“Maternity Leave” and Special Needs
So, just to be clear, we do not have Maternity Leave in the United States. I know that seems weird, but it’s only because we often mistake Short Term Disability (STD) and Family/Medical Leave Act (FMLA) as Maternity Leave. This could not be further from reality. Here is what actually happens: Working mothers buy STD insurance and are reimbursed between 60-70% of their normal pay for 6 or 8 weeks depending on the type of delivery (vaginal or cesarean). Meanwhile, FMLA guarantees a parent can be on the unpaid leave for up to 12 weeks. To add insult to injury, most companies count the first 6/8 weeks of STD as part of FMLA which leaves parents with only 6/4 more weeks until their job is no longer protected and they must return to work. There exists no federal regulation that ensures FMLA is counted separately and so most companies combine them. For some readers, this may seem like a sweet deal regardless- after all, isn’t 6 weeks off kind of amazing? I mean, sure, if I was going ...