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Maternity Leave

I have a question unrelated to C&P but perhaps of interest to other small-medium design firms. We are currently a firm of 9 employees but growing quickly. We're about to hire a designer who's currently pregnant. No one else who works for us has ever been pregnant so we've never established a policy about maternity leave. I'd be interested in hearing a few firms tell about their benefits related to maternity leave paid or unpaid and how long, in particular.

Lucia Mumm
Full Circle! Marketing, Design & Printing

A year and a half ago I was looking for the same information. We are an agency of 10 and unfortunately there was no precedence set for our firm. I was the "guinea pig". Because of the current laws, a firm your size is not required to do anything. (The required 6 weeks unpaid leave is for companies of 50+ employees.) The company I work for chose to offer 6 weeks unpaid leave even though they were not required by law. My bosses were very understanding and did work with me to set up a plan in which I ended up taking 7 weeks off. I used some of my sick time, some vacation time and some "unpaid leave time." It was my decision to use some of my paid time off in combination with unpaid time because I could not afford to go 6-7 weeks without a pay check. My case was a little unusual because of an unforeseen medical problem with my infant. When I called my boss and asked for the seventh week because of the illness, he was extremely understanding. His flexibility gave me the ease of mind to do what I needed to do and return to work ready to take back on the responsibility of my position.

Hope this helps, Kim Donahoe Tweed Advertising

The most important thing is that you must not discriminate. In other words, if you give a pregnant woman 6 weeks paid leave, you must also do the same for a man or a non-pregnant woman. You can't have a separate pregnancy leave.

Sandy Palmer

You need to check with your state laws.

Jim Morris Horton Lantz Marocco

In the state of new york if you carry disablity insurance for you employees she would be covered for benefits. the benefits start one week after her doctor declares she is unable to work. usually a total of twelve weeks. four weeks before delivery and eight weeks after. this depends on her doctor. when he feels she is able to return to work she will no longer recieve the benefit. i think the benefit is around $175.00 per week. some firms will allow the person to use their sick, personal and vacation time to lengthen their leave. since you are a firm with less then 50 people you do not fall under the federel leave act where you have to give them (i believe 3 months) leave without pay.

Elaine Breiland Hub Graphics Corp.

I wouldn't call it Maternity Leave...cause that sounds like a vacation benefit! Before our recent merger, our agency had approx. 12 employees.

We called it a Pregnancy Disability Policy, this was written by our attorneys, so as of (1) year ago this was legally verified.

And actually what you're being faced with happened to us back in December, a month after her hire! I'd be happy to fax you that page out of our employee handbook...just call me (Kim) at 714/433-7400 ext. 109, but I will summarize below...

A notice of 30 days was preferred...written confirmation by the doctor was preferred.

During their leave any accrued vacation or other paid leave could be utilized. Otherwise, no additional compensation was given. With the exception of business necessity, the company would hold the employee's position for up to four month's. The company could not guarantee the same position would be available upon their return, but the employee would be placed if a similar position was available. If no such position was available the employee would be placed on lay-off status, subject to re-call, when an opening occurred. During the period an employee is on leave, benefits, like vacation, would NOT accrue.

Hope this helps!

Kim Barnicoat Wirestone
www.wirestone.com

Maternity leave is protected by Federal Law. You will need to check into that through the government to see what the law states.

Italy McElroy Harvey & Daughters

We offer six weeks paid and up to six weeks unpaid family leave. We also have 9 employees.

Marie Spain

It will depend upon your state. In California there are specific laws regarding maternity leave, even for smaller employers.

Dorinda Sample Operations Manager Janzen Advertising

For us, since we're over 50 employees, we are governed by FMLA to allow a minimum of 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave (from the time the doctor authorizes the mother to be unable to work, to the time she's authorized to return). To supplement it $$-wise, we have the pto bank and we offer disability leave insurance. It's very standard.

