Talk to me about short term disability insurance and maternity leave

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

I'm hoping you all can indulge me with a potentially dumb question. As we think, daydream, and plan about TTC, short term disability insurance is something that seems to keep coming up in my research. When people mention this, are they talking about state benefits (my state has a plan that will give me about half of my regular pay for a few weeks if the doctor says I am "disabled" and can't work) or additional insurance? If this is additional, my employer does not offer it. Is it something I should be buying for myself, for TTC or other emergencies? Or should I just keep building a good e-fund and not worry about it?

I will not have paid maternity leave, but I am hopeful my employer will let me use sick and vacation time accrued. In addition, my state actually pays for a few weeks of small stipend (again, about half my pay) to bond with a new baby, which is very lucky. I won't be protected by FMLA, but it would take six-eight weeks to train a replacement so I am reasonably confident my employer will hold my position. There is no official maternity leave policy on the books; anyone who had a child before me left to stay home. We do need both of our incomes to meet our goals, so when we have a child I'll need to return to work after a shorter maternity leave, and we have budgeted for daycare in all of our calculations. We can live without mine for a 6-8 week leave, however, between savings and the fact that our student loans are actually "paid ahead" several months. We just won't be saving anything extra during that time.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts! Man, figuring out this kid stuff is complicated.

Erikan73 · November 2014

Why wouldn't you be covered by FMLA?

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

Erikan73 said:
Why wouldn't you be covered by FMLA?

There are only 4 employees at my job.

CuriousKiddosMama · November 2014

One of the things Dave Ramsey says is that once you are pregnant you press pause on the debt snowball and save every dime you can. If you do that short term disability may be a waste. But I don't know enough about it to be honest. If you paid for short term disability what does it cost you versus what may you actually get? When are you thinking of ttc? I guess I would just run the numbers and see what makes sense. If you put away monthly the amount the insurance cost, how quickly would that add up?
Good luck deciding!

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

We'll probably start TTC in about a year, which is what got me thinking about this now (in case you need to hold the policy a year before you get pregnant). I'm not even sure that it's something you CAN buy individually, not through work. I'm just curious what kind of situations others are in with this, but I'm leaning towards agreeing with your thought, vikingsfan. We're already beefing up our e-fund now, and if we pause all other goals once I am pregnant we'll save up lots more money. Sometimes I just feel confused about all of my options, working for a small employer without an HR rep. If I did ask for any clarification about our leave policy, it would pretty much mean alerting my immediate supervisor that we're TTC soon, which I don't want to do. I'm pretty private about this stuff IRL.

KatieCutie05 · November 2014

Its my understanding that certain states its included and they have their own. I'm not entirely sure as i'm not in one of those states. But otherwise its generally offered by your employer. Idt you can buy it separate. My state has nothing but my employer has 6 or 8 weeks at 66% pay. FMLA if you had it would be all unpaid anyway and it starts from day 1 - not after STD ends. The only benefit of FMLA is that your gauranteed a position when you return but thats something your employer may do for you regardless - just probably not for 12 weeks.

If you don't have set FMLA you should be able to atleast combine the few weeks from the state with whatever paid vacation time you have and the rest you'd have to either go back to work or take time off unpaid - which you'd have to discuss with your employer about holding your position and how long its okay for you to be gone for. I still wouldn't tell your employer until your actually pregnant though.

strickland8052 · November 2014

Congrats on thinking about TTC! And on having an awesome employer that offers some paid maternity leave!

I believe that you can buy short term disability on your own through companies like Aflac. If you are planning to TTC in the next year, I think it would be a great idea to consider it. The policy would give you additional guaranteed pay for 4-6 weeks after baby, plus it would also offer you protection for other pregnancy related (or non-pregnancy related) medical issues that cost you to leave work. Look into how much a policy would cost and if the 4 week maternity compensation would make up for the premiums, I'd definitely get it. However, make sure you get it during the open enrollment period (Oct-Novish) BEOFRE you TTC. Most policies have a 9 month waiting period for maternity coverage OR they have a clause saying that they basically won't cover pregnancies in which the baby was conceived before you purchased the policy.

