Thursday, March 27, 2008
Matleave Ponderings #2
About 2 weeks ago, I asked my manager to look into my company policy to see if I could pull off my hair-brained matleave plan. Today he came back to me essentially saying that HR told him flat out that this matleave thing is an all-or-nothing deal. Bollocks, I say! Why would my employer be opposed to having me work part-time throughout my matleave? Sheesh. At any rate, the battle is not yet over. He said he'd speak to a Higher Power about my situation, so we'll see how that pans out. Stay tuned!
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4 comments:
Was your employer planning to backfill your position while you're away on leave? If so, it's probably a lot more challenging for them to fill it just part-time, rather than full-time for a year or even 6 months, so that might be one of the reasons they don't like this idea?
Are you eligible for a top-up while you're on leave? Working part-time would mean that you're not really on leave anymore, so you'd probably lose that benefit?
I wonder if you could make an argument that after a certain amount of time on full-time leave, you'd start back again part-time and that they have a "duty to accommodate", like they do with employees who leave for disability or injury reasons. Sounds a bit crazy, but it might provide an argument for you...
I know you've got your heart set on going back to work before a year, and I can understand it to a degree. :) When I was pregnant with Jade, I'd just started a new job and I felt super-guilty about taking off just 7 months after starting. Plus, but the time I was 6-7 months into my job, I was really loving it and felt like I was leaving just as I was getting momentum and really seeing things happen.
But the year away passes so quickly and babies just start to get REALLY interesting at 6 months.
I hope I'm not angering or upsetting you; I guess I'm just concerned that you'll regret it if you don't leave the option open. It's true that you never get the time back, even if you have more kids; THIS one will only be a baby once, and any others won't be the only baby to focus on anymore.
Anyway, I know I'm treading in unwelcome territory here, especially as someone who hardly knows you, so I'll shut up now. But I do hope things work out for the best for you, whatever that turns out to be. :)
No worries, you didn't anger me. I'm more angry at all the people who flat out tell me that I'm wrong, draw their advice based on their observations of friends with kids, and who won't try to see things from my viewpoint. I do appreciate constructive feedback though. :)
This whole matleave thing is a huge decision, and definitely one that I don't take lightly. To be honest, I know that things probably won't even come into focus until the little one makes her entrance into the world. I'm sure that there are tons of things that I haven't even fathomed that await me come August-ish.
My biggest concern is that I absolutely positively HATED my job when I started in August of 2007, and only started to like once I switched teams in early 2008. For all I know, when I return, they will a) have found a new team lead and b) move me to another team where I'll be positively miserable. I figure that if I do this part-time thing, I can at least keep my foothold on the team so that they don't forget me.
I'm hoping that a magical solution will present itself where I get the best of both worlds! But seriously, I'm hoping at least I can reach some sort of compromise with my employer which would benefit both sides.
Just thought I'd point out that under Ontario law you can't break your leave up into little bits; once you're on leave you're on leave until you return, then you're back permanently.
This link has more info.
Personally I can understand if you'd want to work part time, especially if day-care/babysitting is not a problem, because the financial penalty for mat leave is huge. But I'm jealous that my wife is taking a year off and I'm not (and I like my job too).
Thanks for the link! That's definitely some food for thought. I guess that means that I'd either have to:
1. Take the full year off with no p/t work
2. Take 6 months of pregnancy leave and then work p/t for 6 months
3. Take the full year off and do unpaid p/t work for the last 6 months (probably really hard to swing)
At any rate, it's nice to see what I'm legally entitled to do so that I can bring some legal options to the table.
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