Research your maternity leave before you get big and tired

Don’t offer to go back to work earlier than you have to, urges Liz O’Donnnell, a freelance writer and mother, in the first of three must-read guest posts about managing maternity leave.

Managing your time-off for maternity leave should start as soon as you learn you are pregnant, even before you tell your boss or friends perhaps.

If you think you may feel tired and easily distracted during pregnancy, that’s nothing compared to how tired you will be when the new baby arrives. The months leading up to the birth are the best time to set yourself up for success when you return to work.

One of the most difficult things about maternity leave is trying to decipher just what benefits you will receive. Sadly, the United States offers no federal maternity policy, only 12 weeks of unpaid leave via FMLA, so women’s experience and leave vary state by state, company by company.

According to MomsRising.org, “49 percent of mothers in the U.S. cobble together paid leave following childbirth by using sick days, vacation days, disability leave, and maternity leave.”

Often, managers and HR directors don’t fully understand the policies.

My checklist:

1. Investigate your company’s policy on pregnancy leave as soon as you can. Cross–check the information you get from your HR department with the data from your health insurance company and then document exactly what you are promised.
2. Ask for the maximum time-off. Resist the urge to tell your boss that you will return as early as possible. Even if you think you will be raring to go within weeks, you may change your mind once the baby arrives. It is easier to ask to return to work sooner, than it is to ask for an extended leave.
3. Don’t promise to work while you are out. Maternity leave is not a vacation. You will be busy most of the time. And when you are not, you will be tired.
4. Get acquainted with the law,  the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). FMLA, also known as  parental (or paternity) leave, offers parents 12 weeks of unpaid leave with guaranteed job security. FMLA doesn’t apply to smaller companies.

Liz O’Donnell is a freelance writer who writes about women, work, family and fashion. Read more from Liz at www.HelloLadies.com. In part two of this series, she’ll provide advice on banking good will. In the third she talks about how to nurse your child when you return to work.

Photo by ESeering Used with permission Flickr.com Creative Commons