My employer offers Short Term Disability for $11 a month. We are planning to TTC next fall, so I went ahead and got it. Even if I don't have a baby for two years after starting the policy, I would only have paid about $260 total for the premiums. If I have a baby, I've figured that I'd get about $1500 from the policy at minimum (even more if I had a C-section or had to go on bed rest or something). The math just makes sense.... on top of that, pregnancy can lead to a lot of unknowns like what if you HAD to go on bed rest? I would want the short term disability in case of a situation like that...

blondie42107 · November 2014

My employer does not offer STD. We don't have a state benefit. I did qualify for FMLA. I had to use sick benefits first, then vacation. I took just shy of 12 weeks with my second. I saved as much vacation and sick times as I could. I ended up going about 5 weeks without pay.

We started saving for my unpaid leave as soon as we found out I was pregnant.

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

strickland8052 said:

Congrats on thinking about TTC! And on having an awesome employer that offers some paid maternity leave!
I believe that you can buy short term disability on your own through companies like Aflac. If you are planning to TTC in the next year, I think it would be a great idea to consider it. The policy would give you additional guaranteed pay for 4-6 weeks after baby, plus it would also offer you protection for other pregnancy related (or non-pregnancy related) medical issues that cost you to leave work. Look into how much a policy would cost and if the 4 week maternity compensation would make up for the premiums, I'd definitely get it. However, make sure you get it during the open enrollment period (Oct-Novish) BEOFRE you TTC. Most policies have a 9 month waiting period for maternity coverage OR they have a clause saying that they basically won't cover pregnancies in which the baby was conceived before you purchased the policy.
My employer offers Short Term Disability for $11 a month. We are planning to TTC next fall, so I went ahead and got it. Even if I don't have a baby for two years after starting the policy, I would only have paid about $260 total for the premiums. If I have a baby, I've figured that I'd get about $1500 from the policy at minimum (even more if I had a C-section or had to go on bed rest or something). The math just makes sense.... on top of that, pregnancy can lead to a lot of unknowns like what if you HAD to go on bed rest? I would want the short term disability in case of a situation like that...

Thanks! $11 a month isn't bad at all. I wonder how much more it costs without an employer chipping in!

To clarify, my employer doesn't offer paid leave, but my state does. It's 4 weeks, and can also be used for FMLA-type things like caring for a loved one who is sick. The (good!) difference is that it extends to all employers, not just ones with 50+ employees. The general leave policy at my job states that if the board approves my leave, I can use up to 30 banked sick and vacation days as well. It's just the approval that will be nervewracking!

I was surprised to hear that so many states don't offer any STD from the state itself. Perhaps that's why my employer doesn't bother with it. I will say that for me the maximum benefit will be very helpful, but for those making more than me and used to living off more than me it would barely be a drop in the bucket.

vlagrl29 · November 2014

Do you know for a fact that you can use STD if you are pregnant? We buy a disability policy for DH in case something happened that caused him not to be able to work. I don't want to deal with the stress of money on top of it. I know on our policy that it has to be something major like cancer or a broken arm for us to collect on the money for 1 year.

Definitely check into it to see if it's worth it. FYI - I would take at least 8 weeks bare minimum when you have a baby especially if you end up with a c/section.

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

vlagrl29 said:

Do you know for a fact that you can use STD if you are pregnant? We buy a disability policy for DH in case something happened that caused him not to be able to work. I don't want to deal with the stress of money on top of it. I know on our policy that it has to be something major like cancer or a broken arm for us to collect on the money for 1 year.

Definitely check into it to see if it's worth it. FYI - I would take at least 8 weeks bare minimum when you have a baby especially if you end up with a c/section.

