7 Strategies for a Successful Maternity Leave

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Depends where you live. In ontario, unless your employer tops you up, it's a maximum of $430 or so a week minus taxes. Not a lot for the breadwinner...

Me2 9:40PM March 09, 2010

As a young woman about to enter the work force, I am very concerned about maternity leave. I don't have any children yet but would like to have some one day. As it stands, many of the women I have talked with that try and balance both work life and family life (the "second shift") are left emotionally and physically drained.
There needs to be more done with maternity leave. I don't agree with the authors of "Happy at Work". Of course you are a changed person after you help bring a new human being. You are not the same person you used to be and why should we have to refrain from talking about something as important as our children instead of the usual superficial water cooler talk?
No, I think what there needs to be is reform for women. More women and men need to ask for more time off for their families. What's the purpose of working anyway? Isn't it to support our families because we love and care about them? Dont' we go to work and go to college to try and better society?
As for the comment, "This system blows my mind", if your mother didn't get "knocked up" then you wouldn't be here in the first place.

Erica of OK 3:55PM November 23, 2009

The agency I work for actually offers a very nice package. When I was pregnant with my child and dr. put me on bed rest for a couple of months, I was on disability the whole time (80 or 88 days).
The options are:
Instead of cashing the disability check, I would sign it and turn it in to the agency; I get paid me my regular monthly salary (disability portion is tax free). No loss of benefits, vacation or sick time accrurals. The disability is 66% of the monthly salary. sick time kicks in to make up the 34%. Paid Family Leave is 40-50% of salary--and sick/vacation time will make up the rest.
or keep disability check and lose the benefits all together.
Smart moms would turn the check in. ;0)

Me of CA of CA 12:41AM November 11, 2009

Even those of us with paid leave, it isn't as helpful as it could be. I only receive 50% of my pay and only for 6-8 weeks (depending on vag. birth or c-sect.) not the full 12 weeks that I could have off. As the "bread winner" of my family 50% still isn't enough to cover the bills. My husband and I often joke about moving to Canada to take advantage of thier 1 year off paid leave policy. But alas, it is only a dream...

Allyson of AZ 8:55PM November 10, 2009

Yes, there is the option of Short Term Disibility, but if your company is like mine, it is only offered when you first start with the company (about 90 days in when you are first eligible for benefits), and if you do not sign up for it then, you are out of luck. We can't even get it at open enrollment each year. I have called our benefits department at open enrollment for the past 2 years asking for it and have been told the same thing each time... Since I didn't sign up for it when I started working for this company 4 years ago, I can't get it.

Taylor of TX 11:22AM November 10, 2009

At my company, they do the 3 months unpaid leave. My husband got laid off during that time. I ended up going back to work just a week after my son was born. I had to later go on antidepressants and anxiety meds. because of leaving my son too early. I eneded up getting ppd which my doctor said was related to going back to work too early, and seperation anxiety as well. I really think the United States should work on a better maternity leave program. If I could have avoided a lot of stress and anxiety if my company would have had to offer paid leave.

alexis of MN 9:30AM November 10, 2009

I definitely agree that the USA has one of the wordt protections for expectant moms. Since the USA is so advanced in most of things in the world, the Department of Resources or anything that takes care of a woman should be more sensitive and give fairly more days and more payment to the expectant moms since they are having babies which is not cheap at all. I hope one day a new law or something will give the woman a chance to spend more time home with their babies, feeding them and get paid fairly.

Jennifer of MN 9:56AM November 08, 2009

Something potentially very important that this article leaves out is that unpaid leave doesn't have to be totally financially devastating. It is possible to purchase private short-term disability insurance before becoming pregnant, which will replace at least part of one's lost wages while on an unpaid maternity leave. Typically these have to be in force for at least ten months prior to giving birth, and they generally provide six weeks of benefits for a vaginal birth and eight weeks for Caesarean birth. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing, and since here in America we have some of the worst protections for expectant parents of any industrialized nation on earth, every little bit counts.

Alyssa Mandel of FL 8:28AM September 19, 2009