AIBU short maternity leave

[UnicornAndSparkles]

AIBU to consider a very short maternity leave with DC2?

With DC1 I took two years out of work. Since then I've started a great job, well paid and flexible, 3days a week, with a good work life balance. The catch is that its 6-12 month contracts. My current contract expires end of March 2021 and my boss has said she is hoping to extend it to December 2021. The extension would be in place 3 months prior to the end of my current contract, so end of this year. Trouble is I'm 11 weeks pregant and due in April. There is no way my boss would extend my contract if she knew as effectively I'd be on maternity leave for the whole of the extension. So either I tell her after my 12 wk scan and accept that my job will end in March and I'll be eligible for zero maternity pay, or I agree to a minimal maternity leave, say 4 weeks, and hope she agrees to extend on that basis, perhaps on a 2 day a week contract. Ive worked for the company on and off for 5 years. There is no guarantee I could walk back into my role, or any role, if I were to not continue my contract after March 2021. There is guarentee that I would be offered another role if, say, I took a year off.

Im entirely able to WFH and this arrangement would be dependant on family helping with looking after DC2 for the 14h a week I would be working. DC1 would be at school.

My partner has a well paid job but its unstable.

Obviously this wasn't a planned pregnancy so we weren't expecting to have this financial issue with partners' unstable income. We aren't eligible for benefits. We have savings but not an enormous amount and so keeping my relatively stable job for as long as possible is a real priority.

AIBU?
YABU = 4 weeks maternity leave is too little, you will need more time with DC2 before going back to work
YANBU = 4 weeks could work, if everything else (parental support etc) did

typo: there is NO guarantee I would be offered another role if, say, I took a year off.

Try for the second and if it doesn't work then you have the first.

I was still bleeding heavily at 4 weeks and suffering from Reynauds of the nipple (!) , second baby, WFH after three months leave doable but not pleasant, 4 weeks I think wouldn't be realistic especially if there are complications for you or the baby

You have no idea what kind of birth / recovery you'll have, so you can't commit to a 4 week mat leave.

You will get SMP if you work beyond the qualifying week, even if you then finish afterwards / before you want it to start.

I went back to work after 8 weeks not because i wanted to but because I had to. I think if you can WFH and family are able to help at your house it would be fine. Congratulations on the baby 👶

@RedMarauder

Try for the second and if it doesn't work then you have the first.

What now?

The OP is already 11 weeks pregnant.

I say do what you have to do, times are hard and financial stability is important.

Oh god that is a tough position to be in! For me, personally, the time with baby is just sooooo important, and 4 week really isnt enough. If you have a c section you will still be recovering. People wouldnt go back to work 4 weeks after major surgery, so 4 weeks after birth where you include sleep deprivation, hormones, and general adjusting to a new baby would be madness.

I know you need the job. I know DHs job isnt stable. I know your job may not give you another contract. Its a really tough position to be in. However, I would still prioritise baby over a job. A new job can be found (even if its not exactly what you currently do) but that time with baby can never happen again, and 4 weeks is just way too quick.

is there anything in between 4 weeks and 1 year?

A large proportion of women in America are not eligible for paid maternity leave and so they go back to work as soon as they are physically able to... Its not ideal but my point is that if you were only working 2 or 3 days a week you would have 4 or 5 days exclusively with your baby.

If you coiod work from home, with such a young child I honestly can't see there being an issue, unless you're on conference calls all day, to keeping a child that small with you. If you cna get family to help even better.

It's worth a try.

I wouldn’t agree to your taking four weeks mat leave if I were your employer. If you don’t tell her until after the contract’s been extended she’s going to be livid when she finds out.

Well surely you don't have to tell them so soon? For my employer, you have to tell them before 25 weeks I think.
If yours does similar you could wait until then (January??) by which time they might have already confirmed the extension. Then you can take your leave.

also you might still be eligible for maternity allowance - have a look at the gov website

My employer does an "enhanced pay" thing, which is based on what you earn in a qualifying week, which I think is week 25.

Last thing to consider is is you need to go back for a certain amount of time to get paid - eg for mine I have to go back for at least 3 months after my leave otherwise they want the enhanced pay back! On a fixed-term contract this could meam you need to time your leave carefully!

