I emailed my HR back in January asking what the std is for maternity leave and if there's any rules or stipulations I should be aware of. The HR person responded by sending me the benefits guide indicating which page std was talked about, including maternity. The table for std, for salaried workers, shows 12 weeks at 80% pay. For the maternity section, it's a box that says the company gives us additional 10 days of parental leave.
I also contacted the 3rd party insurance company. When I asked that if I decide to change my time away (say from 8 to 10 weeks) is there anything I needed to do, they said just extend it online.
Great.
I had my baby last week and HR wants to know how I want to use my time, showing me returning end of May. I email saying no, I'm taking the full 12 weeks. HR replies that the 3rd party insurance group usually only allows the traditional 6 weeks for vaginal delivery, no complications… I am blindsided. I start googling, searching reddit, and yes, this is common. But why not state it in the benefits guide?Why did no one from HR or the 3rd party std company tell me? I'm a broken record complaining about shitty US healthcare, but at least most ppl are told ahead of time.
Worst part is that I used PTO for some long weekends before I gave birth just to rest. I would not have done that and would have had an extra 5 days…
Just fucking tell us the truth up front.