Can someone explain maternity leave to me? (NY)

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Forum -> Working Women

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amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 12:30 am

Im a slp (unfortunately). I want to switch to the DOE asap but in the meantime Im working for an agency :/
Im iyh due november time. Is it true FMLA goes according to the last 3 months worked before baby arrives?

My agency doesnt have summer cases so from July-September we struggle those month (like im talking $20 in my bank account sometimes)! September I usually only work 2 weeks because by the time school starts, and the principals let therapists come in, and I get permission from DOE to start etc....

So if I dont get a paycheck september, october, november- will I not get anything for maternity leave? Will I be able to stay home longer than 6 weeks? It was really traumatic going back after 6 weeks I was still dealing with PP pain issues

With my first baby I wasnt working long enough at my agency so I only qualified for disability and got $150 a week for 6 weeks.

Just trying to see what I will get and if there is anything I can do to hustle those 3 months to make money for maternity leave?

sunshine5

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:01 am

The amount u get paid is based on last 8 weeks. As long as you work for 26 consecutive weeks
Also you mean PFL. FMLA is 12 weeks unpaid leave just for job security.
Bshaa Tovah.

amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:04 pm

sunshine5 wrote:

The amount u get paid is based on last 8 weeks. As long as you work for 26 consecutive weeks
Also you mean PFL. FMLA is 12 weeks unpaid leave just for job security.
Bshaa Tovah.

So then I wont get anything bc I cant work the 8 weeks before bc school isnt open? :/

oo ok ill change the title!

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:24 pm

I work for an agency, and all my babies were born oct or nov, so I have experience with this.

Just to clarify-
Fmla does not pay you anything. It just means you can take off 12 weeks unpaid.
PFL is paid leave that gives about 60% of your salary for 12 weeks. The rate is calculated based on the last 8 weeks of work.

You do not have to take PFL immediately. You can take it anytime during the first year.

Basically these are your options:
1. Take off 6 weeks, get disability (about $170 a week for 5 weeks). Go back to work. Then take 12 weeks pfl in the summer and your PFL rate will be based on the last 8 weeks of school.
2. Take off 6 weeks and get disability, plus a few extra weeks unpaid until you feel ready to go back. Then take pfl in the summer.
3. Take 6 weeks disability and then 12 weeks pfl. But you have to calculate how much your pfl rate will be
4. Take 6 weeks disability and part of the PFL (maybe 4 weeks). Save the rest of the PFL (8 weeks) for the summer. However I have no idea if it's possible to have two PFL rates (one for immediately after birth and one for summer)

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:27 pm

amother OP wrote:

So then I wont get anything bc I cant work the 8 weeks before bc school isnt open? :/

oo ok ill change the title!

I'm confused. Do you plan o working half of sep/oct/nov until baby is born? Then those weeks will be used to calculate your disability rate.

amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:30 pm

amother Cobalt wrote:

I'm confused. Do you plan o working half of sep/oct/nov until baby is born? Then those weeks will be used to calculate your disability rate.

September is all the first month of school and the yeshiva doesnt really let us in yet. October is sukkos so I only have 2 weeks to work :/, and november im due

amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:32 pm

amother Cobalt wrote:

Wow!Thank you so so much for this!
Good to know re FMLA vs PFL.

I did option 1 for my first pregnancy. It was really hard returning at 6 weeks. I could do option 2 instead. Thats a good idea.

I dont know if I should switch to doe for september but then Ill have a baby 2 months into school and wont even qualify for maternity leave right? since I wasnt there long enough?

a big pro of my agency is even tho the money is terrible, if I dont come to work one day no one asks me where I am... I just dont get paid... it was helpful when I had my first since if I wasnt feeling good I just stayed home. I cant do that in the DOE

amother

Blueberry

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:33 pm

Suggestion: could you ask your agency to hold some of your pay from april/may/June and pay it in your September/october/November paycheck?

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:35 pm

amother OP wrote:

September is all the first month of school and the yeshiva doesnt really let us in yet. October is sukkos so I only have 2 weeks to work :/, and november im due

At what point in november are you due?

The disability max is very low. It's officially approx 60% of your salary, but it maxes out at 170 a week. So as long as you work a few hours a week in the beginning of the year you should get it. I gave birth in mid oct and end of oct and always got the 170 a week.
The problem is PFL, because the max allowance is higher so you don't wanna shortchange yourself. Many therapists split it or save it for the summer

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:37 pm

If you switch to doe for Sept 23 you may not get any maternity benefits at all. Most jobs (in all fields) require you to work a minimum amount of time (usually half a year to a year) before getting maternity benefits. It's to prevent people from taking a job 2 months before giving birth just to get maternity benefits and then quit

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 1:40 pm

Also I have heard that what some therapists do is they don't start working at all during the new school year. So the 8 weeks used to calculate rates are the last 8 weeks of the previous school year.
But I never did this personally so double check that this can really work if you want to do it

amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 8:07 pm

amother Cobalt wrote:

First week of november technically, going according to when I ovulated
Yes I got $170 a week when I had my last baby

I like the options you gave me. Ill probably return to work after a few weeks, and then "cash in" my PFL hours

amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 8:09 pm

amother Cobalt wrote:

Makes sense.
Im not sure if I should switch to DOE then for next year, or next year be more relaxed in my agency since ill have a newborn iyh... and the following year switch to DOE

amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 8:10 pm

amother Blueberry wrote:

Suggestion: could you ask your agency to hold some of your pay from april/may/June and pay it in your September/october/November paycheck?

no, I really need the money. we legit live paycheck to paycheck I cant risk 3 more months of not getting paid its bad enough as it is

amother

Celeste

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 9:17 pm

amother OP wrote:

no, I really need the money. we legit live paycheck to paycheck I cant risk 3 more months of not getting paid its bad enough as it is

Do you work more than 20 hours a week?
Because if you are part time it might be better
https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/eligibility

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 9:30 pm

amother OP wrote:

I will say, though, that it wasn't easy financially. We can't live on me making $170 a week for 5 weeks and we did need to dip into savings when I was out on maternity leave. but we tried to replenish most of what we took out in the summer when I got pfl

amother

Cobalt

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 9:32 pm

amother Celeste wrote:

Do you work more than 20 hours a week?
Because if you are part time it might be better
https://paidfamilyleave.ny.gov/eligibility

How does that make sense? The more you work, the more money you make, the higher your PFL rate. If op works less hours then her pfl rate will be lower.

amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 9:33 pm

amother Cobalt wrote:

Im nervous. We also cant live on that.
Did you ever consider switching to DOE?
Thanks for taking the time to help me btw :-)

doodlesmom

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 9:43 pm

Find a summer job to save up money.

amother

Tue, Mar 14 2023, 9:44 pm

doodlesmom wrote:

Find a summer job to save up money.

Ive been trying. I reached out to different agencies and its very hard to get a full caseload since not all kids have summer mandates.

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