Maternity Leave

[MariainRaleigh]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NC
I have a question regarding Maternity Leave. I am from an European country and we have 3 months paid of Maternity Leave there. Here I found out that your company is not obligate to pay you the Maternity leave and also they can denied this . I would like to know if this is something that I could ask my employer to negotiate. I work for my company for 2 years now and I just found out about this last year as nobody told me anything and really they gave me the Company Policies when I was working for them more than 6 months and never looked that part until I decide to have a baby.

Should I trying to negotitate paid maternity leave now? (I'm not pregnant yet but planning to be soon) or wait until I get pregnant?

I really need some advice, as this is very new and surprising for me.

Thank you.

[cbg]

You are free to try to negotiate, but you have no leverage or bargaining power to do so. The employer is also free to completely ignore you and your request. Why should they provide you with a benefit that no one else gets? What's in it for them to give you paid time off (especially in the current economy) for three months when anyone else gets unpaid time?

IF at the time you need maternity leave, ALL THREE of the following criteria are true:

1.) You have worked for the employer for 12 months or more
2.) In the 12 months immediately following the start of your leave, you have worked a minimum of 1,250 hours
3.) The employer has a minimum of 50 employees within 75 miles of your location

then you are entitled to up to 12 weeks of UNPAID leave with your job protected. (Any time you have previously missed due to the pregnancy gets subtracted from the 12 weeks, as does any time missed within the same 12 months for any other qualifying condition.) There are only two states which requires paid maternity leave and neither of them is North Carolina.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by MariainRaleigh

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NC
I have a question regarding Maternity Leave. I am from an European country and we have 3 months paid of Maternity Leave there. Here I found out that your company is not obligate to pay you the Maternity leave and also they can denied this . I would like to know if this is something that I could ask my employer to negotiate. I work for my company for 2 years now and I just found out about this last year as nobody told me anything and really they gave me the Company Policies when I was working for them more than 6 months and never looked that part until I decide to have a baby.

Should I trying to negotitate paid maternity leave now? (I'm not pregnant yet but planning to be soon) or wait until I get pregnant?

I really need some advice, as this is very new and surprising for me.

Thank you.

**A: wow, you're really planning ahead.