As I have stated, maybe multiple times, on this blog, I have been facing semi-uncharted territory when it comes to maternity leave at my office. The last and only person to take maternity leave was over twelve years ago, she is a secretary, and there were only three people in the office back then. As we have considered and discussed my leave, child care, etc. it has been surrounded by "ifs" relating to how long I'll have of. When I first told my boss that I was pregnant, I discussed the possibility of part-time and he said something along the lines of "we will make whatever work."I have wondered, however, if that would still be true now that he has had time to think about it, and the reality of me being gone for weeks is getting closer.
Working in a small office can have its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to leave. When you are pregnant everyone says, "Oh! You are protected by FMLA! They have to give you 12 weeks. They can't fire you for being out sick or at doctor appointments." The books also say similar things without mentioning the caveats. FMLA does NOT apply to everyone. It only applies to businesses with a certain number of employees (something like 20 or 25 and above) and public/government agencies. My firm has fewer than 20 employees and is not a government agency. Therefore, I can be fired for missing too much work, and my firm has no minimum amount of leave that it has to offer. I also do not have short-term disability coverage which, at many companies, results in paid leave. Any payment I receive while out on leave will be from my accrued vacation and sick time, which thankfully I do have remaining.
In approaching this conversation with my boss, I have been very nervous. Our "handbook" says that an employee can take up to eight weeks off. My secretary has no recollection of how long she took, but she was able to bring her babies into work with her back then because it was such a small office, so it was a totally different arrangement. My office is directly behind reception and across the hall from our conference room. I cannot imagine that a screaming baby would go over very well.
Today I had the talk. I asked my boss if he had an idea of how long he was comfortable with me taking, or if he had given it any thought, but he said no, only that he knew the handbook says eight weeks. I pointed out that if we were under FMLA, I would be entitled to twelve, and that I was hoping for that. He pondered it, but ultimately said, "okay, that works." I then brought up part-time. Ideally, I was hoping for eight weeks of part-time, coming in full days three days a week, staying home two. I could tell he wasn't thrilled about the part-time prospect, and when I mentioned three days a week, he instead proposed half days so that I would be in here each day in case an emergency came up. I told him childcare could be difficult on that schedule, as our daycare allows for drop-in days, but you have to pay for a full day, so really we'd be paying for full-time childcare when the baby would only be there part-time and I would only be bringing in half of my usual income. Doesn't quite equate. He said we can discuss if we aren't able to figure out childcare. I am hoping that we can find a family that does childcare from their home and would be okay with part-time, or a college student that has afternoon/evening class and is looking for a part-time job in the mornings. The real issue will be making sure we have coverage if I get stuck at work past my set "clock-out" time. At least with an in-home daycare, they could probably keep him and I can just pay for the extra time, or a nanny could bring the baby to my office if she needed to be somewhere. We settled on six weeks of part-time, so hopefully we can find childcare for those six weeks!
I am relieved to now know how much time I will have and am grateful that my boss is so understanding and was willing to discuss it with me and consider my opinion. He could have easily told me that the policy is eight weeks, end of story. I am looking forward to having twelve weeks with my little guy and six weeks to transition into being a working mom.
No comments:
Post a Comment