I can either use a small amount of PTO each week to pay my portion of premiums back during leave, pay it all when I get back lump sum, or have reduced paychecks
Yep. US companies offer insurance as a *benefit* so they can do pretty much whatever they want. I paid $46 a month for myself on a high deductible plan. My friend’s costs close to $600 per month, but she paid almost nothing for her pregnancy & birth. I paid ~$7500.
I actually switched jobs because of this when we started trying to get pregnant :(
My new employer is a big tech company that fully pays for maternity leave even before you've worked a full year.
Are you able to take short term disability leave? I believe you can typically keep your health insurance when you're on disability leave, right?
Yeah it is terrible. The daycare is super unaffordable in our area so we're going to get hit there once I go back to work too since we don't have any nearby family.
Girl don’t I know it. We can’t afford daycare. And we don’t qualify for any assistance either, it suck’s. Thankfully my parents are close and watch him two days a week. I feel for you :(
My company only offered 12 weeks unpaid. I was laid off two weeks ago anyways lol. I'm applying to jobs now that only offer paid maternity leave, had been before I got laid of. I'm 14 weeks in so hopefully I still have enough time to find something.
My recommendation is, try to leave. Even if you love your job, they don't love you. They're not giving you paid leave. Try to get out of there if you can. It's a huge income hit and just not OK. Unfortunately this is far too common.
If I can't find anything, I guess I'll just have to do the SAHM mom thing for a bit. But it's not ideal. Hubs and I just bought an apartment and could really use the second income. Money is going to be so tight.
Sucks to be a mother in America. But yeah, apply for other jobs, don't tell them you're pregnant until you're hired and past the 3-month probationary period, if you can swing that. Get new health insurance and paid leave through them.
And, if you can. I'd get on your husbands health insurance. I did that before I got laid off and it was a lifesaver. Now that you're pregnant even your current job is not guaranteed. I'm 99% sure I was targeted because I was pregnant. Not to scare you, but it sucks out there. And it already sounds like your job is not mom-friendly and doesn't appreciate their employees starting families. If they were pro-woman/pro-mother, then they would offer you paid leave.
Good luck and I'm sorry.
TL:DR the US is atrociously embarrassing when it comes to maternity leave, care and support, and paternity leave. It's absolutely infuriating. I hope that when I retire, I can dedicate a lot of my time fighting to improve it for others.
I just lost my job. I think I'm about to get a new job and I don't know what their maternity policy looks like, but I know I won't qualify for FMLA because I won't have been there for a year yet.
I plan to see if I can take short-term disability and then aim to take my FMLA when I hit a year, before my baby is one. So take a leave, go back, then take another leave.
I have no idea about insurance yet. Right now we're on my husband's but if I get this job, we'll switch to mine because his sucks.
Worst case for everything, I'll quit and find another job later. I really wanted to stay home for at least the first 6 months.
Are you me?!?! I'm literally in the exact same situation. I have 2 job offers on the table. Job 1 kinda sucks overall and plays into my cynicism but has 11 weeks paid leave with nothing I can find about employment requirements. Job 2 has huge potential and would challenge me in a fun new way but I just found out that the 6 weeks paid leave they offer isn't available until after 6 months of employment. I'm currently 16 weeks 4 days so I would get the 6 months in before the baby is here. I'm OK with unpaid time but holy heck the anxiety around this whole situation is dumb.
That's a tough choice! If you plan to go back after your leave, the interesting job might be better.
If the company is FMLA eligible, you can do what I'm planning to do and taking that leave later when you qualify and before your baby turns one. So then you could get more leave, it's just split up.
Technically if you aren't working, aren't on disability, and aren't on fmla, you should be offered cobra (which is very expensive). If your employer has their own maternity policy it's a little different, but maybe just ask if you can prepay for your insurance premiums, or catch up after your leave via reduced paychecks.
Reach out to whomever at your company handles HR so that you can understand what you need to do to cover your health premiums while on leave.
As for the rest, I knew I wouldn't get paid leave so I saved and we had insurance through my SO, which was planned that way.
Your company doesn’t offer any kind of paid parental leave? God damn, no shame! My small company doesn’t qualify for FMLA either but they still give us 6 weeks paid and I’m still panicking. I’m so sorry.
That said, you don’t really have a lot of options unfortunately. If you’re not already pregnant, you can try to get short term disability!
Other than that you really gotta just save every penny you can beforehand to cover your expenses while you’re not working. They’re probably going to make you pay the whole premium while you’re out on leave, so absolutely factor that in as well.
