https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 15 May 2026 12:12:54 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1072214 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 21:48:31 +0000 Katrocap 1072214@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Maternity leave in the U.S. is terrible! I'm a teacher, too, and was able to take about 6 weeks off paid (using my sick time) and then the rest of the school year (3 months) unpaid. So many people, including fellow teachers, were shocked that I wasn't getting real paid maternity leave (besides my sick time). Everyone would say, "but aren't you taking FMLA?" I think a lot of folks think that FMLA is paid leave. How I wish ...</p> <p>@matador84: I'm sorry you're in this situation. I just started back at school and found out I had negative 40 sick days. Fortunately it was an error, but I was freaking out. Are there any other teachers/administrators in your district who've been through maternity leave that you can consult with? I hope either they or HR can help you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1072182 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 21:10:52 +0000 JoyfulKiwi 1072182@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@matador84: I'd investigate that with HR, it doesn't sound right or legal at all. They shouldnt be able to charge you *more* money for being on unpaid leave! If they are forcing you to use the 10 days and then turning around and saying, "oh you didn't work a full year so you didn't earn those 10 days and we have to charge you", that is some whack bullshit. They should just say you don't have any PTO, since you're not working the full year in the first place! Booooo. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071962 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 17:38:20 +0000 Mae 1071962@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It sucks but it's legal because (I think) FMLA only guarantees you time off, not PAID time off. So if your contract is for 177 days + 10 days you don't have to work if you work the other 177...... if you take 4 weeks off (above the 10 off) you'd only have 157 days accruing those PTO days so the additional 1-2 days would also be unpaid. </p> <p>Basically, this is why employers should have to give paid leave. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071918 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 16:35:50 +0000 MamaBehr 1071918@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I had a teaching job that was outside of Houston, and it was similar. I knew that I wasn't going to come back the following school year, or even after my maternity leave was up, and my principal actually called me in and said I should just quit when the baby is born because it is cheaper. </p> <p>I know it doesn't work like that in NY for teachers. When I was on maternity leave for DD, I got full pay for 6 weeks and after that it was just "unpaid." They didn't do any of that "you didn't work the 187 days" nonsense that they did to me in TX. </p> <p>It seems weird that you have to take the 10 days off, and then end up paying them back. But, it sounds like that is pretty normal in TX (at least in my experience). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071821 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 15:29:44 +0000 SugarplumsMom 1071821@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't understand why they even consider the first 10 days a part of your maternity leave, from my understanding, it's vacation time (aka paid time off) that anyone can take given they worked enough hours that year. They should just flat out say there's NO paid maternity leave and leave it at that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071789 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 15:13:29 +0000 yellowbird 1071789@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ohhhh, i see!! Since you won't be working your total number of days, they days you do work, you get a reduced rate. That doesnt make any sense!! I would be way POd if my job tried to tell me my salary basically decreased because I had a baby. I mean, obviously it will decrease because i didn't get paid for 10 weeks, but the weeks I do get paid, i get my normal pay. </p> <p>So basically, you get 6 weeks off. 2 weeks are normal pay from PTO, 4 weeks are unpaid totally. Then when you go back to work you get your pay docked for four more weeks then back to your normal pay?!? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071733 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:36:55 +0000 matador84 1071733@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoyfulKiwi: and...what stinks more is I'm a school administrator so I won't even have a sub. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071731 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:35:50 +0000 matador84 1071731@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@yellowbird: It's not "paid" it's just sick days I can use so I don't get docked. It's the same as using vacation days. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071730 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:34:39 +0000 matador84 1071730@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoyfulKiwi: yes. I don't think that's what I was clear about. I am going to have to pay them to take maternity leave. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071720 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:28:59 +0000 yellowbird 1071720@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@matador84: so you do get paid for your maternity leave? I think that's amazing! I had to take 10 weeks off unpaid. I had no short term disability either. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071716 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 14:24:42 +0000 JoyfulKiwi 1071716@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@matador84: so I was rereading your post and are you saying that they will charge you "extra" for the 10 PTO days you used? I don't think that's right at all - they shouldn't. They could say, upon your return, that you don't have any PTO and would need to pay out of your own pocket if you need a sub before you get more days in the next school year. