OMG I hate my company!- UPDATE: They changed the policy back!

I'm here at work crying! Just found out they changed the maternity leave policy this month and now you have to use all your accrued vacation, sick and personal days BEFORE you can get any STD payments. Which means 6 weeks is all I will get paid because I'll have no vacation or sick to use after the STD payments end. I'm freaking out now, I was counting on those additional 6 weeks of pay- that's alot of money that I'm now not getting and I'm so scared this means I'll have to go back to work alot sooner than 12 weeks.

The only good thing about this is that I don't have to save all my days now- I'll take off a week for xmas and will probably take the week before my due date off, since it doesn't matter. In the end, the most I'll get paid is 6 for vaginal 8 for c-section. Ahhhhhh!

UPDATE:

So I went to HR and complained how ridiculous this new policy is and how it's puts a huge financial burden on the employees going on maternity leave. I also gave them the printout from FMLA that states you can't overlap STD and paid leave- huge shoutout to MrsS2005 for sending me that link!
Well they came back to me today and told me they are changing the policy back! They said it was never their intention to hurt employees financially and that the change was made too quickly without thinking it through- damn right it was. She said it was good I spoke up because a few others also did and it pushed them to change it. How awesome! What a relief- now I'll have around 11 weeks paid (using STD and all my vacation and sick).

Message edited 11/13/2009 3:39:49 PM.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

I hear ya! Thats all Im getting too. Unless I can convince them to give me my 2 weeks vacation and 1 week sick up front the second week of the new year. Doubtful!
Sucks!!!!

Re: OMG I hate my company!

wait.....

can't you just use your sick/personal/vacation days your first few weeks of leave then. THEN once all those are up, they start your STD???

My policy is....6 weeks at 60% pay (8 weeks at 60% for c) you can only used your accrued time (not what isn't fully accrued yet) either before STD starts or after it ends. So you should be able to still use your time as part of your 12 weeks, unless I've read it wrong

Re: OMG I hate my company!

You're not alone!

I'll only be taking 6 weeks with our little guy and only 4 of those will be paid because those are ALL of my accrued sick days!

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Posted by maybeamommy



You're not alone!

I'll only be taking 6 weeks with our little guy and only 4 of those will be paid because those are ALL of my accrued sick days!

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Oh hunny I'm so sorry. hugs for you.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

have you tried to discuss this with your hr department? or your manager? maybe they will alow you to be grandfathered because you are already prgnant? its worth a try?

Re: OMG I hate my company!

im confused also, i get zero paid leave but as by NYS law, my company must hold my job for 12 weeks (they would hold it longer should i choose to take longer) so... my plan was to

take my 4 weeks of paid vacation/sick and then take the 12 weeks unpaid .. do the 4 weeks count as part of the NYS 12?

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Posted by mrskparetta

im confused also, i get zero paid leave but as by NYS law, my company must hold my job for 12 weeks (they would hold it longer should i choose to take longer) so... my plan was to

take my 4 weeks of paid vacation/sick and then take the 12 weeks unpaid .. do the 4 weeks count as part of the NYS 12?

Re: OMG I hate my company!

I think I'd ask for clarification.

STD or short term disability is usually only paid after a waiting period has passed so who is going to pay you then?

If you broke your legs you'd be out for 7days then you'd be using your sick days first, then your vacation and if you were still out, you'd be on STD, right and they pay. So how would that differ from birth?

get clarification before you spend your vacation.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Posted by Xelindrya

I think I'd ask for clarification.

STD or short term disability is usually only paid after a waiting period has passed so who is going to pay you then?

