Hellobee

Oh man, sure is better than my mere six weeks of 100% paid leave.

Six weeks with 60 percent pay thanks to short term disability insurance. My job is protected by FMLA, as my employer is large enough. No paternal leave, because we cannot afford it, but my husband’s employer does allow for 2 unpaid weeks. So boo.

I didn’t realize there was that much difference between Quebec and Ontario. Gatineau is literally a 15 minute drive and now only would I have had better mat leave, but daycare is cheaper too!

In Ontario I’m getting 50 weeks of mat leave at 55%. Not sure what my husband would have got but we didn’t even discuss him taking time off, so it’s all mine.

i’ve always wanted to visit quebec (i always thought it looked like a place out of a fairy tale… but now i want to move there for their awesome maternity leave benefits!!

i don’t get how the U.S. government expects mom’s to go back to work in just 6 weeks.

though my company has slightly better leave benefits and i get 3-months + if i save my vacay/sick time i can stretch it to 6-months of leave.

DH will get 1 week of paid paternity and will use 3 weeks of PTO that he has saved up for all of December.

I will get 6 weeks paid 100%, 4 weeks unpaid, and 2 weeks saved PTO time that my boss is letting me roll over to 2013.

*SIGH* While I’m grateful for the time I do have, I certainly wish the US had better maternity leave options.

When I was working, I got 6 weeks of short-term diability at 60% and 6 weeks of paid family leave at 60%; DH also gets 6 weeks of paid family leave at 60%. We’re very lucky we got that much, although it’s nothing compared to what you guys are entitled to!

@CameronsMomma: Yes the quebec government is pro babies, so apart from the 7$ daycares (or reimbursements if your daycare is more than 7$) we get a good chunk monthly. I guess they try and make up for the lack of health care. (aka long waits)

Wow – I knew it was great but had never seen it written out like that. My husbands company is based in Montreal, but there is still no paternal leave here in the US for them. Thankfully they are very understanding and he took 8 days and then a bunch of 1/2 days with #1. TBD with #2. As for me I was given 8 weeks at 100% pay for Short Term Disability (6 weeks for vaginal, 8 weeks for csection) and then 4 unpaid weeks covered by FMLA. Thankfully my company was willing to work with me and I took an additional 4 weeks unpaid leave for a total of 16.

Ugh. We have 6 weeks at 60% pay and NO paid paternity.

I’m in Alberta, Canada. While we all get 50 weeks, top up pay depends upon the employer. (top up pay means that in addition to collecting unemployment, you receive a top up based on a percentage of your salary). I’ll get 95% of my pay for the first six months then just unemployment for the remaining six. (My sister in law got 97% of her pay for the full 12 months.) In Alberta, I think the mom gets the first 12 weeks or so, but then you can split any amount of the remaining months between the two parents if you want. I’m taking the full 12 months, but in addition to this, because my DH kills himself for his organization, they have agreed to give him four weeks fully paid.

Yay Canada! It certainly does tempt one want to consider moving across the river (from Ottawa to Gatineau). Especially since I work for the Federal Gov’t where they top up to 93% of your salary. Also, the $7-a-day daycare would be amazing…decisions, decisions.

wow, that is amazing!

That sounds so nice! Every time you Canadians talk about your mat leave benefits I get so jealous. With my state and employer benefits combined, I’m getting 16 weeks at 100%. After that I can meet with HR to see if I can extend my leave unpaid. I’ve been told by friends that I’m “lucky” to have so much leave with pay.

DH is self employed, so he can take as much paternity as he wants, as long as he is okay with not making any money.

I had a maximum of 12 weeks. My company provided 2 weeks paid, I had 6 weeks of short-term disability at 60% and had the option to use PTO for the rest or to take it unpaid. I opted for unpaid and now that summer is here, I’m glad I did. I’m taking a week of vacation next week and would be really sad not to be able to take the time. I wish I could have had 50 weeks off.

From the US Navy Mr. S got 10 continuous days (including weekends) to be taken within the first 3 months.

I get 12 weeks paid at 100%. Plus any PTO I have saved up. In TN my employer is required to hold my job for 16 weeks so I could also take some additional time unpaid if I wanted to.
Hubs works for a really small company and they don’t have a set policy. He also has the ability to work from home. I expect he’ll be home with me for two week after the baby is born. And then ease back into work.

Can you explain how employers handle their employees being gone for a full year? Are there just tons of temping agencies in Canada and temps are hired for a year? I know for my employer they will be stretched covering me even for the 13-14 weeks I’ll be out. If my employer could get by without me for a year I would worry that I wasn’t very essential.

I can take up to 12 weeks protected under FMLA; however this is unpaid unless I use my vacation and sick time. I think my company requires the use of PTO before allowing time to be taken unpaid but am not sure. When DD was born I took 8 weeks and was able to cover it with my PTO so was paid at 100% along with continuing to accumulate PTO during my absence.
I plan to do the same when LO#2 arrives in mid-September.

DH was laid off the Friday before I delivered DD so he was home with us for 3 weeks before finding a contract position. This time he will be entitled to FMLA but doesn’t plan to take more than about one week and would have to use PTO to get paid.