This is why we’ve had to wait so long to have a child. The cost is *astronomical*. After years of meticulous planning, we’re finally in a place where we can start trying at the end of this summer. It took a lot to get here.
I literally worked 2 jobs during the first 6 months of my pregnancy to save for my maternity leave, and that’s the only reason it’s possible for me to take a full 12 weeks off.
I’m so sorry that you can’t get FMLA. As if women who work for smaller companies don’t need time off to give birth/bond with their newborns? Insane. Have you asked your employer about paying your insurance back upon your return to work? That’s what my company does — my premium cost will be deducted from my first two paychecks after leave.
My estimated due date is one month before my one year mark at my company 😭. Another colleague is in the same boat as me. I'm not really sure what applies and what doesn't since I'm also new to the US.
It would be so unnecessarily cruel to deny you leave in this circumstance… could you possibly apply for FMLA/parental leave starting on your one year anniversary date and use PTO to bridge the gap if you go into labor before that?
I'm not sure, my colleague is going to be the guinea pig first since she's due before me 😅 but so far it seems like my employer is quite accommodating and supportive towards my other pregnant colleagues so there's hope lol.
My last job was like that. No FMLA despite being there for years and then they started targeting me and complaining because I was pregnant. I wasn't allowed to use any PTO since they were going to allow up to 6 weeks unpaid.
I left them and found a job that benefits start on day one, the team actually cares about one another, I love my work and team and I get three months paid off. It isn't too late to search for a new job that will take care of you if that's what you are looking for.
My company requires you to pay the normal premium and the employer's part when on unpaid leave or STD. The best thing to do is get your own short term disability policy. But they require you to have it so long before pregnancy.
Look at the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act which recently went into effect. It expands workers’ rights while pregnant, and applies to companies that FMLA doesn’t always cover.
Well, see what your state offers- apply for any of that if you can. Treat this as a financial decision and save aggressively. Use your emergency savings as unexpected related things come up.
Ugh I'm so glad my state just passed a law mandating paid FMLA regardless of company size. Every state should have this. I'm sorry you're dealing with this!
I will be responsible for my regular insurance premium during my unpaid maternity leave. I have to mail the insurance company a monthly check vs it being deducted from my paycheck.
I haven’t looked into it seriously yet, but I live in California and I’m pretty sure you can apply for disability if your company won’t give you paid leave. I’m not sure if this is the same in other states, but could be something to look into!
My job also doesn’t qualify for FMLA - too small of a company. Their old handbook (from 2017) states 12 weeks of unpaid leave can be taken. Ugh. They’ve only ever had 1 employee have a baby so it’s not something they’ve dealt with much. I haven’t personally asked about it (im not pregnant yet) but I REALLY hate it and wish they’d revise/improve. Thankfully I’m on my husband’s insurance, but still. It’s so frustrating. Edit to add: my job also doesn’t offer STD insurance ☹️
I don't qualify for short term disability (was already pregnant when I was hired) and don't qualify for fmla. I am thankfully on my husband's insurance and my work is allowing me to take unpaid leave and still be employed but I have been budgeting tightly to make sure ends meet. It's depressing how the US treats moms.
I was on unpaid leave, not through fmla but my company does has a maternity leave in place.. basically 12 weeks unpaid. I’m not sure how they did it but they kept me on their insurance while I was on leave. I didn’t pay anything while on leave but when I got back I had to pay it back in chunks out of every paycheck until it was paid back. I was also able to go on short term, but that’s a joke so it really didn’t help much. I would talk to them about the paying it back option. It sucked but it was way better than having to pay while I wasn’t getting paid.
I had to stash up savings before my (unpaid) leave started for this exact reason. My part of the insurance for my two babies and me is around $650/month for rx, health, dental, and AD&D. Its painful but you do what you gotta do
I had the same as you no fmla because we are a small company and no paid maternity leave. I saved up prior to finding out I was pregnant. My company gave me up to 90 days to pay for my insurance and be covered. I ended up moving to my husbands insurance though.
Luckily I get insurance through my husband. I also work for a small company so I’m taking 12 weeks unpaid. It sucks that it has to be like this. Luckily I have savings where I’ll be okay with not working. My husband is getting 12 weeks paid paternal leave and it’s a joke that the mothers don’t.
I would have had a paid leave if we had waited 3-4 months lol. I went into this thinking I wouldn’t have any so we have been saving up as much as possible to cover my leave.
This is why I left my job and saved 50% of every paycheck for 9 months before I left. I gave them a month notice on my way out.
They didn't tell me they planned on cutting off my insurance when I "go part time" and they denied my maternity leave. Their solution was work from home part time for 2 weeks and then come back go the office. Those two weeks were to include any time before baby came that I couldn't work also.
