Electronic Signature Licitness for Pregnancy Leave Policy in United States

How to eSign a document: electronic signature licitness for Pregnancy Leave Policy in United States

For the majority of women in the  United States maternity leave is unpaid,   which is why it's critical to understand all of  the policies in place on the federal, state, and   company level so that you can create a leave  plan that's best for yourself and your family.  In this video we will break down maternity leave.  We will walk through some of the policies in place   on the federal level, some on the state level, and some of the company policies that you want   to watch out for and look out for so you can take  advantage of all of these benefits. Throughout the   video I may use the words maternity and paternity  interchangeably. This is just meant to cover the   fact that providing support for new mothers  new fathers and new parents would go a long way   to ensuring that family starts off with a stronger  bond. Starting a family should be an exciting time, yet many parents are stressed out  because they would have to take leave   and most of the time that leave is unpaid. Most of  the time leave can jeopardize the protection of   their job and most of the time leave may not  provide the other benefits that being a full-time   employee has. First just a disclaimer that I am  not an employment lawyer nor do I work in HR.  I had my child a little bit later in life at the  age of 36 after I was in the corporate world so my   experience is a little bit different. There's also  constantly new policies in place to help with more   benefits so you'll need to review your personal  situation. Review what state you live in so that   you can maximize these benefits. Thanks so much for  joining me today my name is Catherine Agopcan and   here at Sisters For Financial Independence (Sisters For FI) we help future moms and current moms save money, invest,  and do more with the money they have. Let's first  start with a fact: The United States is the only   wealthy country that does not offer universal paid  parental leave. This means that if you are a woman   about to birth a child, if you are about to have  a child through adoption or foster care, you need   to figure out how to financially support yourself  and your family during the time when you need to   take care of the newest member of your family. Some  parents have to make the tough decision to go back   to work sooner than they'd like to ensure income  continues to flow for the family. In many cases   you yourself will have to piece together and  coordinate together several pieces of benefits   and policies to come up with your own maternity  leave plan that works best for you and your family. Because there are many factors in place, I encourage you to start this process, start   understanding what maternity leave will entail  for you, early on in your pregnancy or in your   adoption process, or in your foster care process. I  also encourage if you've been through this process   please leave comments in the description share  your experience so that others may learn from it. Let's start on the Federal level. On the Federal  level you have what's called FMLA which is the   Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 and this  law, it's a labor law, it requires covered   employers to provide covered employees with job  protected, unpaid leave for qualified medical   and family reasons. The law allows you to take  12 weeks of unpaid leave in any 12-month period.  For FMLA you can use it for the following: Time  off for the arrival of a new child in the family, whether by birth, adoption, or foster care. The care  of a family member with a serious health condition.   Time off for your own serious health condition  that prevents you from doing essential job duties.   Time off for the care of a family  member injured in military service, and time off for the preparation for yourself  or a family member about to be deployed into military service. Let's break down FMLA  a bit further. The first thing to note about   FMLA is job protection. So under FMLA your employer  must allow you to return to the same position,   same benefits, same salary, and seniority after your  12-week unpaid leave, however ,it is not total job   protection. And I will cover that a little bit  later in this video. The second thing to note   about FMLA is medical coverage. While you are  on leave, you are considered an active employee   so if your employer has been providing you health  insurance and paying the pre premiums they must   continue to do so while you are on leave. And while  you don't get paid, if you have to pay half the   premium you need to make arrangements to figure  out how you will pay for the premiums for your   medical coverage. Your employer is allowed to ask  for reimbursement of premiums when you come back   to work. The last thing that I'll emphasize with  FMLA is it's unpaid. So for the 12 weeks, you're at home   caring for a loved one, it is time that is unpaid  so no income is coming. And another thing to note   about FMLA is it's only for covered employers  and covered employees so it's necessary for you   to make sure you meet eligibility or know  what the requirements are so that you can   start meeting those requirements for FMLA. So  in order to have job protection under FMLA   you must work for a covered employer and a  covered employer must meet the following criteria:  The employer must have at least 50 or  more employees. Those 50 plus employees   must have worked a period of 20 or more calendar  work weeks in the current or preceding year. FMLA   will apply to public schools, state departments,  municipalities, regardless of the size.   