You are legally entitled to take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. You need to have worked for your employer for a year and have put in a minimum of 1,250 hours of work. There should also be 50 employees within a 75-mile radius.
You look over everything and qualify to be out for a couple of weeks. You could be out a total of 12 weeks. The problem is pay. Those 12 weeks are unpaid. This is where I see some problems. Follow along for some tips to be better prepared for the unexpected:
- You should take advantage of your employers paid time off policies. You could use vacation, sick, and any other time off options to help alleviate some of the pain of going unpaid.
- You should consider getting short-term disability with your employer. This is an insurance in case you get hurt outside of work.
- Please be aware that some states do have state provided short-term disability. This means you will get this insurance through the state government and should see the deduction on your check.
- You should save on the side about eight weeks of pay for any unexpected leave that will come up. This will allow you to take leave without worrying about pay. Additionally, you could plan by saving this amount should you want to bond with your baby.
- Please be aware that some states have paid family leave as part of their programs. You should check your paystub for the deduction and speak to human resources.
The tips listed above should help you prepare. Please do a little more leg work though. There are other things to consider as well. Also, disability insurance and any paid family leave will only cover a portion of pay. You will probably need to save a certain amount to make your pay whole.