October Pumpkins 2017

[lindsayms05]

Ok great...I added Stephanie as a friend because I didn't see an friend request button on your page.

My name is Lindsay Smith.

I had my cervical scan yesterday. Cervix looks good! This tech was rushed so we didn't get any good pictures, only creepy alien baby pictures, lol, but she did confirm it is 100% a boy so time to sort through my girl stuff!

 

[lindsayms05]

CrazyBird - I'm guessing it would depend on your companies maternity leave policy. Are you in the states? I know most places here don't offer maternity leave so a lot of ladies are stuck taking unpaid FMLA for maternity leave. I am a teacher and don't have maternity benefits, but I do get to use my sick/personal leave for it so luckily will still be getting paid my normal pay and keep my benefits.

 

[KRobbo]

Crazybird I worked in HR in the U.K.? So if you're UK based I can help?

 

[CrazyBird]

Lindsay- the maternity pay in states isn't good from what I've heard. We get it too good here in the U.K. The company I work for is really good in what they pay for maternity leave, I will be taking a year off.

Krobbo yes I'm in the uk of you can help? Also my conpany have offered me to go onto days but I was wondering if they will still have to pay me the night rate or does it depend on each company.

 

[saraaa]

Lindsay- the maternity pay in states isn't good from what I've heard. We get it too good here in the U.K. The company I work for is really good in what they pay for maternity leave, I will be taking a year off.

Krobbo yes I'm in the uk of you can help? Also my conpany have offered me to go onto days but I was wondering if they will still have to pay me the night rate or does it depend on each company.

With maternity pay you usually get 90% of your earnings or a certain amount that I can't remember, whatever is less.
Maternity pay usually works out at about £500 a month? I might be wrong I can't remember what it was with my son, unless you work are paying you in full for your maternity

 

[saraaa]

Just found it

The government will pay you Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for up to 39 weeks of your maternity leave. You get: 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first 6 weeks. £136.78 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks."

 

[saraaa]

Ok great...I added Stephanie as a friend because I didn't see an friend request button on your page.

My name is Lindsay Smith.

I had my cervical scan yesterday. Cervix looks good! This tech was rushed so we didn't get any good pictures, only creepy alien baby pictures, lol, but she did confirm it is 100% a boy so time to sort through my girl stuff!

I've requested her too.

My name is Sara Allan

 

[KRobbo]

Crazybird there should be a company policy on the Maternity pay your company pays. If it is over and above statutory pay then it is all at the discretion of the company but must be in line with internal policies or terms and conditions - so ask HR for copies.

I would expect that the additional pay is made on a number of weeks (e.g. 12 weeks Full pay, 12 weeks 1/2 pay rest statutory etc). I would expect them to use the same calculations as they would when working out what 90% pay is for those receiving smp and would be based on your average weekly earnings. In that scenario it would honour the rate you were being paid for 8 weeks up to 15 weeks before your due date - so weeks 17-25ish. If you have been moved to days on day rate and you agree with this then that would lower your maternity pay in all likelihood. However if they move you onto days for health and safety reasons you may be able to put up an argument to maintain the night rate.


I hope all this makes sense- I'm having a fuzzy headed day today! I'd be happy to look at your policy if you want me to.

 

[CrazyBird]

The company I work for pay full pay for 8 weeks then half pay for the next 4 months but also pay mat pay on top of that apparently. Then the next 3 months in just SMP then last 3 months nothing. It's the same at the NHS pension which is quite good.

 

[CrazyBird]

Crazybird there should be a company policy on the Maternity pay your company pays. If it is over and above statutory pay then it is all at the discretion of the company but must be in line with internal policies or terms and conditions - so ask HR for copies.

I would expect that the additional pay is made on a number of weeks (e.g. 12 weeks Full pay, 12 weeks 1/2 pay rest statutory etc). I would expect them to use the same calculations as they would when working out what 90% pay is for those receiving smp and would be based on your average weekly earnings. In that scenario it would honour the rate you were being paid for 8 weeks up to 15 weeks before your due date - so weeks 17-25ish. If you have been moved to days on day rate and you agree with this then that would lower your maternity pay in all likelihood. However if they move you onto days for health and safety reasons you may be able to put up an argument to maintain the night rate.


I hope all this makes sense- I'm having a fuzzy headed day today! I'd be happy to look at your policy if you want me to.

Yes that makes sense thankyou.

 

[MEPride]

So jealous of you ladies with your scans!!!! I still have 3 weeks to go for my 20 week scan!