If you broke your legs you'd be out for 7days then you'd be using your sick days first, then your vacation and if you were still out, you'd be on STD, right and they pay. So how would that differ from birth?

get clarification before you spend your vacation.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

I have to use my sick/vacation/personal days before I use any unpaid leave. From what I understand I can't get STD until after 8 days. So for those 8 days, I have to use sick/vacation/personal days. Then I go on disability for 6 weeks. Then I have to use sick/vacation/personal before I take unpaid leave.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Posted by pms520

Posted by mrskparetta

im confused also, i get zero paid leave but as by NYS law, my company must hold my job for 12 weeks (they would hold it longer should i choose to take longer) so... my plan was to

take my 4 weeks of paid vacation/sick and then take the 12 weeks unpaid .. do the 4 weeks count as part of the NYS 12?

think of the 12 weeks as an umbrella. it is just job protection no $$ paid for fmla. you need to use other means for payment...std..vacation..sick time..peronal time to make up the 12 weeks usually...if you do not have enough you go unpaid..

Re: OMG I hate my company!

I would talk to human resources because you were already PG when they changed the policy. At my old job, they decided a woman who was there less than 8 years only got 170 a week for 6 weeks.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

i only get 6 weeks full pay as well combined with NYS disability and my salary. after that i need to max out all vacation time (so i have 3 weeks left this year to use) which gives me a total of 9 weeks paid. Through out short term dis. company my dr. would have to file paperwork to say that im further disabled for some reason to get the rest at 60% salary.

i can use 2010 vacation b/c ill be going into 2010, but the policy totally sucks just like yours. its really aphalling the policies some companies have for maternity.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Short term disability begins on the date you become disabled which is determined either by your doctor or by the day you give birth. So the 6 weeks for vaginal or 8 weeks for c/s is just a part of the NYS STD law. If a company is paying you at all during those 6 or 8 weeks, then they are entitled to put in for reimbursement, so that they get the money that would have been sent to you as a partial reimbursment for the monies they are paying you for SICK time. For vacation days, if you take those from the first day you are out on maternity leave, you can still get paid STD for those dates.

Where I work, they pay us 4 weeks for maternity leave and then we have to use all of our personal, sick, and vacation days. Which means we usually get paid for around 6 weeks, which also means we don't qualify for the NYS STD payments of $170/week for 6/8 weeks. My company puts in to be reimbursed, so they get a check that would have otherwise been sent to us.

Message edited 11/4/2009 12:15:32 PM.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

I'm sooooo sorry!!!! My work did this to me as well which was soooo obnoxious.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

You're not alone
I have to use all of my sick time which will only cover about 3 weeks, then i have to borrow the remaining days from my sick leave for the next 2 years!!!

Re: OMG I hate my company!

like others said get some clarification and see if u can be put under the old policy (its worth a try!).

my company does NOTHING. i cant even carry over vacation days....so i have to use mine by the end of this year...and im only allowed to use what i actually accrued (which next yr will only be 3 by the time the baby comes).

They dont offer STD. We get unlimited sick days...but im not sure how that works in my situation.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

I'm so sorry! Maybe u can double-check w/ your HR person just to make sure u r understanding the policy correctly? I think they purposely make leave policies difficult!

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Crashing here, but I work in HR....

this seems suspect to me. Do they treat all disabilities this way? I.E. If you broke your leg and were out for 6 weeks, would the same policy apply?

It is illegal to treat a pregnancy disability differently than a medical illness/injury.

Basically they are denying you disability payments. I can see using the sick pay first - most companies have a waiting period before they consider you "disabled" (i.e. 5 days, which makes sense because if you have a cold and are out for 2 days, you aren't disabled).

I have NEVER heard of them making you use vacation before disability!

Usually they make you use up your vacation before you take unpaid leave.

I think you should just ask to meet with HR or your manager to clarify on this.

Then do some research, this just doesn't sound legal to me.

Re: OMG I hate my company!

Posted by mishka

like others said get some clarification and see if u can be put under the old policy (its worth a try!).

my company does NOTHING. i cant even carry over vacation days....so i have to use mine by the end of this year...and im only allowed to use what i actually accrued (which next yr will only be 3 by the time the baby comes).

They dont offer STD. We get unlimited sick days...but im not sure how that works in my situation.

Re: OMG I hate my company!