maternity leave woes (vent at employer)

[librarymommy]

So, my last day of school is tomorrow, and the baby's due date is Sept. 26. My dd came 10 days early with only 4 hours of active labor. I'm off until the next school year because paying 2 daycare/preschools would take my entire salary. Fun year financially, I received a 10% pay cut, my husband's 3% paycut, and our savings were wiped out (MIL's funeral, major house repairs etc.). Long story. So anyways, I received 4 sick days the second week of school but lost one due to the sick leave pool. I have no other sick leave as I used up what I had saved for my MIL's funeral last school year and then the remainder for dr's appointments.

So, I call down to the district office to check on my leave today and find out that I will not be getting credit for the 3 days of SL because I'm off of work as of tomorrow evening??? My pay stub says I have those days (actually it says I have an additional 5 days of personal leave as well but apparently that is nonexistent?). With no savings left, and a tiny paycheck coming, I'm going to need to start waitressing or something 2 weeks after the baby is born at this rate. It's only 3 days of pay, but that is $800 before taxes. That will buy a month of groceries!

I love my school but the district is doing all it can to break the contract and screw over the teachers. Morale has never been this low. And I'm stressed already because my DH is away next Mon. & Tues, and my MW is away from Wed. to the following Wed. My friend who is coming down to look after DD while I'm in labor can't get here next week and I've been feeling massive cramps and pressure all week. I can't even have chocolate because I have GD!

Okay, deep breath. I have a roof over my head, a full fridge at the moment, and lots of good things happening. The money woes will be fixed, even if I do need to borrow into my retirement.

Thanks for listening.

[kitchensqueen]

Ugh, that sucks. :-( Employers sure do make it easy for women to have babies and be mothers, don't they? 

[wombatclay]

I'm so sorry. That really stinks! I also left my job (as a librarian... are you a librarian? Just guessing on your user name :) ) after my second child arrived because child care for two would leave nearly nothing of my salary. It just didn't make sense to keep working, no matter how much I loved my job, if my take home was going to be roughly 100 dollars/week and never seeing my kiddos! I miss it, and can't wait for the day when I return to the library world, but for now... babies and kiddos it is! But I do know how it feels to lose such a big chunk of budget, no matter how sweet the reason. And to then have someone try to get out of paying for those last days? Argh! When I was out on amternity leave with dd2 the HR office apparently took the wrong amount out of my paycheck... they should have taken one sort of disability amount and took a different disability amount or something. Anyway, I had planned on having my last day of work be just a few days after the end of my maternity leave. Only because of the mix up I ended up "owing" my employer a significant chunk of change. I could either continue working for two months with essentially no take home pay at all OR I could pay them the amount owed as a lump sum. And since we certainly didn't have that sort of money and were in fact cutting our annual take home pay nearly in half with my staying home... I ended up working those two months. I was not a happy camper, and I still have some bitterness towards my employer (not my actual boss/co-workers, but the university and HR office) about it even though it's several years in the past. Anyway, keep after them! Don't just let them write this off. Keep copies of any communications they send you, keep copies of pay stubs and tax forms, keep copies of any messages you send them.... and try to stay off the phone. Make them put things in writing (even if it's email) and send your messages to them via certified mail with delivery confirmation (keep a record of who signs for the letters, you don't want them claiming you either didn't contact them or didn't contact them in a timely manner). I know it's a headache, and that juggling administartive ick with a newborn stinks to high heaven, but ask your DH or trusted friend for help if you think you'll be tempted to let this slide after the babe arrives... even if they never get you that 800 dollars, your persistance might help stop them from doing this to others. Good luck, I hope they send you a check!

[BlueLeaf]

What is the "sick leave pool"?

The whole situation stinks!

[librarymommy]

Thanks for your support. Luckily my principal and office manager thought the situation was ludicrous when I went in to speak with them yesterday morning. My principal pulled out the contract, read it, and said "they can't do that!". His next question was if I am a union member (I am) and he told me to contact the union which was already on my to do list. So, I'm waiting to hear back from them and if necessary I'll file a grievance. Like I posted, I love my school, it's the district which is a mess!

And yes, I'm a librarian for a high school. Love it, but I am also looking forward to staying home for a year. Planning on going back next school year. My dd will be 4 then and eligible for voluntary pre-kindergarten so her preschool fees will be cut in half.

Wish me luck!