both

Read over your company policies. They may be trying to lie to you about it so they don't have to pay out. FMLA applies to short term disability, which is wholly separate from a company benefit of paid maternity leave.

and they also offer short term disability.. I just didn't pay into it which now I regret…

and thats exactly what i’ll do because my manager told me it was separate then later explained he wasn't sure…TY!

Another thing is can they really fire you for that reason in the state of Texas.. Because that is def not fair…

Hi Kiki. I share your feelings. Unfortunately it’s the way the federal government and state has their labor laws set up. FMLA (federal) essentially provides employees with 12 weeks of unpaid job protection in a 12 month rolling period. Texas offers no additional job protections at the state level or paid leave. FMLA covers most family/medical reasons so caring for your dad and delivering/caring for your baby and yourself essentially take away from that 12 week time period. Since your job offers a separate paid leave option in any capacity, that’s honestly really great! Try to see if they would grant intermittent FMLA in the case of your maternity leave. Again it’s 12 weeks in a 12 month rolling period. So if you used 2 weeks for your dad back in August of 2023, you’ll get that time back in August of 2024. And if they can pay for those 2 weeks even better!

You can use the union to mediate a conversation with your HR/Benefits departments, that way it will provide everyone a clear understanding of what the company can/can’t do for you. I wouldn’t trust your manager to know the specifics unless they’re in HR/Benefits.

yep they should but sadly no.. And unfortunately they failed to explain this instead I was advised iniatially that it would be granted

@Kiki maternity leave its typically based on the companies discretion I didn't get it paid either but I had other complications so I went for unemployment

did you quit or resign.. I may be forced to do that as well, so sad 😔

I am a disability claim manager and I know a lot about those leaves, I may be able to help!

ok thank you!

I work for a very large organization and the FLMA time is not separate from maternity. If you use FLMA, then it decreases your maternity leave. In Texas there is no requirement to give you paid maternity leave anyway. The website in my organization is very clear about how FMLA affects maternity leave. You can complain to the union, but I do not think there is any recourse, but you can ask for it to be made clearer.