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071623 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 12:51:12 +0000 Anagram 1071623@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@matador84: in a way, it's good they let you use your PTO. When I worked in Texas that was also standard, and I had almost 40 days accrued, which would have been 40 paid days of Mat leave.. Then I moved to NJ before I got pregnant, and in my district here, they don't let you use sick or personal days at all, so I literally got 0 paids days off.</p> <p>Sucks to be me sometimes! But I'm still choosing t take the full 12 weeks unpaid to be with my baby. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071615 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 12:48:09 +0000 Anagram 1071615@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My district is the same, basically...and I live in NJ (used to live in Dallas though,,where I was a teacher.) Maternity leave in both states is completely unpaid, so whether you consider it "docked pay" from your regular salary or just unpaid leave, the result is the same. I have no paycheck at all during my 12 weeks FMLA, but will receive a regular paycheck once I start back-- of course that means my yearly salary is way less than last year, but that's with 3 months off. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071605 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 12:30:12 +0000 Mrs. J 1071605@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We get about 4 weeks disability at my school, which doesn't kick in until about 10 days after you give birth, so most tack on all the sick/personal days (10 days) to the beginning. That's what I'll do, and then the six weeks should take me to Christmas break. According to the woman in our business office, if the doctor says my start back date is during break, they have to pay me my regular salary for break, and then my plan is to take the two weeks after break off, so I will start second semester with my kids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071599 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 12:22:38 +0000 ninja 1071599@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>There is no mandate that companies pay for maternity leave, or let you accrue time off during it. I had to use PTO for part of my maternity leave also. I'm guessing it has to do with being salary, so it's just working out to net zero, plus not having met the threshold for PTO days. Can't say I'm too familiar with how teachers are paid though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071597 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 12:20:19 +0000 JoyfulKiwi 1071597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>That sounds similar to my district. I had 22 days of annual leave, which I had to use first. Then I took close to 9 weeks of unpaid leave. HR added up the number of days I was away, multiplied by my daily rate and then divided that number by the number of paychecks I had left in the year. They docked my checks a certain amount for the rest of the fiscal year. </p> <p>I was pretty happy with that arrangement and it didn't strike me as illegal? It sucks to have little paychecks but I didn't work those days, so I'm not going to get paid for them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071533 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 10:25:13 +0000 lemondrop 1071533@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Wow, no idea, but that sounds very unfair! </p> <p>I teach, but it's at a for-profit career college. I took 2 sequences (similar to quarters, but 8 weeks each) off, since I couldn't start in the middle, and ended up with 8 weeks at full pay, 4 at half pay (short term disability), and 4 of vacation time. While I was on maternity leave, I still accrued vacation time! I know this time I'll get jack since I'm part time, but I only plan on taking a month of my onsite days off at this point, and still working my online classes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071528 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 10:22:15 +0000 brownie 1071528@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Totally legal, there is no mandate on maternity leave whatsoever. You may be eligible for FMLA so you could take up to 12 weeks (so if they don't allow that it would be illegal). You could also look into FLSA regarding exempt or non-exempt and the repercussions of that. But it probably wouldn't change much. </p> <p>It definitely sucks and I hate the maternity leave situation in the US but there is nothing illegal about it (unless it is FMLA or FLSA). I don't live in Texas so, there may be a state statute (Cali has them but they have all sorts of crazy work laws most states don't have) that would give you more. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-could-this-be-legal#post-1071517 Sat, 07 Sep 2013 10:11:51 +0000 matador84 1071517@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I ran into a friend at the store today I hadn't seen in a while and told her I was expecting another. She teaches in the same district as I do (we are in Texas) and we were talking about how I'll go on my 6 weeks maternity leave in the late winter. She made the comment (to which I definitely agree, but have no basis for and have always wondered about) how it seems completely illegal the way our district does their maternity leave.</p> <p>Here is how it works. I get 10 days PTO. I MUST use my paid time off for my maternity leave. Anything after my 10 days I use, I get docked pay. The docked pay is the daily rate I get paid each day. Also, because for each 187 days you work, you "earn" your 10 days PTO, if you don't work a full 187 days, then you don't really earn 10 days PTO and thus you must pay the school district back for the time you took off. So, not only do you get docked pay, but you must pay them for the days off you take in excess. If I can make it to my due date without taking any days off, I'll only have 4 weeks docked pay.</p> <p>She was saying a teacher she works with in another district only gets docked pay maternity leave the sub pay rate (120/day) as opposed to whatever the daily rate is (in my case over 200/day).</p> <p>Does this seem legal? Does anyone know what I can do about it, if anything?? </p>