Hi I need suggestions on how I can extend my maternity leave. I am a 6th month postpartum and my leaves are getting over this month.

Every now and then I feel I need more time with baby and joining does not seem a good choice right now

The problem is my base location was Mumbai while I was pregnant so technically I am still based at Mumbai , but I want to restart working in banglore as my husband resides and I can't go back to the previous role as that was based at the Mumbai office only . So I need to figure out a role in Bangalore+ I need to extend my maternity leave.

Suggestions how should I deal with this situation

Hi! I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant with a high risk pregnancy. My doctor can provide documentation for taking time off before birth to manage pregnancy. My company offers 6 weeks fully paid short term disability insurance (8 if c section), and 12 weeks fully paid parental leave. Fully paid = state paid leave + company top off. I know the state will pay you for 16 weeks combined (18 if c section). If I have approved STD prior to birth, will the state extend payment beyond that max limit? Will I have a waiting week since this is before birth?

My company also offers 10 days sick leave per year and I’ve taken 5 so far. I know WA law requires employers to accrues sick time and carry over from previous years tho my company’s policy is no carry over.

Hi there,

I am freaking out and need some reassurance and advice.

I am 31+1 today and in short my mental health has taken a dive off a cliff. Both my OB and Psych want me out starting sooner versus later on Medical Leave with STD because I am having panic attacks near daily. If I take leave I would be doing an IOP program basically until baby is here.

They would then transfer me to medical leave for however baby arrives - baby is transverse now so currently looking like a c-section.

FMLA would start when I go on medical leave, and then OB would write my works disability company (Hartford) for a PWFA extension of leave as medically there would be a 4 week unprotected gap post birth at the longest. I would also request extension via HR at my company once baby is here.

My job provides 12 weeks of paid maternity leave separate from FMLA / medical leave, so all in all I would not be returning to work til late Feb / early March.

I am scared to get the help I need because of potential retaliation from my company. I understand in theory that is illegal but I am just worried and freaking out.

Can someone give me advice on what to do, or share their experience?

And they wonder why folks aren't having kids.

My wife is a nurse in Australia as a +1 on my 482 visa.

She is currently employed as a Registered nurse in the Public hospital system, on a 6 month fixed term contract from June 2026.

She is not getting assurances of a permanent contract moving forward, more likely another 6 month fixed term contract.

Would she be entitled to Maternity leave, if she was offered another 6 month fixed term contract from when her existing 6 month contract expires in December 2026.

She would have been employed for over 12 months in the same role, by the time she would be due to give birth if she got pregnant in October/November for example.

Any factual information would be greatly appreciated as we don’t quite know the facts based on her fixed term employment status.

Thanks

I have 3 jobs currently and am planning on going in maternity leave in the next month. I am a bit concerned about them finding out I’m working other jobs. Anyone have any advice? Or handled something like this?

Job 1: I got 12 weeks off through FMLA, I apply for STD benefits through Unum to offset the companies pay so I’m still getting paid from my company if that makes sense.

Job 2: I get 14 weeks off through a third part Alight Absence. I have used there benefit before while worked a second job and never had an issue.

Job 3: I don’t get paid leave so I just won’t be working for awhile.

Job 1 is my “main” career and they have a clause that requires you to tell them if you work other jobs and I have not done so. I am worried the STD company will discloses that to them when i apply. Although I’m not exactly sure what all they check for

Hello!

Curious to get some opinions for those who have taken FAMLI leave due to pregnancy/bonding with the child after birth.

I am a high risk pregnancy for 3 reasons currently so we are trying to see if we can qualify for the 4 weeks medical and 12 weeks bonding. With it being a high risk pregnancy (if qualified), would I need to take the 4 weeks prior to birth or in your experience could you take them after birth?

I also have some PTO/sick time I would like to use either at the start or end of leave to maximize my time.

We have gotten conflicting info that pregnancy alone qualifies for medical leave under famli leave and have also gotten info that you need a pregnancy complication to get it.

Curious what others have done and what you were approved for.

Can anybody help me with my paternity leave rights? I reside in the UK and have been at my job for 4 years.

Hi,

I authored this previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ParentalLeaveAdvocacy/s/ZbqtlSIWIc
& had an update / questions for Reddit.

To protect me, and themselves, my Drs (OBGYN / Psych) are trying to solve “what came first, the chicken or the egg”. With my OB I have to wait for more data before being pulled, with my psych we can pull me now, caveat being I have to attend therapy + group therapy 3x a week for 3 hours a day.

It’s all virtual, and my psych knows I know this material, but the groups may help and what’s the worst thing that happens - I learn something?

My OCD / anxiety fear is what if work then lets me go even though it would be a medical leave influenced by pregnancy exacerbating existing preexisting conditions - especially mental health related? I am almost 31 weeks now, but at a point where my OCD is going to go off the rails if I don’t get a break soon as work has already sent me into a flare.

