https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 09 May 2026 01:19:46 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1857694 Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:38:34 +0000 ElbieKay 1857694@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@anandam: Ah, got it. That makes more sense! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1857670 Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:21:39 +0000 anandam 1857670@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ElbieKay: I think I worded my response unclearly. I agree it's peanuts, definitely, for nearly everyone. And that's why it's so ridiculous that it's actually one of the more generous policies. Not a great country when it comes to this topic, unfortunately! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1857585 Thu, 11 Sep 2014 08:31:45 +0000 snowjewelz 1857585@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chibee: I know :( Imagine you're a single mom! This has got to suck majorly for a lot of women out there. Even tho I'm the breadwinner at home, at least DH will bring home something and we have savings... </p> <p>@anandam: I'd probably just spend it all diapers! Forget about regular bills! </p> <p>@Astro Bee: That's really great! I am glad at least some population in the world gets good treatment lol. Our vacation time sucks too... It took me working at my old job for 5 years to get 3 weeks of vacation (not including persona/sick time). I started a new job last year, and the standard is 2 weeks and I need to work another 4 years to get 3! </p> <p>@ElbieKay: I know! For my salary, $170 is like a scratch. I am def purchasing a private policy for #2! I def lost on the foresight part this time around. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1857547 Thu, 11 Sep 2014 08:20:21 +0000 ElbieKay 1857547@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: My leave was partly covered by a short term disability policy that I purchased through my company. I also had 4 weeks of PTO in the bank. The rest was unpaid. But that only worked out because I had the foresight to sign up for the disability policy and also hoarded vacation time which was especially challenging when I was pregnant! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1857538 Thu, 11 Sep 2014 08:17:42 +0000 ElbieKay 1857538@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@anandam: Sorry, but I think $170/week is a complete joke, especially if you live in the NYC area. $170/week annualizes to less than $9k/year. The median income in NYC is around $50k. So, the benefit is less than 20% of the median income. Why do they even bother? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1857509 Thu, 11 Sep 2014 08:05:38 +0000 Astro Bee 1857509@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow, I've always been amazed at the poor maternity practices in the US. I live in Canada, and my husband and I are eligible to take 12 months of combined maternity/parental leave. Right now we are considering a 9/3 month or 10/2 month split. We also have approx 5-6 weeks of vacation time a year. I am not sure whether I will still be able to accumulate the vacation time while on maternity leave, but my husband will, and plans to take a few weeks right after the baby is due, and a mini-bonding vacation for the two of us later on, once baby is old enough to leave with our parents, but before I go back to work. </p> <p>Best of all, we get 100% of our salary at this time. We work for the federal government and this is the policy. My husband has already told his boss, and his boss is completely fine with his parental leave plans. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1856999 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:53:28 +0000 Applesandbananas 1856999@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Yep, mine was awful. I knew that before getting pregnant so I saved with the intention of going unpaid for 3 months. It sucked but it was doable. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1856988 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:34:44 +0000 anandam 1856988@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: tell me about it! That's why I said the kotex thing. Definitely didn't help us with rent. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1856944 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:03:01 +0000 chibee 1856944@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: i had to laugh at the check - can anyone especially in NY live on $150 a week????? Is this a joke?? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1856934 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 16:59:14 +0000 snowjewelz 1856934@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@chibee: Ugggh! Thanks for sharing tho... I feel slightly better knowing many are in similar situations! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1856929 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 16:55:34 +0000 chibee 1856929@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: The leave policy at my company is a little complicated, but basically we have salary continuance when you've been out for 4 weeks straight (I get 50% of salary at this point) but during those 4 weeks, you use up all your PTO, and if you don't have 4 weeks of PTO saved up, you get STD from NY (I work in Manhattan but live in Jersey) to fill up the "gap" - so I only had 2 weeks PTO, so for the last 2 weeks I've been getting about $150 from the state of NY - thanks NY this will pay NONE of my bills! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1856866 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 16:07:26 +0000 snowjewelz 1856866@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaG: Ohh bleh! I def need to look into it for LO #2! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1856860 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 16:05:17 +0000 MamaG 1856860@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: It's definitely too late for this pregnancy. Typically you can't have a pre-existing condition (which you do). Or they won't cover maternity/pregnancy for 12 months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave/page/2#post-1856837 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:51:28 +0000 snowjewelz 1856837@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Now I wonder if it's worth looking into purchasing STD myself.. Is it too late? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1856827 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:45:24 +0000 snowjewelz 1856827@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@anandam: Standard of living is also high in NY tho... Plus 50% of my weekly pay is way more than $170 :bummed: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1856799 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:29:41 +0000 anandam 1856799@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>NY is actually a more progressive/generous state than most. It's 50% of pay up to a maximum of $170/week. I agree it would have been nice to get more, but I think most states pay nothing. It'll basically buy your kotex and pampers for six weeks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1856748 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:02:02 +0000 HabesBabe 1856748@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Luckily, I live in CA so we have a "decent" maternity/disability leave. I also purchased private STD insurance through my work, so I got 66% of my pay while I was on disability. But we also have the one-week waiting period... I think that may be standard for any state's disability.