I have a very "newbie" question for all you parents out there. My husband and I are thinking of beginning our TTC journey this coming summer and I work for a small company with 19 or so employees. I do not know if they are covered under FMLA, andif I should be looking into short term disability coverage. Can anyone help a lady out that needs a simple understanding of all this? Thanks in advance!
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I think your company is small enough to be exempt from FMLA. Since FMLA only guarantees your job will be held for 12 weeks and does NOT guarantee any pay during that time, even if you are entitled to FMLA you should get short term disability insurance NOW (before you get pregnant) so that 6 weeks of leave will at least be partially paid. Your company may have its own maternal leave policy, do you have an HR manual or employee handbook or something you could check?
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I don't believe your company is covered by FMLA (I think there needs to be 50 employees to be covered). Does your company have an HR? You may want to discuss it with them.
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Your company is not under FMLA. STD differs by state so I would google what your state rules are.
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it's hard because asking about your policies basically tells them you're thinking about it!
my company was <50 when I had LO but they already had STD and were willing to let me take a leave. but we have good benefits in general. -
You need to work for a company that has 50+ employees for at least a year to qualify for FMLA. FMLA is just unpaid, job protected leave.
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@bhbee- thats exactly it, i'm relatively new and i don't want to be "that girl". My HR woman is the gossip queen of the office, so I'm really stuck in a tight spot, and no one else has kids...so I can't even ask them! I'm thinking I'll do some research and look into different policies. Thank you!
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As others have said, unless your office of 19 is a sattelite office of a larger corporation (or some similiar set-up), you're not covered by FMLA. That doesn't mean that your company doesn't have it's own leave policies though; that could grant you protected leave of whatever amount the company wants to grant.
Some states (CA, NY, NJ, RI, HI and a few others) also have state-run STD and paid-family-leave programs, which (if you/your employer is required to pay into them) would provide you some portion of paid family leave coverage. Many of those same states, as well as other states, have family leave job protection plans that do not provide income supplementation, but do provide protected job leave and have less stringent requirements than FMLA (i.e., they apply to smaller employers, different covered family relationships, etc.).
Even though you don't want to be "that girl" (which I get!) if you are new, you could always just use the excuse that you want to see ALL of your company's policies as a new employee - - which is a smart idea, anyway. You should always be aware of what your rights and responsibilities are as an employee.
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I think to make an informed decision you need to talk to HR. You don't want to base decisions on facts that may or may not be true.
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@sunset840: We don't qualify for FMLA but my company handbook states that they will still provide all the benefits of it, so I was guaranteed 12 weeks of unpaid leave. I didn't have short term disability which was so stupid on my part.
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Contact your local Department of Labor Women's Bureau office (I think Boston would be closest to you) and ask what you are entitled to - they can give you all of the information you need on Federal and NH policies. Federal FMLA provides for the minimum requirements for all States (12 weeks, 50+employees, etc.), but some States offer better FMLA coverage than the Feds do.
That will at least get you info on what you are guaranteed if your company offers nothing. And buy you some time with HR. I agree - in a small company, you don't really want to ask until you are ready to announce. Just assume you'll get nothing more than the Women's Bureau can guarantee, and plan accordingly. That way anything that your company provides will be a nice bonus.
Once you know what is guaranteed, I would start planning your vacations, etc. to save as much of your sick and annual leave as possible. Finally, I would start setting aside a certain amount of money every pay period into a new savings account just for this purpose. It can be a small amount - whatever you can afford. Then you can use this in the event that you have to take LWOP. I started doing this when I started TTC. It took a long time, so I had a lot of cash saved to take a *long* mat leave - it was one of the best decisions I made when we started TTC. So many people prep for TTC by taking care of their body, but they forget to take care of their finances, too.
One last thing (I lied when I said "finally" above): If it turns out that you do not qualify for any type of Federal or State FMLA, AND your company doesn't offer any sort of mat leave, make sure you negotiate a maternity leave agreement with your boss as soon as you are ready to announce (your boss should be the first person at work you tell). Go into the meeting with a plan for coverage over your leave and a proposal for what type of leave you would like. Then get any agreement you make IN WRITING.
One more (I know, I know...): If you don't have FMLA-mandated job protection, I recommend telling your office on the sooner side (like as soon as you have your NT results). Pregnancy discrimination is a real thing, sadly. I don't say any of this to worry you, only to arm you with best tools so that you can get the best arrangement possible.
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I did some research as informed by you guys! Thanks so much!
I found some answers but now to get the short term disability coverage I think I would need I would still have to go through my HR to do a voluntary contribution through my company with an outside insurance. My company would not be responsible monetarily. I feel that this still is a huge red arrow pointing to me saying they might try having a child soon..... is there something I'm missing? I intend to do the prepping financially as @Septca mentioned, but this aspect of planning seems odd to me. ... Any more help for this newbie is still greatly appreciated!
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@sunset840: Appyling for STD insurance is a normal thing to do. I won't worry too much about that - you can just say that you and your husband recently met with a financial planner and he/she recommended it in case something were to happen to you. Most people have STD, so it really shouldn't be a big deal.
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Signing up for STD (or LTD) shouldn’t necessarily be a “red flag” that you’re TTC. Lots of people sign-up for STD and LTD if their employers don’t offer it as part of the benefits package – it’s income protection in case something happens and you can’t work, which happens more often than we like to think (!); so for many people it’s just part of their total financial outlook to buy insurance products that protect themselves.
If you are nervous that you might get red-flagged by HR, you could always approach them with interest in seeing all of the income-protection products you can sign-up for through your employer.
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thanks for calming the nerves ladies- I feel a bit better now thank you! It just so happens a financial planner is who pushed us to start serious;y thinking about all of this!
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