I'm sorry for the long post, I'm just venting to let some of this pregnancy stress off my chest. Part 1 is about the maternity leave my work is “allowing” me to have, Part 2 will be about how I personally think my boss is being shady.
I (23f) am currently 26 weeks pregnant. When I had the interview for my current job, I was 17 weeks pregnant, 19 weeks pregnant when I first started working there. During the interview, I let my boss know that I was pregnant (I wasn't showing much at the time). My boss and my coworkers have been pretty cool about the pregnancy (including me, there's 5 of us at this store). My boss told me soon after I started that the district manager asked him if he knew I was pregnant. My boss informed him that he knew, that I brought it up to him during the interview, and that the pregnancy won't hinder me from doing my job.
During training, I asked the trainer I had about maternity leave, and how it would work since I'm new. Long story short, I contacted HR, who had to talk to my district manager about how much time they can give me. HR contacted me, letting me know they can give me a “discretionary” 2 weeks off if I drop down to part time, and when I come back, to bring a doctor's note stating I need to work limited hours. HR said the minimum hours a week I will need to work is 4 so they can keep me on.
This is my first child, and my mom had a difficult labor for both my younger brother and I. My boyfriend and I were both early from our mothers. I'll barely be able to drive at 2 weeks post labor, let alone being healed at all. I know I don't qualify for FMLA due to my state's laws, and how new I am to my employer, but I also feel like 2 weeks is way too short to return to work. I work in Illinois, does anyone have any advice on what I should do? Personally, I probably won't come back to this job after my maternity leave, but I wanted to get some people's advice on the matter to get a clear idea on what I want to do.