I know that you can use the state STD for however long a doctor says you need to be out of work, which I assume is typically 6 weeks for vaginal and 8 weeks for a C-section. I'd imagine you need to use up accrued time before it kicks in. After that runs out, you're allowed to use the state temporary caregiver assistance for up to 4 weeks to bond with an infant. Dads can use it too, but sadly my H won't qualify since he works in another state and isn't paying into the system.

I'll definitely take 6-8 weeks, but it's very possible I won't get to take the full 12 weeks like most get. If they offer it to me I'd take it, even if some is unpaid.

vlagrl29 · November 2014

I think it would be very wise to not take any vacations and just let it all accrue up so you can use as much as you can for maternity leave. Then budget some money before you are pregnant to go into a savings fund that you guys can use when you are on leave. Just my opinion obviously, but I would take 12 weeks - the time goes by so fast.

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

vlagrl29 said:
I think it would be very wise to not take any vacations and just let it all accrue up so you can use as much as you can for maternity leave. Then budget some money before you are pregnant to go into a savings fund that you guys can use when you are on leave. Just my opinion obviously, but I would take 12 weeks - the time goes by so fast.

I totally agree. I really wish there was some sort of written policy so I knew how much I'd be allowed to take and still get to keep my job. Me being out will be a major burden on my coworkers, so I'm just mentally preparing for the worst.

vlagrl29 · November 2014

Xstatic3333 said:

I think it would be very wise to not take any vacations and just let it all accrue up so you can use as much as you can for maternity leave. Then budget some money before you are pregnant to go into a savings fund that you guys can use when you are on leave. Just my opinion obviously, but I would take 12 weeks - the time goes by so fast.
I totally agree. I really wish there was some sort of written policy so I knew how much I'd be allowed to take and still get to keep my job. Me being out will be a major burden on my coworkers, so I'm just mentally preparing for the worst.

I'm sure it's a major burden on anyone, but it really shouldn't be. Having a baby should not cause you to think that way. Maybe you should go ahead and ask your boss what the policy is.

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

vlagrl29 said:

Xstatic3333 said:

vlagrl29 said:
I think it would be very wise to not take any vacations and just let it all accrue up so you can use as much as you can for maternity leave. Then budget some money before you are pregnant to go into a savings fund that you guys can use when you are on leave. Just my opinion obviously, but I would take 12 weeks - the time goes by so fast.
I totally agree. I really wish there was some sort of written policy so I knew how much I'd be allowed to take and still get to keep my job. Me being out will be a major burden on my coworkers, so I'm just mentally preparing for the worst.

I'm sure it's a major burden on anyone, but it really shouldn't be. Having a baby should not cause you to think that way. Maybe you should go ahead and ask your boss what the policy is.

Maybe I will the next time it comes up naturally. We're pretty friendly with each other.

brij2006 · November 2014

Okay, so I wouldn't worry about trying to find a policy or taking one out.

My employer is a very small company also and I am not covered by FMLA. When I looked into STD through Aflac without going through an employer, it was $45 per paycheck. So $90 a month. You had to have the policy for 12 months before it would pay out for maternity. So I would have paid in $1,080 within 1 year. Then it only paid you after all of your sick and vacation time was depleted first. Then it paid for 6 weeks for vaginal birth and 8weeks for ce-section, only 60% of your average weekly base pay (bonuses, commissions, and overtime are not accounted for). However, it had a 2 week grace period within there. So technically you only got paid for 4 weeks and 6 weeks.

Now that we're pregnant (granted we had fertility issues), we would have paid into the policy for a total of 30 months before using any of it. At $90 per month, we would have paid in $2,700 in premiums. Just to be paid for 60% of my income for 4 weeks with a vaginal birth. So the plan would only pay me $1,400 (not accounting for my commissions and bonuses). We were better off taking that $90/month and putting it into an envelope named "maternity leave." Technically even if we would have gotten pregnant our first month of TTC, we would have paid in $1,080 for those 12 months and it would have paid us $1,400. Yes, that's in the positive but not many people get pregnant within their first couple of months TTC.

