How to make a short maternity leave work?

[JackieBrown63]

Hi Mumnetters. I am based in the UK but work for a US company. Before I became pregnant my employer that I was entitled to unlimited paid leave with my new baby. However, as soon as they found out I was pregnant, they changed the rules. I am now only entitled to 4 weeks unpaid leave when the baby comes. As I am from the UK, 4 weeks seems not nearly enough (compared to the minimum 6months we get here in the UK). What do US employees do when they are nursing? Am I going to have to attend meetings with a baby on my boob? Seriously, how do you do it? My husband and I can't afford for me to leave this job as I am the main earner of our house but I do intend on nursing my baby for at least 6 months. Any kind advice would be so appreciated.

PS. This is my first child :).

If you're in the UK are you not subject to the rules in the UK?

If you're in the UK, you're subject to UK employment law I think. Doesn't matter if you work for a US company. In which case, you have the right to have up to a year off and paid leave for up to 39 weeks (albeit 90% of your salary for 6 weeks and SMP for the next 33 weeks).

dementedpixie - no, I forgot to add in the question. I called up Gov.uk and they told me because I am technically self-employed I am not entitled to any UK leave or pay.

If your self-employed, can't you claim maternity allowance?

Even if they’re a US company, they are obliged to stick to UK rules for their UK employees.

You are entitled to up to a year off with a mix of statutory paid and unpaid leave, and you are entitled to return to your current role if you come back within 6 months.

Push back on them, they perhaps don’t fully understand the environment they are operating in.

www.gov.uk/employers-maternity-pay-leave

Maternity allowance is unlikely to help if OP is the main earner. It's a pittance.

Could you do shared parental leave so your partner takes time off instead. Doesn't help with breast feeding though. Do you / can you work from home?

@OnceUponAThread

Maternity allowance is unlikely to help if OP is the main earner. It's a pittance.

Could you do shared parental leave so your partner takes time off instead. Doesn't help with breast feeding though. Do you / can you work from home?

But the OP will currently be getting nothing at all so MA is better than that!

www.gov.uk/employers-maternity-pay-leave/eligibility-and-proof-of-pregnancy

Because I am technically not "employed", I am not entitled to anything. I called the government and spoke to someone over the phone and they confirmed this to be true. My husband is planning on sharing my Maternity leave so at least he will be home but he won't be able to breastfeed haha.

You can claim maternity allowance instead if you’re self employed. Even in the US as long as your company has 50 or more employees you get 12 weeks off. I’ve never even heard of a daycare there taking babies younger than 6 weeks, I presume you have a nanny lined up with newborn experience? But 4 weeks is completely insane and there’s a good chance you won’t be physically recovered from the birth if you have a section, forceps or anything like that, I would definitely try to negotiate with your company, I did successfully when I transferred from the US to the U.K. whilst pregnant. However, based on all my American mom friends who nursed: pumping and feeding expressed milk from a bottle from the beginning, scheduling pump breaks into the work day and sleep training very early seems to be the standard.

pregnantthenscrewed.com/covid-19/

Could this help ?

www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance

Have you read this? If you’ve been self employed for at least 26 weeks and earning more than £30 a week for 13 of those weeks then you’re eligible.

Well it is what it is. Agree get baby taking a bottle and pumping regularly from 10 days or so. Remember any breast milk is good for your baby and formula isn't poison. I returned to work at 5m with DC2 and mix fed very successfully. Introduce the 1st bottle at 10pm let DH give this one and get tour head down straight after your evening meal.

Hi, I was working in a country where US laws applied when I had DD. I had six weeks maternity leave (although this was paid by the company I worked for; you have to stay for a year after you return, or you pay back the six weeks on a pro rata basis) and I didn't breastfeed, although it was common to see women in the toilets at work expressing milk. I was lucky and able to tack two weeks of annual leave on, so eight weeks in total and it was ok, mainly because I knew no different and everyone else did the same.