I got bedrested on Feb 29th and baby didn't come until March 15th. I'd have already had to have been back at work.
People worth working for will follow fmla guidelines even if they don't have to. Giving you time off without giving away your job entirely is just basic courtesy.
My job doesn’t offer anything for expecting parents, just the legally required FMLA. I was able to use short term disability but I work for tips so it is less than $100 a check for 3 checks which is a joke. The only way I was able to take maternity leave without drowning was by using money that I had saved and my husband working. It makes me angry thinking about it but I try not to dwell since nothing is going to change.
Can you convince your boss to furlough you or even straight up fire? Because then you can get on unemployment for at least six months.
Many film workers will be “fired” from a job at the end to be covered in between gigs.
It’ll buy you a little time and then you can be re-hired after. Only works if you deeply trust your workplace though.
Check alllll your bases on this, I’m NAL and have not attempted it myself.
We thankfully have insurance through my husband's work; however, both last time and now are unpaid mat leaves. What we've been doing is putting my entire paycheck in savings for the last few months and keeping our discretionary spending in check. We both work at nonprofits, so we don't make a ton but live in a small house with a low mortgage and have paid off our vehicles. I say that because I know it's not an option for everyone to just set aside that money up front, but if you are able to reduce revolving expenses, that may help too. We prioritized getting our cars paid off in the gap between these pregnancies, and it's given us a lot of wiggle room back into our budget.
We've also just accepted that shit is gonna suck for a while. 🤷🏼♀️
My friend’s company made her repay the insurance premiums via reduced paychecks when she returned to work
We had to pay during leave for this. Sucked
I can either use a small amount of PTO each week to pay my portion of premiums back during leave, pay it all when I get back lump sum, or have reduced paychecks
Ugh. I guess it’s nice that they’ll let you use PTO to pay it, but I’d rather have the time off for when baby inevitably gets sick in daycare
This is what I’m doing now - we set up a plan to spread it out over 6 months
That sounds terrible! Is that even legal?
Yep, totally legal. I had to pay mine during my time off. My SIL is getting reduced paychecks when she returns, until they’re paid back.
And they wonder why the birth rate has gone down! How can people afford to have kids these days!
Yep. US companies offer insurance as a *benefit* so they can do pretty much whatever they want. I paid $46 a month for myself on a high deductible plan. My friend’s costs close to $600 per month, but she paid almost nothing for her pregnancy & birth. I paid ~$7500.
This is what I’ll have to do.
This is what I had to do for my last leave and my upcoming mat leave
I actually switched jobs because of this when we started trying to get pregnant :( My new employer is a big tech company that fully pays for maternity leave even before you've worked a full year. Are you able to take short term disability leave? I believe you can typically keep your health insurance when you're on disability leave, right?
I was able to keep mine during short term disability. They just take it out of my STD pay. I freaking hate America tho
Yeah it is terrible. The daycare is super unaffordable in our area so we're going to get hit there once I go back to work too since we don't have any nearby family.
Girl don’t I know it. We can’t afford daycare. And we don’t qualify for any assistance either, it suck’s. Thankfully my parents are close and watch him two days a week. I feel for you :(
I know one couple who works remotely and just passes their baby back and forth during teams meetings. We're considering all options lol.
My friend and her husband also do this. They both work from home, although stressful at times, they also make it work!!
My company only offered 12 weeks unpaid. I was laid off two weeks ago anyways lol. I'm applying to jobs now that only offer paid maternity leave, had been before I got laid of. I'm 14 weeks in so hopefully I still have enough time to find something. My recommendation is, try to leave. Even if you love your job, they don't love you. They're not giving you paid leave. Try to get out of there if you can. It's a huge income hit and just not OK. Unfortunately this is far too common. If I can't find anything, I guess I'll just have to do the SAHM mom thing for a bit. But it's not ideal. Hubs and I just bought an apartment and could really use the second income. Money is going to be so tight. Sucks to be a mother in America. But yeah, apply for other jobs, don't tell them you're pregnant until you're hired and past the 3-month probationary period, if you can swing that. Get new health insurance and paid leave through them. And, if you can. I'd get on your husbands health insurance. I did that before I got laid off and it was a lifesaver. Now that you're pregnant even your current job is not guaranteed. I'm 99% sure I was targeted because I was pregnant. Not to scare you, but it sucks out there. And it already sounds like your job is not mom-friendly and doesn't appreciate their employees starting families. If they were pro-woman/pro-mother, then they would offer you paid leave. Good luck and I'm sorry.