So really, I would not worry about getting a STD plan at all. Instead, put aside $100/month into a separate account called maternity and if you have a baby 2 years from now, then that's $2,400 sitting there waiting. You could also do the Dave Ramsey plan of not snowballing any debt once you get pregnant and keeping the gazelle intensity of pinching pennies, and just bank all of that money during pregnancy.

Since my employer does not have to follow FMLA either, I banked up my vacation time. Last year I rolled over 9 days, this year I will roll over 15 days into 2015, and January 1st I will get another 15 days. So I will be using up every bit of my vacation time for maternity leave, and it will end up being a little over 7 weeks off (paid). I discussed this with them last week and got the okay that there's no problem with me taking that much time because it's my vacation that I'm using. So we will actually end up going my entire maternity leave with my pay, and my employer will pay for my insurance since it's still during paid time off rather than unpaid. This has seriously been our saving grace. We're still doing the Dave Ramsey plan through pregnancy and banking the money just in case, but we shouldn't need to touch it to replace my income while I'm off. It makes us feel better knowing that we will just use it to pay off the medical bills and then apply the rest toward the next debt and put us at the same spot (minus the medical costs) as we would be if we hadn't gotten pregnant.

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

Wow @brij2006‌ thanks for sharing your awesome math! You're right, it just doesn't seem to make sense at those prices. I'm so glad your employer worked with you so well! I do still want to do a little bit of baby bucket list travel, but after that I'll go into hard core vacation stashing mode.

brij2006 · November 2014

Xstatic3333 said:

Wow @brij2006‌ thanks for sharing your awesome math! You're right, it just doesn't seem to make sense at those prices. I'm so glad your employer worked with you so well! I do still want to do a little bit of baby bucket list travel, but after that I'll go into hard core vacation stashing mode.

One thing I do recommend before doing that, is asking your employer if they're okay with you banking vacation time. Mine usually only allows us to have 3 weeks max to carry over from 1 year to the next. I will be carrying almost 5 over this year. 2 years ago I flat out told them that I wanted to get a good cushion of vacation time built up for whenever I needed it for maternity leave and asked them how much I could carry over from 1 year to the next. We weren't even TTC at that point, but were in the planning stages. Last year we did more of our baby bucket list and that's why I only had 9 out of 15 days to carry over. It is so worth marking those things off your list. Especially travel!

vlagrl29 · November 2014

brij had a great explanation! After reading that, I agree it's totally not worth it. Neither of us are in the corporate world, so I really don't know much about it from an employer stand point.

SmrBrd2012 · November 2014

Hey @Xstatic3333

This is a great topic esp since I'm going through it right now! I'm curious about your state stipend offering. I seem to remember that you live in MA. Is that correct? I do and I would live to hear more about this! I just started a new job and found out I was pregnant so I won't have much vacation time once baby comes.

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

Hey @SmrBrd2012! We actually moved to RI a few months ago. I don't THINK that MA has a similar program, but definitely check. Most of my RI friends don't know about the temporary caregiver insurance; it was rolled out in January with very little fanfare. Some sort of stipend seems like the kind of thing MA would do

SmrBrd2012 · November 2014

Ohh boo! Well I hope you're enjoying RI

I'll check around but I haven't heard anything like that. It would be amazing though. Thanks anyway!

maple2 · November 2014

If it would really affect your financial situation, you might want to find someone who can help you figure out which benefits you can take when. When I had my first child, I lived in a state the provided some benefits for STD. I had to take those benefits first before I could use my sick/vacation time (which totally makes sense from the business perspective), which meant I actually was paid more at the end of my leave than at the beginning.

Talk to me about short term disability insurance and maternity leave

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