Hi, wow this sounds really difficult I'm so sorry that you'll need to go back to work so soon :(
Could you at least work part time to begin with?
I have a 16mo and took 1 year off.
At such a young age I think you'll need to think about getting a nanny until they are ready to go to a nursery or child minder. I put my son in nursery at 12 months and in hindsight I think he would have been better off with a smaller group like a childminder as he struggled with the nursery routine (not much sleep), they all get treated as a group so is difficult to tailor to each child's needs. He is starting to do better now he is a bit older.

Newborns are so little and need so much looking after! I can't imagine a nursery or childminder even taking on a little baby.

If you have a nanny and presumably working from home some of the time then you'll still be able to breastfeed but I'd also recommend getting the baby on a bottle and pumping so it is flexible. A friend of mine went back to work after 4 months and had a nanny, she still breastfed twice during the working day, had scheduled in breaks in her calendar so no one could put a meeting in that spot.

Good luck xx

I work for a US company, and our US employees get 16 weeks of maternity leave.
I'd honestly consider quitting my job if I only had 4 weeks of maternity leave. I don't think you can make it work.

Are you genuinely self-employed though?

You can call yourself "self-employed" but if the facts are that you have an employment relationship then in law you are an employee.

If you were self-employed you wouldn't have an employer for starters.

Not mentioning that to be awkward but because it sounds like you are leaving yourself exposed to a huge risk in terms of tax compliance.

Maybe that was a mistake on my part calling them my "employer" but they have "employed" me on a freelance basic, I invoice them monthly and we have a rolling contract. I file my tax return and pay taxes in the UK. The company has under 50 employees so by US law I don't think anyone working under a company that size is entitled to any maternity leave.

I usually wouldn't hesitate quitting my job to spend time with my little one but this has been an amazing opportunity for me, the work is fun, the pay is double of what I could ever dream of earning as a graphic designer in the UK and me quitting means my husband and I probably couldn't afford our rent based on his income alone.

So you could take some time off and claim maternity allowance. You can choose how much time off you take as you wouldn't be eligible for maternity leave if self employed.

If you're freelance rather than an employee, your employer would be in a very awkward tax position if they gave you any kind of employment benefits like maternity leave. Freelancers get paid more generally per day to make up for the fact that you don't get paid leave. Most freelancers I know have saved up and then claimed MA. I'm also not a tax expert but isn't there an issue with being freelance but only working for one employer too?

Self employed : between £27 to £151.97 a week for 39 weeks, if you’ve paid enough Class 2 National Insurance contributions.

Do you personally invoice them or own a company that invoices them?

If you have a company, you employ yourself and can claim statuary maternity pay.
If you are a sole trader you can claim maternity allowance.

IR35 issues were made more prominent this year after the Uber case in the Supreme Court.

I mean this kindly OP, but you can't have your cake and eat it - previous replies are correct; freelancers are generally paid more (which you allude to) to make up for the lack of sick, maternity and holiday pay, plus other benefits.

As a genuine freelancer you should be able to move your hours around - split your working day between daytime and evening etc., around feeding. I agree with others who have said that it's not clear you have a completely freelance situation (having gone through this process myself - my UK based employer had to employ me, having initially hired me as a freelance worker). The general tests are: freedom to choose when you work; having other contracts; freedom to substitute someone else to do your work; looking at general working practices, e.g. are you constrained in the amount of leave you can take / when you take it, do they provide your equipment etc. I appreciate this isn't the question you have asked, but you need to be aware of it - HMRC can take a very dim view of this stuff if they find out.

Maybe search for US-based sites to see what mothers in the US do, or ask in the overseas section of MN?

It isn't so much about the financials but the time and availability I want to give my son. I am under a freelance contract but they treat me like a full time employee which (under my contract) entitles me to unlimited paid time off (within reason). They still expect me to work 8 hours a day, log my hours and attend meetings at certain times so it isn't a traditionally freelance role and isn't at all flexible as you may think. I am not being paid more as a freelancer, but for the role I am doing within their company. My freelance income was much less than what I am earning now. So like I said, I can save money no problem but I will never get those precious moments back with my new born. I am honestly considering quitting as it's all getting a bit too much.