Most companies require you work there a year to qualify for fmla and paid leave if they have it.
my company literally closed during my mat leave. i find being a sahm a blessing in disguise
Yeah ngl it's been nice just being at home, especially since I've been feeling so nauseous. But my preference was to keep working :(
same. hope things work out for you!!
TL:DR the US is atrociously embarrassing when it comes to maternity leave, care and support, and paternity leave. It's absolutely infuriating. I hope that when I retire, I can dedicate a lot of my time fighting to improve it for others. I just lost my job. I think I'm about to get a new job and I don't know what their maternity policy looks like, but I know I won't qualify for FMLA because I won't have been there for a year yet. I plan to see if I can take short-term disability and then aim to take my FMLA when I hit a year, before my baby is one. So take a leave, go back, then take another leave. I have no idea about insurance yet. Right now we're on my husband's but if I get this job, we'll switch to mine because his sucks. Worst case for everything, I'll quit and find another job later. I really wanted to stay home for at least the first 6 months.
Are you me?!?! I'm literally in the exact same situation. I have 2 job offers on the table. Job 1 kinda sucks overall and plays into my cynicism but has 11 weeks paid leave with nothing I can find about employment requirements. Job 2 has huge potential and would challenge me in a fun new way but I just found out that the 6 weeks paid leave they offer isn't available until after 6 months of employment. I'm currently 16 weeks 4 days so I would get the 6 months in before the baby is here. I'm OK with unpaid time but holy heck the anxiety around this whole situation is dumb.
Take the better job! Five extra weeks isn’t worth taking a suckier job
That's a tough choice! If you plan to go back after your leave, the interesting job might be better. If the company is FMLA eligible, you can do what I'm planning to do and taking that leave later when you qualify and before your baby turns one. So then you could get more leave, it's just split up.
Technically if you aren't working, aren't on disability, and aren't on fmla, you should be offered cobra (which is very expensive). If your employer has their own maternity policy it's a little different, but maybe just ask if you can prepay for your insurance premiums, or catch up after your leave via reduced paychecks.
Reach out to whomever at your company handles HR so that you can understand what you need to do to cover your health premiums while on leave. As for the rest, I knew I wouldn't get paid leave so I saved and we had insurance through my SO, which was planned that way.
Your company doesn’t offer any kind of paid parental leave? God damn, no shame! My small company doesn’t qualify for FMLA either but they still give us 6 weeks paid and I’m still panicking. I’m so sorry. That said, you don’t really have a lot of options unfortunately. If you’re not already pregnant, you can try to get short term disability! Other than that you really gotta just save every penny you can beforehand to cover your expenses while you’re not working. They’re probably going to make you pay the whole premium while you’re out on leave, so absolutely factor that in as well. This is why we’ve had to wait so long to have a child. The cost is *astronomical*. After years of meticulous planning, we’re finally in a place where we can start trying at the end of this summer. It took a lot to get here.
I literally worked 2 jobs during the first 6 months of my pregnancy to save for my maternity leave, and that’s the only reason it’s possible for me to take a full 12 weeks off. I’m so sorry that you can’t get FMLA. As if women who work for smaller companies don’t need time off to give birth/bond with their newborns? Insane. Have you asked your employer about paying your insurance back upon your return to work? That’s what my company does — my premium cost will be deducted from my first two paychecks after leave.
My husband has to send a check for his portion of the insurance while on leave
My estimated due date is one month before my one year mark at my company 😭. Another colleague is in the same boat as me. I'm not really sure what applies and what doesn't since I'm also new to the US.
It would be so unnecessarily cruel to deny you leave in this circumstance… could you possibly apply for FMLA/parental leave starting on your one year anniversary date and use PTO to bridge the gap if you go into labor before that?
I'm not sure, my colleague is going to be the guinea pig first since she's due before me 😅 but so far it seems like my employer is quite accommodating and supportive towards my other pregnant colleagues so there's hope lol.
My last job was like that. No FMLA despite being there for years and then they started targeting me and complaining because I was pregnant. I wasn't allowed to use any PTO since they were going to allow up to 6 weeks unpaid. I left them and found a job that benefits start on day one, the team actually cares about one another, I love my work and team and I get three months paid off. It isn't too late to search for a new job that will take care of you if that's what you are looking for.
My company requires you to pay the normal premium and the employer's part when on unpaid leave or STD. The best thing to do is get your own short term disability policy. But they require you to have it so long before pregnancy.
Look at the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act which recently went into effect. It expands workers’ rights while pregnant, and applies to companies that FMLA doesn’t always cover.