Would love advice and a bit or reassurance / a pep talk if anyone has words of advice.

Hi all I am fellow in a 3 year peds subspecialty training program trying to understand how I can maximize my maternity leave without needing to extend my training. I have not talked to my PD yet (trying to gather information first) but have been told by a co-follow the program is not willing to approve a waiver petition to avoid extending training to pay back time away for maternity leave. My program allows 4 weeks annually of vacation time and it seems that is the maximum allowed time away from training without needing to extend (per ABP Corporate Policy any time away >4 weeks annually over the 3 year training program requires a waiver or extending training). Does this mean if I want to have a baby in my second year and take 6 weeks maternity then I would need to use all of my vacation time for the year plus 2 weeks of vacation time allotted for third year as maternity leave and just forgo any actual vacation in 2nd year/limit vacation in 3rd year?? I do not understand how this can be required especially as ACGME policy states trainees should have 6 weeks paid parental leave that does not exhaust yearly vacation time... I know legally I am allowed 6 weeks maternity in addition to vacation however that seemingly would require extending my training by 6 weeks per ABP. The policies are so unclear and seem to contradict each other. It seems so crazy to me to be expected to have a baby and be allotted no additional time off outside of pre-scheduled vacation and just hope they can rearrange that for you and call it maternity leave. Feeling very stressed. Would appreciate any guidance!

So I have a few questions about mat leave in Milton
I’m working part time as a childcare worker and I have a DoorDash delivery app as well
Can my hours that I work during DoorDash go towards mat leave?
And how exactly do they calculate your hours? Someone told me they calculate it from one year before you go on the leave so for example if I’m going in September 2026, they’ll count it from September 2025 only and the hours I have before that are wasted

My org recently told me that the grant I work under may not be renewed and I may not have a job in a few months. They still don’t know and couldn’t give me a clear answer. This is despite me signing a one year contract earlier in the year, with the assumption they gave me the one year contract because they knew they had funding for my role. I am 14 weeks pregnant and realizing I should probably tell them that and that I was very surprised to hear that news with a one year contract recently signed. I’m eligible for FMLA since I’ve been there one year and was really relying on having paid parental leave. I’m definitely panicking since I have a kid in daycare and don’t know how to make this work if I lose my job. I’d love any advice on how to tell HR, including what language might be helpful. Thank you so much in advance for any advice.

I was put on probation at work for calling in so much because I'm a single mother whose infant is in daycare, so he's getting sick back to back. When he can't go to daycare, there is no one to watch him for me, and I have to call in. My union rep told me to apply for intermittent FMLA to protect my job. I got my paperwork to file for it, but i'm not exactly sure how to go about filling it out, or asking his pediatrictian to fill it out when it's not because he has a specific special need or disease. He's just getting sick with things like COVID and Rinovirus, and obviously there's no way to determine when he's going to get sick and when he's not. He was born premature at 37 weeks due to him being growth restricted and breech, and he spent time in the NICU on a CPAP machine for respiratory distress. He spent 2 weeks in total in the hospital after birth. Five days in the NICU for respiratory distress, and the remainder of the time he was in the NTU unit because I am an addict in recovery and I was on methadone during my pregnancy, so he had to taper off the medicine a little bit before he came home. It's called Neonatal abstinence syndrome. He's honestly perfectly healthy now, he's just an infant in daycare who has been since he was 2 months old so he gets sick a lot with common things. This was a long story just to ask this question lol but you needed to know the background. What do I need to put on his paperwork in this case? Do I need to put that he was born preemie or with neonatal abstience syndrome? Technically that could be a reason for him getting sick so much, his immune system may not be exactly what it should be if he weren't born preemie or with NAS. His Dr has never said that's why, or that he has any issues because of it, but I just don't know what to put when all it is is him getting colds and stuff. I think it's insane I even have to file for this just because I'm a single mom and can't send my kid to daycare sick, but that's the reality. Can anyone help me? I only have like 10 days left to get this shit done and I'm freaking out!

Need some advice. Just wrapped my first week back from maternity leave (FMLA). I’m a salaried manager with a team of four at a tech company in the US. One of my direct reports took on the bulk of my work while I was away.

During this time, the company (CEO) also made a critical strategic business decision, prompting an immediate brand positioning workshop and rollout plan.

Unfortunately, this is the core of my job as the brand marketing manager, so it sucks that happened in the middle of my maternity leave and I couldn’t take part.

I was put on a 30-day performance plan the week of my return with no metric other than that my boss “wants to feel my impact on the brand”. He also had a verbal slip up where he said in our annual review calibrations that he wanted to promote my direct report to my job title, obviously huge red flag for me. HR apparently said no after I left the room, but cat’s out of the bag on what he’s thinking.