Sadly if you work for a smaller employer FMLA  will not be available for you and there's also a   special case for contractors or people with joint  employers. The second requirement under FMLA is   that you must be a covered employee and in order  to be a covered employee you must have worked at   least 12 months with the covered employer for  the past seven years. You must have also worked   1250 hours in the 12 months before your leave  begins. So understanding these requirements   can help you plan ahead. It can help you  decide if you should take on a new job   or if you should continue with your  current employer so you have FMLA   coverage and can take advantage of that job  protection. A few more caveats when it comes to   the FMLA. One FMLA only covers one person in a  a couple per company. If you and your partner work   at the same company, you're entitled to a total  of 12 weeks combined not 12 weeks each of leave.   Your company may require you to use up all of your  vacation days, sick time, and personal days before   you can use the unpaid FMLA time. You will need to  make sure you give notice. And at least try to give   your employer 30 days of notice and let them know  you're planning to take FMLA-guaranteed time off. I   will caveat that some managers may not understand  FMLA process and laws so make sure HR is involved   the minute you want to take FMLA leave. Your leave  may impact future promotions and vacation time.   Your company is not required to allow you to  accrue vacation time while you're on leave   or count that time as length of service which  can affect benefits that use that time clock   such as investing for your 401k, your stock options,  or other benefits. Another caveat is that you can't   contribute to your existing benefits so this  means you can't contribute to your 401k plan   as well as your flexible spending accounts because  you are not getting a paycheck during your unpaid   leave. Now job protection is the hallmark of FMLA  but it's still possible to be laid off while on   FMLA. If there is a layoff across departments, it's  possible to not have a job when you do   come back from leave. Your employer just has to  prove that you would have been laid off even if   you were not on FMLA. So as soon as you know you  will need to take time off to care for yourself   or a loved one make sure you let your HR know,  make sure you let your manager know so that you   can begin preparation. You can understand if you  need additional requirements to meet the covered   employee eligibility for FMLA. If this video has  been helpful so far give it a thumbs up and share   it with a friend who is about to embark on this  journey. Understanding what the FMLA requirements   are can help them plan ahead. So now that you know  what's available on the Federal level it's now   time to look at the state level. And there might be  policies in place that will provide you some paid   options. Remember FMLA is on the Federal level - job  protection medical coverage but is unpaid leave so   no income during that time frame. Currently there  are nine states and the District of Columbia that   offer some kind of paid family leave. The policies  in each state do vary greatly so I encourage   you to spend some time understanding what those  policies are if you live in one of these states   that offers paid family leave. The states that  offer paid family leave are California, Connecticut,   Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Puerto  Rico, Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington DC.   And now Oregon and Colorado will begin similar  programs in 2023. There's some verbiage difference   when it comes to these plans. Most are termed paid  family and medical leave and it's split into two   key areas. The first area is paid family leave  and this allows workers to take time off to care   for ill family members or a new child. It's  also known as family caregiver or family leave   insurance. Second part to this is paid medical  leave and this is for a worker who has to take   time off for their own illness or serious health  condition and this will count towards temporary   disability or short-term disability. In most cases  these paid family and medical leave policies   will provide a weekly benefit payment that's  a percentage of your usual income during leave.   There's some calculators on their respective  state websites so you can calculate and plan ahead   financially for yours. In a lot of these cases you  do have to pay into the program to get the benefit.  What you'll now see in your paycheck if you live  in one of these states is a line item where they   are deducting a portion of your paycheck  to fund this paid family and leave acts.   For those that will birth a child you will  take advantage of the paid medical leave   for your own healing that will count for the  first six or eight weeks depending on how you   delivered your baby. After the baby is born  the caring of the newborn will count towards   paid family leave so you'll be using both  parts of the paid family and medical leave.   For those adopting or fostering a child you will  use the paid family leave insurance portion of   these policies. It's also important to remember  that there is a time period during your pregnancy   from when you find out you're pregnant to before  the baby is born where you do need to take time   off for your tests, your doctors visits just to make  sure that you are healthy. Healthy enough to   carry this child and unfortunately all the time  you need to go to the doctor to get those tests   does not count towards leave and in that case  you would need to use up some of your sick days,   PTOs, vacation days to get all of those testing  done. Keep in mind too that kids do get sick   so after you've used up your leave it's possible  you may need some additional time off to care for   your newborn, care for someone in your family who  gets sick, and unfortunately, that will not count   towards your leave and you won't be able to use  any type of FMLA or state leave policies in that   case. I'd love to know if you are from any of these  states and if you've used any of the paid family   and medical policies in your state. How was your  