Thanks,

Jonathan Gundlach Hanson Dodge

First, check with a lawyer to verify what your state requires. (you don't say where you are from, and different states have different laws). I also recommend The Employers Legal Handbook, it has saved my butt many a time (and if I need further clarification, I can call my attorney and pay his hourly sum!!). According to Federal Law, FMLA (Family Leave and Medical Act) is imposed on employers with 50 employees are more within a 75 mile radius. An employee is entitled to the following under FMLA law: 1-they must have worked for one year, and 2-for at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months before leave, then 3-You must grant unpaid leave for an employee to attend to a child, care for a parent or spouse or to recover from a serious illness. Generally, the employee is entitled to a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month period.

We have less than 50 employees, and have written a policies and procedures book that outlines the following: Leave of Absence. Upon written submission by the employee, JP may grant UP TO 12 WEEKS UNPAID LEAVE. You must submit to your supervisor, who will discuss with management, and grant UP TO 12 WEEKS UNPAID. At this time, JP doesn't cover the cost of short term disability, but does offer it (we have many other benefits, though). Leave due to the birth of a baby (or adoption) is covered by the Leave of Absence, and we do not call it Maternity Leave. I suggest you review the federal laws, your state laws, then put a policy together (it can always be amended as you grow). And after all the law stuff, search your heart, and think of the impact on your business. Good Luck.

Shelly Constantz Just Partners

Being as we are located in Canada our mat leave policy is much different than the US.

I am currently taking mat leave beginning June 21st. The company offers NO out of pocket costs to the employee, but does hold your same position for the period of time you will be off. You are able to take all saved up holiday/vacation time and overtime before you go off payroll and if you pay in advance for your extended benefits you will stay covered for those for the entire leave. I will have 2 months paid medical sick leave through Employment Insurance (Federal Gov't) and then 6 months paid maternity and parental leave through that same agency. You receive appr 55% of your gross monthly salary and do not pay taxes on that income.

Starting Jan 1, 2001 all EMPLOYERS will be mandated to do the following: - Give the employee the last trimester of their pregnancy off work - Give the employee one year (12mths) maternity and parental leave Again, this will be covered by Employment Insurance (which all employees are deducted for monthly - mandatory - appr $40-100 depending on your salary).

Hope this helps, if you're a Cdn agency,

Tracie Clayton Scaber Systems Administrator & Office Manager
Malahat Group International (a Palmer Jarvis DDB company)

We are a small agency (14) and in the 10 years of our existence have not had to address the issue of maternity leave. Amazing but true. We want to update our employee benefits manual, and don't know how to address this issue. If I could get some feedback from you guys, telling me what your policies are (or what you think they should be), that would be great. Thanks.

Shelley W. Holloway General Manager Young Isaac, Inc.

We are also a small agency (13) and in the past 3 years have had this situation come up 3 times. The first instance was a new hire. She was given 20 days off UNPAID + her two weeks vacation. the second employee had been here for 3 years and was given 6 weeks paid + any unused vacation time. Same for the 3rd person. Small companies are under absolutely no legal obligation to provide any time off - Paid or Unpaid. So, we really got a GREAT deal here!

Rachel

Our 3rd employee is taking maternity leave in our 7 1/2 year history. We are 10 people. We generously give 6 weeks maternity leave paid, they can add on their vacation to that (max additional 2 weeks). My partner and I are working mothers and believe in those precious first weeks! It is one more facet of an aggressive benefits package we offer to stay competitive in attracting and keeping good people.

Christopher Staples Sun & Moon Marketing Communications, Inc.

We are an agency that has recently grown to 22, but over the past several years had from 15 to 18 employees. We offer one week of paid maternity leave benefit. The rest of the leave time must be covered by vacation and sick leave. We recommend a 6 week leave time, but will negotiate longer on a person by person basis. If the employee does not have enough leave time to cover their maternity leave, we allow them to take leave without pay. In two incidences, we allowed people to start back to work part time, so as to ease back into the work force after having a baby. This was appreciated by our staff and worked out fine for us too.

Jill Sittenauer, V.P. Jones Seel Huyett Inc.

If you are in California, check out www.hrcalifornia.com. for all the labor laws. This is a great source of information.

Karen Cupp Controller p11creative

Our agency (U.S. agency with less than 20 employees)is looking to establish an adoption policy and I was wondering what other agencies were doing. If you have a policy for adoption, does it just mirror your maternity leave policy? Does it have to for legal reasons, or can the parameters be different? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

Chris Kirk