I am 4 months pregnant.

Anonymous

August 10,2022 at 1:29AM UTC

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I am 4 months pregnant. Before I found out I was pregnant, I started looking for and applying to new jobs. Many of the recruiters and jobs have just started to get back to me. I have a few great opportunities, but am hesitant to act on them because of maternity leave. Only a few offer pad maternity leave without tenure. Others, like Amazon, seem to have to work there a year to qualify for maternity leave. If I move jobs, is if possible I could not qualify for FMLA or short term disability? Would a company not offer any maternity leave?

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TeenieAugust 10,2022 at 3:01AM UTC
There are more firms that don't offer maternity than you would believe. So focus on the state qualifications... NY for example pays... its a small amount, but every little amt helps.
Id choose post maternity "support" , flex roles etc as decision points too. The amt spent on childcare afterhours may just eat up any addtl salary ... all tht usually is a good idea to think through.
AnonymousAugust 10,2022 at 1:49PM UTC
Thank you-- very helpful to think through.
KarenAugust 10,2022 at 1:44PM UTC
Once I accepted a job only to find out a couple weeks into the job I was pregnant. Not knowing how they would respond, and my ever growing bump giving it away, I told them the truth - I didn't know I was pregnant when applying, this is my due date... They were ecstatic for me and even threw me a baby shower closer to the time the baby was to be born! Sometimes what we think will be a negative actually turns out to be a positive. As for paid leave, mine wasn't paid but I did squirrel away in the interim and it worked out. (I was out for 3 months and during that time my husband lost his job.)
AnonymousAugust 10,2022 at 1:48PM UTC
Thank you for the positive outlook and advice!
AnonymousAugust 10,2022 at 6:16PM UTC
Thats lovely, same situation happened to me. The firm head honcho knew me for a bit and had been speaking with me to join for about 18 months before I decided to join.
As soon as I shared the info, within 15 mins HR sent me an email stating how they were not mandated to cover.. I took unpaid leave for a lil over a month, and was promptly laid off 10 days after I returned. I had worked 6-7 months before I took off and had crossed all revenue targets set. (& had been managing business conversations even during unpaid 1 month) to ensure the deals didn't fall off the radar.
Someone else was brought in during that 1 month I was away ... and he essentially made sure he cancelled me completely. Its all about perception and active management IF your boss doesn't use objective evaluation skills.
KarenAugust 10,2022 at 6:24PM UTC
Sorry it went sour for you after your return. Hopefully you were able to find something better.