Thanks all.

I won't be eligible for SMP as I won't be employed when I give birth; my contract would have ended the previous month.

I dont think work would extend my contract if I proposed any longer leave time than 4 weeks, given the situation.

If i don't tell my boss until I'm 25 weeks I risk ruining our professional relationship; she would be furious that I've gone along with the contract extension knowing I won't be around to do the work. She will never hire me again. Same goes for telling her much later than 12 weeks as the ball will be rolling on getting sign off for the extension, and she has to put in a lot of work to get this done.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

"accept that my job will end in March and I'll be eligible for zero maternity pay"
You're mistaken, you will be entitled to SMP even if your job ends in March.

Legally your employer cannot refuse to renew your contract just because you are pregnant, so may well be able to renew and negotiate maternity leave and a job to go back to.

Are you a trade union member?

I thought as long as you are working during your qualifying week then you would get SMP. Does that change if you lose your job before starting mat leave?
How would your work days be structured? If you could spread the 14 hours across the week whenever it suited you, then it is probably possible. If you needed to commit to certain days then it will be harder. And you need to find out what happens if you are not ready to go back after four weeks, whether due to something demonstrable like illness or complications, or something more subjective like tiredness.

I’d let the ball start rolling for the extension so you know that it’s what she wants as this will be important. Then tell her and be a little sketchy on dates, you don’t need the Mat1B for a while. But it then gives you the power to play the ‘you’ve only changed your mind because I’m pregnant card’ if they try and cancel the contract extension. From your side when you tell her you can offer a ‘fairly short’ mat leave but again don’t be pinned down yet into anything if possible.

If you can entirely work from home then the heavy bleeding, not being able to drive if you have a c sec isn't as much an issue, also of you can do say your 8 hours over 10 so you get some breaks with baby it's doable. Only you can decide if it's right for you.

Speak to your boss, ask how long she'd be willing to accept you having off and still renew. She might be more favourable than you think. I'd Def try for min 6 weeks

You would get maternity allowance so long as you’ve worked 26 of the 66 weeks before baby’s birth.

I think you can make the job work though.

@AnotherEmma so I'll still be eligible for SMP even if my contract ends 4 weeks before due date? I did not know that, thank you. I appreciate it's illegal to discriminate but in reality they would start the ball rolling on the extension, I'd tell them I'm pregnant and then they'd find a budgetry hurdle that means they can't extend (which is nonsense, as they are a huge company with pots of money). Im not a trade union member but will look into this.

My working days would be set days, but I could do, say, 7h work across 12h, so long as I attend Skype meetings (which are relatively infreqent) .

"and then they'd find a budgetry hurdle that means they can't extend"
to be honest, if you think they'd be willing to do this you should have no scruples in waiting until they get the extension to tell them you're pregnant!

@Poppyismyfavourite when I say "they" i mean to top bosses. I need to keep my boss onside as she may well offer me a job in the future and is a good contact to have. So I'd feel uncomfortable about not telling her until I'm 20 odd weeks, by which point the extension would have gone through.

If you can pace yourself on your working days and work from home, it could be doable. Will someone else be able to look after the baby whilst you are working? Can your partner take time out either in terms of flexibility or taking a period of parental leave to be the main carer? I ask this because the one thing that is harder to guarantee is WHEN your baby will do things in the early months. He/she may well sleep for 3 hours in the day, but the exact timing of this might be a bit trickier.

Sadly you can't offer that guarantee to your employers. You can say it now buy change your mind up to 8 weeks before you go back. And she would have to agree. So no matter what you say she has no guarantee

I've taken two mat leaves, the first was for over a year and I found the transition back to work awful.

Second time I was back in the office from 6 weeks, albeit for one day a week at first and slowly working up to my usual hours. I found the return far easier.

The same as you, had I not chosen to go back so soon I'd have been in rocky position with a job I didn't want to lose. Childcare was provided by family so I didn't have the worry of leaving him in a nursery.

It's also worth mentioning that I went back at six weeks after a c section and had no problems whatsoever.

I took two weeks maternity leave work my last DC. It was fine. A lot of it was WFH but about three hours a day were out of the house and physically demanding.

It really wasn't a problem at the time, although looking back I was exhausted all the time!