Papersmile,

Taxpayers don't pay for the leave here.

oh

we are such a heavily-taxed country (some good, some bad)

so how is maternity leave paid out? by private companies? so some get paid leave and others don't?

Yep.......it's all up to the employer and what they wanna call the time off they give you......maternity leave is STILL your vacation time, but it's easier to get than just regular time off.......sort of like a caste system of types of time off........

it's been awhile since i had a baby, but i believe it's one-year paid materity, by the government (providing you've logged enough hours of work) and it's about 70% of your gross pay (private companies might top it up)

I've only heard of that in europe....

I've worked for the US government for just over 30 years......and in this country there is NO government sponsored maternity leave......there is in other countries, but not here.

Even employees of the government don't have it except as in the form of your earned time off......ie. vacation time.

If you don't have the vacation time, aren't you still allowed a longer maternity leave without pay? Isn't that part of the Family Leave Act? I'm not sure. I didn't use it.

Most businesses in Indiana give you 6 weeks maternity leave...this allows the body to heal and the mother and child to bond before returning to work, and most times, fathers are given the same amount of time so as to bond with the baby and help around the house, etc...I could not imagine giving birth and going back to work in 3 days...that is insane

family leave act: federal, no pay, leave time during which you can be absent 8 weeks and your job will still be available....

for your information what you get on maternity leave depends on the money that you have put into those taxes. so shut up if you have never had the pleasure of having a child or don't know what the heck your talking about.

shut up?

hahahahahahahahaha

people have been trying to get me to do that for years! you think you'll make a difference?

~~~~~

it's just a thought i was throwing out there anyway.

we ALL pay taxes, and those taxes go to many different things, don't they? employment insurance, hospitals, education, maternity leave, etc.?

why should those who choose NOT to have children, or can't, have to subsidize those who do? it's the same concept as those who feel that they shouldn't pay education taxes if they don't have children and still own a home.

it was a discussion, and i introduced a concept that i thought might upset others, but i still felt it interesting to show the other side of the spectrum. if someone's not willing to listen to other ideas and thoughts, and discuss them, to either learn/dismiss, then what is the point of even being on a forum?

to tell people to shut up if they don't think the same as you?

I believe that if you can stay at home u should , if you have to go back to work i say 3 months so the baby has time to bond ..

Funny you brought this up cause I'm struggling with this problem myself. According to FMLA, you are allowed up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave after working for your employer for a year. If you haven't worked for them for more then a year, it is prorated for the time that you have worked. Up until December, I had accumulated 3 weeks. Then I got put on bed rest, and ended up using all but 2 days of those 3 weeks. So now I don't know what I'm going to do when I have the baby in July. By then I should have roughly 4 weeks of leave built up, but I'm worried what will happen once that 4 weeks is over with. I hope they don't fire me for taking the additional 2 weeks off.

6-12 weeks is good for maternity leave.

It's not really the people who can have kids fault that someone can't have children. I'm not sure about where you live paper, but here alot of parents can't afford to not have 2 incomes.

I'm all for moms that want to stay at home but to say they shouldn't get paid while on leave for childbirth would be like saying no one should have children until they are financially ready for them, and well if that were the case no one would ever have kids lol.

Canada.