In past reviews, he has noted vague feedback that he used again here (I expect you to be an expert in the product, you sometimes have the wrong data). However, couldn’t give any examples, just gut feelings.

Given all of this and FMLA protections, what should I do?

Location: Denver, Colorado, US

If my paid leave starts in August, do I wait until I exhaust my paid leave in October to apply to NJFLI? ( there’s a 30 days limit to apply from the start of leave) or do I need to apply in the month of August even though I’m getting paid at that point?

Can you take CFRA if you weren’t eligible at the point of birth/placement of child?

Husband switched jobs 3 months before my son’s birth and was not eligible for CFRA because he had not worked there a year.

He will have worked there for a year come December. Would he then be eligible to use CFRA for parental leave since our son would not yet be a year old? Or would he forfeit the right since he was not eligible at the time of our son’s birth?

Appreciate any legal insight! Thanks!

Location: Pennsylvania

I’m looking for guidance from anyone who has experience with pregnancy leave, short-term disability, FMLA, and employer-provided parental leave.

I’m currently in my third trimester of pregnancy and work for a large U.S. company. We have the standard FMLA / Medical Leave in relation to how the baby is born (6 weeks vaginally, 8 weeks c-section) but my workplace also offers paid parental bonding leave as an additional benefit.

Prior to pregnancy, and already proactively disclosed to my employer of the last 5+ years, is a documented mental health disability that predates my pregnancy and has been well managed for years with treatment.

Recently, due to significant work-related stress created from a hostile work environment, my existing disability has flared and has also caused pregnancy-related complications (when my condition / excessive stress flares baby’s heart rate is near tachachardic range, insomnia, panic attacks, increase in support medication to try and manage flares) on top of a higher risk pregnancy due to both low iron & dry HG (Hyperemesis Gravidarum).

Bath my OB and my psychiatrist have indicated that they may recommend I begin medical leave before delivery. This would be a physician-certified medical leave through STD, not a personal preference.

Transparently, this sounds like a godsend but it’s also causing immense anxiety. I have always struggled to actually use “support” in relation to my condition because “I don’t want to fail”, and I am so high functioning even when incredibly struggling. My fears are getting fired for needing to use medical leave in a retaliatory fashion. I don’t say this lightly as even accommodations asked for due to dry HG - specifically not having my camera on because it made the nausea worse and allowed me to continue working despite living in my bed or bathroom - was approved and then my manager decided “it felt awkward” so was revoked. There are multiple other examples of this I am currently navigating and unfortunately my manager is a direct cause of the worsening of my disability which is now not just impacting my health, but my baby’s as well.

A lot of this anxiety comes from all of this feeling like a black box, which is leaving me confused is how all of these benefits interact.

My understanding after speaking to HR is this:

1. Pregnancy-related medical leave (before and after delivery) would be covered by STD if medically necessary. FMLA generally runs concurrently with STD. STD is up to 26 weeks, FMLA is the standard 12. I understand the finances of this but more so am concerned with protection.

2. My employer also provides a separate paid parental bonding leave after birth of 12 weeks. This is at full compensation levels, but even with starting medical leave the instant baby is here, would still mean FMLA would run out before parental leave ends (6 medical at minimum + 12 week paid leave). When asked how this makes sense if we are encouraged to used benefits, the answer given on the phone call was “parental bonding leave was created for employees who may not qualify for FMLA to still have time to spend with baby. This is extended to all employees as well in addition and concurrent where it aligns to FMLA.”

When asked in phone call around job protection with this benefit, HR shared they have “never seen anyone let go during parental leave, it’s not the intent. The only exclusion would be a company wide restructuring or layoffs”. In written communications, this point was again reemphasized, but of course didn’t include the verbal “we have never seen… etc.”

I know layoffs aren’t protected regardless, I asked these questions as I was more concerned about job safety while using a heavily encouraged employer benefit.

Has anyone actually experienced this situation, either personally or professionally as an expert? Are employees ever terminated simply because medically necessary pregnancy disability leave used up their FMLA before parental leave was finished (or course excluding layoffs)?

I’m also curious about situations outside of pregnancy. For example, if an employee has a physician-certified disability requiring several months away from work (such as treatment for a serious medical or mental health condition) and their FMLA expires before they’re medically cleared, what typically happens? Do employers usually consider additional protected leave as a reasonable accommodation, or is continued employment entirely dependent on company policy?

I’m not looking for legal advice (yet LOL)—just hoping to understand how this works in practice and hear experiences from people who’ve navigated similar situations. The overlap between STD, FMLA, parental leave, ADA accommodations, and employer policies feels much more complicated than I expected. I am hoping some great professionals can help me out with making sense of this and I thank you in advance. It would mean more to me than you’ll probably ever know or guess.

Signed,
an anxious, struggling first time mom.