Maternity Laws - What Laws?

I’m almost 16 weeks now and I haven’t told my work yet. I’ve been reading up on the maternity laws…or should I say, lack thereof?

I might have mentioned this before, but I’m originally from Canada. Over there, working women get 1 year off, with 60-75% of their pay. Some women I know, extended that to 18 months, because they felt it was too soon to leave their babies at a daycare.

Now, I’m reading the US laws and the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) says that women are entitled to take a leave of maximum 12 weeks and be guaranteed to have their job back IF they have been working at the same company for at least 12 months.  That’s right! I accepted this new job before I was pregnant. When I started, I was already a few weeks pregnant. Now, because I was conscious of making a positive move in my career, I’m penalized. Because I would have been here for only 7 months by the time I take a leave, I am not entitled to ANYTHING. No guarantee of having my job back, no 12 weeks leave…nothing.

My company is a little generous I suppose. They offer 50% of your salary for your first 4 weeks off if you’ve been at the company for 1-3 years. If you’ve been here for 6+ years, you get 50% of your salary for the full 12 weeks. I don’t think I’ll be able to wait 6 years before having a second child.

I was also told by the HR that the sick days that I would have accumulated by then (about 15 sick days) can only be used if I’m eligible for FMLA. Ie, if I had been in the company for a year, they would have paid 100% of my wages for those 15 days. Bummer. I was also told I can take my vacation days…but since my vacation days don’t roll over, by February, I’ll only have 2 vacation days.

Now, what should I do? I plan on asking my company to treat me as if I had been here for 1 year – that is, give me 12 weeks of leave and pay 50% of the first 4 weeks. I don’t know what they’ll say to that. If that doesn’t work, I can take an unpaid leave. Or, I can take a medical leave (which will be 6 weeks if I have a vaginal birth, 8 weeks for C-section), come back to work, wait until I completed 1  year and take my FMLA leave then.

I feel so frustrated about these laws. I know a lot of people say that your company nor the government should be responsible for your reproductive needs but this is how I feel. I’m adding a new US citizen to this country. He/she will be a productive part of society. If all women decided to stop having kids, what would be the future of this nation? Women are needed, babies are needed! Why not help women a little? I mean, we already have to deal with discrimination (some employers don’t hire women who they think might get pregnant). I also feel like people at work will treat me differently as soon as they find out I’m pregnant. They’ll probably see my leave as a huge hassle. I’m nervous to tell them because I’ve heard comments like “oh, this client is ALWAYS pregnant”. “this client is VERY pregnant”.

A child’s first year of life is so important. I don’t want to put that in the hands of daycare workers. On top of all that, my husband is now working on starting his own venture, which means I’m the only breadwinner…added stress!