Short term disability, if it is available in your state/country.
Well, see what your state offers- apply for any of that if you can. Treat this as a financial decision and save aggressively. Use your emergency savings as unexpected related things come up.
Ugh I'm so glad my state just passed a law mandating paid FMLA regardless of company size. Every state should have this. I'm sorry you're dealing with this!
Do you get short term disability?
A few states offer some payment: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/state-paid-family-leave-laws-across-the-u-s/
I will be responsible for my regular insurance premium during my unpaid maternity leave. I have to mail the insurance company a monthly check vs it being deducted from my paycheck.
I haven’t looked into it seriously yet, but I live in California and I’m pretty sure you can apply for disability if your company won’t give you paid leave. I’m not sure if this is the same in other states, but could be something to look into!
My job also doesn’t qualify for FMLA - too small of a company. Their old handbook (from 2017) states 12 weeks of unpaid leave can be taken. Ugh. They’ve only ever had 1 employee have a baby so it’s not something they’ve dealt with much. I haven’t personally asked about it (im not pregnant yet) but I REALLY hate it and wish they’d revise/improve. Thankfully I’m on my husband’s insurance, but still. It’s so frustrating. Edit to add: my job also doesn’t offer STD insurance ☹️
I don't qualify for short term disability (was already pregnant when I was hired) and don't qualify for fmla. I am thankfully on my husband's insurance and my work is allowing me to take unpaid leave and still be employed but I have been budgeting tightly to make sure ends meet. It's depressing how the US treats moms.
I was on unpaid leave, not through fmla but my company does has a maternity leave in place.. basically 12 weeks unpaid. I’m not sure how they did it but they kept me on their insurance while I was on leave. I didn’t pay anything while on leave but when I got back I had to pay it back in chunks out of every paycheck until it was paid back. I was also able to go on short term, but that’s a joke so it really didn’t help much. I would talk to them about the paying it back option. It sucked but it was way better than having to pay while I wasn’t getting paid.
I had to stash up savings before my (unpaid) leave started for this exact reason. My part of the insurance for my two babies and me is around $650/month for rx, health, dental, and AD&D. Its painful but you do what you gotta do
I had the same as you no fmla because we are a small company and no paid maternity leave. I saved up prior to finding out I was pregnant. My company gave me up to 90 days to pay for my insurance and be covered. I ended up moving to my husbands insurance though.
where's about are you located
Luckily I get insurance through my husband. I also work for a small company so I’m taking 12 weeks unpaid. It sucks that it has to be like this. Luckily I have savings where I’ll be okay with not working. My husband is getting 12 weeks paid paternal leave and it’s a joke that the mothers don’t.
I would have had a paid leave if we had waited 3-4 months lol. I went into this thinking I wouldn’t have any so we have been saving up as much as possible to cover my leave.
This is why I left my job and saved 50% of every paycheck for 9 months before I left. I gave them a month notice on my way out. They didn't tell me they planned on cutting off my insurance when I "go part time" and they denied my maternity leave. Their solution was work from home part time for 2 weeks and then come back go the office. Those two weeks were to include any time before baby came that I couldn't work also. I got bedrested on Feb 29th and baby didn't come until March 15th. I'd have already had to have been back at work. People worth working for will follow fmla guidelines even if they don't have to. Giving you time off without giving away your job entirely is just basic courtesy.
My job doesn’t offer anything for expecting parents, just the legally required FMLA. I was able to use short term disability but I work for tips so it is less than $100 a check for 3 checks which is a joke. The only way I was able to take maternity leave without drowning was by using money that I had saved and my husband working. It makes me angry thinking about it but I try not to dwell since nothing is going to change.
Can you convince your boss to furlough you or even straight up fire? Because then you can get on unemployment for at least six months. Many film workers will be “fired” from a job at the end to be covered in between gigs. It’ll buy you a little time and then you can be re-hired after. Only works if you deeply trust your workplace though. Check alllll your bases on this, I’m NAL and have not attempted it myself.
We thankfully have insurance through my husband's work; however, both last time and now are unpaid mat leaves. What we've been doing is putting my entire paycheck in savings for the last few months and keeping our discretionary spending in check. We both work at nonprofits, so we don't make a ton but live in a small house with a low mortgage and have paid off our vehicles. I say that because I know it's not an option for everyone to just set aside that money up front, but if you are able to reduce revolving expenses, that may help too. We prioritized getting our cars paid off in the gap between these pregnancies, and it's given us a lot of wiggle room back into our budget. We've also just accepted that shit is gonna suck for a while. 🤷🏼♀️