</p> <p>Week 36-37: no pay<br /> Week 37-41: 66% pay (baby boy was induced at 41+1)<br /> PP 1-6: 66% pay<br /> PP 7-12: 55ish% pay (California's Parental leave pay)<br /> PP 12-16: 0% pay</p> <p>It seems ridic that you got so little pay even after being with your company for a year! :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1856658 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 14:12:23 +0000 snowjewelz 1856658@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@littleowl88: they don't go backwards and pay you back for that week you wait?! That's lame.. Yeah and super lame that you can't even get the money on time! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1856599 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 13:48:45 +0000 littleowl88 1856599@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My work provides a STD policy that gives you 60% pay after a 1-week waiting period... so for a vaginal delivery, you end up getting 5 weeks of pay at 60% (not 6 weeks, which is what I originally budgeted for, because the waiting period eats up a week!). Then I used 3 weeks of sick/vacation/personal time and the last 3 weeks were unpaid. While we had saved a good amount, we had some unexpected medical expenses for my husband and some unavoidable house/car expenses right before she was born, so our savings are demolished. Blurgh.</p> <p>But the most aggravating thing was that everyone involved in actually paying me during leave kept dropping the ball! My doctor's assistant didn't fax the STD paperwork to the company for a week after I gave it to them. The HR person at work forgot to enter my sick time so I didn't get a paycheck when expected (it was delayed until the next pay period 2 weeks later). Really not what I wanted to deal with while caring for a newborn! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855986 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:39:50 +0000 snowjewelz 1855986@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsSCB: I feel ya, that's why I didn't ask b/c I don't want them to think that I plan on getting pregnant right away or something. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855941 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:18:33 +0000 MrsSCB 1855941@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@yellowbird: Ugh really? That just seems so crazy to me! Like this is what you people do, care for people going through health-related issues, shouldn't you do a better job caring for your employees? That's not cool :-( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855931 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:14:50 +0000 yellowbird 1855931@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsSCB: I work in health care and our maternity policy/pay is awful :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855928 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:10:02 +0000 snowjewelz 1855928@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: I totally agree w/ you that planning is key! Hence my panic mode since I didn't really think about the fact that I can have a crappy deal until almost 3rd trimester. And I put extra pressure on myself b/c I'm the breadwinner. Now that I know I feel like I need to start a separate savings just for future LO 2! So crazy. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855926 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 09:09:06 +0000 MrsSCB 1855926@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: Seriously, I need to get on top of this lol. I feel like this is something they should clearly outline when you start a job. This might sound dumb, but I almost feel afraid to ask because I'm not currently pregnant and probably won't be for months still. I don't want them thinking, "She just started and is already planning to be off for three months??" I wish pregnancy didn't feel like such a taboo subject with employers in this country. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855908 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:59:32 +0000 snowjewelz 1855908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsSCB: Right?! I think that's why I was/am so worked up about it. That for a good amount of women, having a baby means being in the hole financially for a few months, or that they can't even have 3 months to spend w/ their baby, heal their bodies, and need to return to work asap.</p> <p>Yes, you should definitely find out so you're not in shock like me, not knowing what's going on till almost 3rd trimester lol! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855907 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:58:28 +0000 Anagram 1855907@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: I don't get any paid leave as a teacher, and although you are allowed to take out your own private STD policy, I am not offered one through work.</p> <p>I saved really hard for the 9 months I was pregnant (stopped shopping for myself, bought very few maternity clothes and most on clearance or from target, bought very few baby items new and instead bought used, etc). I managed to save about $10,000 which just barely covered my 5 unpaid months that I was home with LO.</p> <p>However, I fully realize that my husband is the breadwinner and he pays for the "big things", which allowed me to save. So I know it isn't that simple for a lot of people. This year, we are going to start TTC #2 and I won't be able to save like that because now I pay LOs childcare which is super expensive. So my husband and I plan to save his yearly bonus and our tax refund and put it in an account just for us to use during my next unpaid leave, so the financial burden is not all on his salary during that time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855904 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:51:31 +0000 MrsSCB 1855904@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ugh that sucks! I'm sorry :-( We seriously need a better system here. Yes, you can make it work by saving and cutting expenses, but you shouldn't have to!</p> <p>I just started a new job and I don't even know what their policy is. I should probably figure that out...I know our company pays for STD for everyone and I believe that would be 80 - 100 percent of salary. I think that's what you use for mat leave. I work in healthcare -- it would be pretty crappy if they didn't have a good maternity policy IMO. I live in Texas and I'm not even sure what the laws are here... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855883 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:37:40 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 1855883@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@snowjewelz: IDK, but I think mat leave should be a separate employee benefit from STD. Women who have uncomplicated births are not ill or disabled; neither are their partners. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855873 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:33:49 +0000 snowjewelz 1855873@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs.Pinecone316: Yeah, I should ask about that, but from what I'm hearing from HR they just don't deal w/ anything STD period it seems like. I work for a small company... I miss my corporate job!</p> <p> @kml636: @marionberry: :( I know we all make do in the end but that does suck! </p> <p>@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: Does any state have mandated maternity leave?! I feel like most people I know just take FMLA along w/ the STD if their state/company offers it. I def am starting to think I need to go back to work sooner than later... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/did-anyone-get-nuggets-for-their-short-term-disability-while-on-mat-leave#post-1855826 Wed, 10 Sep 2014 08:03:56 +0000 Mrs. Lemon-Lime 1855826@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My state doesn't have mandated maternity leave. My employer let's us use some paid STD when we take FMLA to take off for maternity leave. I know several moms who had to return to work a week after giving birth ecause they could not afford to go without a pay check. </p>