I was entitled to 7 months leave at 100%. Part of it was length of service (more than 11 years) and the other part was the internal leave policy of the company. The government only mandates 12 weeks paid leave at 100%.

I got very lucky. I qualified for FMLA through my job. HR balanced my paid time off with my short term disability amount, so I continued to get 100%. Once the 6 weeks of disability ended, they continued to use my paid time off until I ran out. I managed to cover almost 10 weeks at 100% pay followed by 2 more weeks at zero.

DH works as a teacher, and he qualified for FMLA as well. He took 2 weeks from his bank of sick time (he gets 80 days every 5 years) and we got lucky that DS was born the week before his school’s spring vacation, so DH ended up with 3 weeks off total.

@looch: Amazing how different our leave was given our similar situations : )

@MamaMoose: At my work, they just hire a one-year term to cover the mat leave. Often, they will get hired on permanently if there is growth in the company

.@Mrs. Sunglasses: Lots of people at my work have had their hubbies take the last three months of paternity leave. They actually said that they found it easier because they knew their child was with their father rather than worrying about how they were adjusting to daycare.

Is there a cap on salary in Quebec? In the rest of Canada it’s something like $42k. Meaning, you get 55% of your salary, but if your salary is above $42k you get 55% of 42k.

In addition to the unemployment, my employer tops up to 93% for 4 months. It’s a pretty good deal, but not as good as the fed gov!

@sslm: Yes there’s a top, but I think it’s something like 65 000$ and what would happen is if you make more, then you only get the max which is70% of 65k

I was allowed to take as much as I wanted, but none it was paid. I am in a special situation tough. I took 10 weeks I think.

Wow. My leave is crap 6 weeks at 60% pay which is short term disability insurance. We can take up to 12 weeks unpaid under FMLA. We can take another 4 unpaid weeks under a DC law. We also have to burn all of our PTO, so no leave for a while after we get back.

SO jealous. i got 12 weeks of paid leave, but that’s only because it came out of my sick leave which rolls over every year. we’re given 1 day each month and after teaching for 9 years (when lil’ CB came home), i had a good chunk in my leave bank and was also given 3 weeks of FMLA leave.

So extremely jealous…..

I get 12 weeks paid, which I hear is awesome compared to my friends and family. I was planning on taking advantage of the mat leave but it looks like we won’t.

@MamaMoose: I know, right? Same parent company, but two different countries!

eta: My husband, who works for the same company, was entitled to two weeks off, paid. This again is country specific.

i think people in the states would be ecstatic if our maternity leave and childcare was even half as good as canada’s!

I get 12 weeks of job protected FMLA leave, and then I could technically get another 12 of job protected leave under the Washington State family laws, but I’m not taking them. I have to use PTO for my first 6 business days that I’m out- after that, Short Term Disability kicks in at 50% of my previous pay, but only for as many weeks as my doctor will sign that I “need” to be out on leave. I’m hoping and praying that will magically be 12 weeks- she’s pretty nice, so I’m thinking she’ll help me out.

Your leave sounds awesome. I wish my husband could have paternity leave for more than a week.

I’m totally jelly of y’alls maternity AND paternity leave. Not that every year of a child’s life isn’t important, but I think the first year is the most since they’re learning the ropes of being a human being. They learn to crawl/walk, talk, and you can see their brains developing every day with the motor skills and speech. I’d hate to miss out on all those first’s because of work! Ugh!

Sigh. Darn my husband not wanting to move across the river! Quebexico is looking more attractive all the time – 7$ daycare, better mat leave, WAY lower rent with no last month required…..boo-urns.

Anyway. I get 50 weeks at 55% but probably will go back way earlier (I’m hoping for six months, at least) because of finances. DH gets 6 weeks top-up through his company plus he has about a month of sick days saved up so he’d take about 2-3 months himself at full salary and then we’d figure out a plan from there.

For me, I will be taking 12 weeks off due to FMLA. I will get 5-6 weeks paid 100% by exhausting all but 40 hours of my sick and/or vacation time. Once that is exhausted, I’ll get the remaining 6-7 weeks paid 60% by short-term disability.

Hubs’s company offers 2 days “paid” paternity leave, but it actually comes out of his sick time. After that, he’ll have to use vacation time. Since he’ll just be starting at this job in August, we’re not sure how much time he’ll have accrued.

My leave will be 12 weeks, 100% unpaid. I have worked for my company for five years but the company is extremely small, so there goes FMLA. I’m simply thankful my boss is even letting me take that long, as he’s not very family-friendly to begin with.

@Jumpingjacks: I’m so jealous of your top up! I’m in Alberta as well, and my company recently changed their mat leave top-up policy to 70% for 17 weeks. Previously it was 100% for 6 weeks.

@MamaMoose: It is much easier to hire a replacement for 1 year as opposed to 6-12 weeks, which is not enough time for someone to learn the job and do it effectively. Companies will also post this position as a secondment for anyone who wants to gain different experience in the company. A lot of people apply for 1 year contracts, in hopes that it will lead to something permanent.

I’d be happy if we just had guaranteed maternity leave in the US! Trying to look for a job while pregnant knowing a company doesn’t have to give you maternity leave (paid or unpaid) is very stressful!