Also super jealous of you ladies in the U.K.!! The states is so far behind with women's rights and maternity leave it isn't funny. The general law here is a guaranteed 12 weeks unpaid leave through the Family Medical Leave Act and further maternity benefits is determined by individual states and companies. The company I work for doesn't really offer maternity leave so I have to do the following to get paid:
2 weeks vacation time
4 weeks of short term disability with 60% salary
Long term illness (I have about 100 hours accrued)
And any remaining time I take off is vacation time.

It's messed up! After all that, I'll have only 10 weeks covered of pay and probably only 60% of my salary total. To make matters worse... I'm one of the lucky ones that can actually do this.


So ladies in the U.K., be greatful!!!!

 

[Meditteranean]

I agree the states maternity leave is awful!!! In Canada's have it pretty good too! Maternity leave is based on your yearly income and you get 12 months of paid leave from the government. They just extended this last month to18 months but the payments are spread out to cover the extra period. My work also tops me up to 100% of my pay for the first 4 months.

 

[lilmisscaviar]

Oh man you UK ladies make me so envious of your maternity leave! I live in the States too and had to end up quitting my job to be a SAHM because my previous employer wouldn't give me enough time off. I had HG so I had to use up my 12 weeks in the beginning of pregnancy and was given absolutely no time off after the baby was born. They pretty much told me after she was born that I had to be "devoted to the company" or be fired so I quit. It was hard at first surviving on only one income but now that we're in a balance it is a bit easier. Thankfully we own our own home so our mortgage is about 2-3 times cheaper than rent, plus our car is paid off and we limit our budget to $100 a week for food. I do plan to go back to work once our youngest is in kindergarten though.

 

[Mrs B.]

Very grateful UK-er over here. We have sh*t weather but we do get better maternity. I couldn't believe the lack of maternity leave in the States... astounding. I guess it's why sahms appear to be more common in the States. We get (I think) 4 weeks at 90% pay then the rest of 9 months on statutory maternity (which isn't a huge amount... about £500 ($600-650ish) a month but much better than 0), then we can take a further 3 months unpaid by law. My employer extends the initial 4 weeks for a bit longer, so I'm grateful for that too!

 

[KRobbo]

We are lucky here in the U.K., with my previous two pregnancies I was also in receipt of a car allowance which they had to keep paying me and we also accrue all of our annual leave and bank holidays during the 12 months off so we can still take an additional month at full pay at least. This is the first time I'm not traditionally working as my husband and I have set up our own business, he's the brains and I'm the office manager. Because there is only 2 of us he can claim 100% of my smp back plus a bit more for the inconvenience of losing his only employee for a year! So it's worked out nicely for us as he's the one who goes out and earns the money so there won't be any less coming in so the smp is a bonus, and I can use my KIT days to still do his accounts so he won't have that much additional work for himself.

I don't know how you ladies in the US manage, you must be made of some strong stuff going back when you're still so still deprived early on. I'm an absolute mush head on no sleep!

On other news DS1 has decide he wants to k ow the gender so for the first time I'm not team going to be team yellow!

 

[lindsayms05]

It blows my mind that you guys have such great maternity leave in Canada and the UK. I literally have to use all my sick leave/personal leave to get paid and then unpaid after that. As a teacher, we get 3 days of personal leave and accrue 1.25 days of sick leave per month. I have about 3 months worth of days saved up so I'll be taking off October, November, and December. I will return to work the first part of January.

 

[lindsayms05]

Ohhhh, my most recent scan pic! He was rubbing the side of his head so she was trying to get a cute picture of that...and I ended up with this. LOL! I was like, "Oh my..."

 

[CrazyBird]

I do feel very grateful of the maternity pay here in the UK. We are very lucky. Maybe it's because we are a smaller country.

 

[Orglethorp]

My work only does 6 weeks of pay top-up for maternity, but getting pregnant now kinda made my vacation weeks that I booked back in January unecessary, so I'm gonna see if I can use my 2 paid vaca weeks before the maternity leave officially starts.

 

[MEPride]

Ohhhh, my most recent scan pic! He was rubbing the side of his head so she was trying to get a cute picture of that...and I ended up with this. LOL! I was like, "Oh my..."

Lol! That's almost like looking at a Rorschach's test. I am seeing the helmet of a Marvel comic book character! Hahahah, I love it! It may not be that cute picture you were hoping for but I bet you can make quite a few jokes on your cute bean's behalf!!