experience? What would you say to someone who   is about to embark on this journey? What can you  provide them so that you can share your experience   and ensure a smoother process for the next person. The next area you are going to dive deep into   is the company policy. So once you know the Federal  state benefits are available to you, now it's time   to open up that Employee Handbook. Look to see  what's available as far as maternity leave   or short-term disability for your needs. Most  companies may provide short-term disability   and you will need to file a claim either with  your company or with the insurer your company   has hired for short-term disability. And short-term  disability will cover you for that paid medical   portion so if you are birthing a child you'll have  six or eight weeks of paid short-term disability   that you can tap into so you can get paid during  that period of time. Company policies differ across   the board when it comes to maternity leave. Some  companies are very generous where they will cover   you for a few weeks with your full 100 percent paycheck. Some will cover a percentage of that so you need   to know what that is so you can plan ahead. It's  also important that you and your partner review   both of your company policies if you work for  different companies so you can take advantage   of those benefits. If you are also interviewing  for a new position ask what those benefits are   so that you can compare those benefits with other  companies or other prospects that you might have.  Some companies may not offer paid family leave  and will require that you use up all available PTO, vacation days, and sick days while on FMLA. This  will cover you in terms of income during that   time but it does pose a risk that if you need  to take time off at some point in the future   you don't have time for that. So reviewing  those policies, understanding what they are   and working to find the middle ground for  yourself will help you create a plan that   works best for you and your family. As soon as  you are ready let HR know about your plans and   what kind of support you need. Make sure they  know the federal, state, and company policies so   that they can help you create the plan that  is best for you. As you begin this process,  make sure to document everything for a few reasons.  One you just want to make sure that you're doing   all the right steps so that submissions to for  FMLA is proper. You also want to make sure you have   documentation so that when you do need to submit  for state benefits you have all that in place.    And of course if you need to submit for short term  disability you have that as well. So now that you   know all of these policies and benefits on the  different levels, it's time to piece it together. Or it's time to figure out how to coordinate  these benefits so you can maximize them. Here   is an example of what that can look like. It might  be helpful for you to create a similar schedule so   you know where things are coming from and how you  can take advantage of it.    Here is a coordination ofbenefits for 14 weeks. So 14 weeks at the top. Our first is FMLA and FMLA covers you for the 12 weeks   of unpaid leave. During that time your employer  requires that you exhaust PTO so here we are   with PTO. You will receive a paycheck and that  is through the exhaustion of your paid time off.  During that time you can also file for short-term  disability through your company, company's insurer   for short-term disability and you can also file  for the state paid medical leave for short-term   disability and you will have funds from those. In  this case it's six weeks and then the company's   parental leave kicks off. And during this time your  company will pay your 100 of your paycheck. If you   look to the bottom, here's some numbers that will  show you what this looks like. So again 14 weeks   FMLA, during that time you don't get any money,  zero, it's unpaid leave but you can exhaust your   PTO so you have this amount weekly. You can also  file for your short-term disability, as well as   your disability on the state level. Once this is  exhausted at the six-week mark then your company   parental leave kicks in and you receive your 100  of your weekly paycheck up until the 14th week.  So understanding and creating a schedule like  this for you can help you figure out what kind   of income is coming in, how much, and so you can plan  ingly. I hope this video has been helpful. If  you want similar money content like this consider subscribing to Sisters For FI, where we share money lessons and money content to help future moms and current moms save more money, invest more,   and build a life of impact for today and tomorrow.    I also want to encourage you to pick up this book: The Working Mom's Handbook. It can be a great companion as you navigate this journey of motherhood, of being a working mom. I also encourage  you to pick up this other book called Pay UP. It can help you understand the feelings you're  feeling when it comes to being a working mom.   I will leave links to these books in the description. So one of the big challenges when it comes to   going on maternity leave is that when you're  on maternity leave, you lose out an income,   you lose out on the opportunity to save and  invest that income, and you also lose out on   the accrual of Social Security benefits which will  benefit you down the line. So I would encourage you   to plan ahead and save for the sake of saving so  you have some funds now in case you do need to   take time off to care for the new newest member  of your family. I also want you to check out   this video about Spousal IRAs should you end up  becoming a stay-at-home parent. Again without   income it's hard to save for retirement, but  the Spousal IRA is one way you can continue   to invest for your retirement and ensure you have the funds in place  for your future. So thanks for tuning in, I will see you next week for the next video.