Paternity Leave and Job Seeking

[Cmdr.Druss]

Hi all. Im hoping to get some advice from you fine people.

Im due to start my paternity leave beginning of November but Im starting to search for a new job now with the aim to start when i return from paternity leave.

My question: When should i advise any potential employer of my paternity leave? At the application stage, during an interview or when Im offered a job (if Imsuccessful)?

Thanks

 

[Deckerd]

Paternity leave says you are alredy working and have been given leave. What's wrong with the job you have just now?

 

[Cmdr.Druss]

The quick answer (as Im on my phone right now) is that Im not happy in my current job, i would leave now if i didnt need the paternity leave. I'll go into more detail whenni i get on to my computer.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Paternity leave? What is this sorcery? You must live in socialist Europe or something.

 

[clint g]

My advise would be to say very little about it. I would also time the job search so that it would hit towards when you are ready to get back from work. It's unfortunate but the moment you mention something like "pregnancy" or "leave" I can see an employer tossing your papers right into the trash once you leave the room.

 

[thestrangequark]

Paternity leave? What is this sorcery? You must live in socialist Europe or something.

Seriously. Over here paternity leave is coveted. My brother-in-law got a whole week, and we considered that a sweet deal!

 

[1001001]

What?? Did he work in a very small company?

The Family Medical Leave Act covers "paternity leave" in the United States. If your employer has more than 50 employees, they are required by federal law to offer up to 12 weeks (unpaid but job protected) leave to take care of your newborn. Most companies allow you to exhaust your sick time and vacation time to help make up for the lost wages.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/

When our daughter was born, I got to stay home with her and her mother for the first six weeks (that's all I could afford).

Thank you, President Clinton.

 

[thestrangequark]

^I actually don't know how big his company is, but my guess is far over 50...he's an architect in Seattle. Maybe he got two weeks, but I remember it being only one. I'll have to ask!

 

[1001001]

^I actually don't know how big his company is, but my guess is far over 50...he's an architect in Seattle. Maybe he got two weeks, but I remember it being only one. I'll have to ask!

It's been Federal Law since 1993.

Sometimes it's the "unpaid" part that makes it rough. Usually, I advise employees who know they are having a baby to hoard their sick and vacation time until the baby is born.

 

[thestrangequark]

^You know what I think it is? I think he got one paid week, and that is what we thought was amazing!

 

[Scout101]

It's the unpaid part that's the issue. Not being fired is nice, but being able to eat while you're at home with the newborn is nice too...

As for the OP: decouple the two events. Job search whenever you can, and keep it quiet. If you find something while you're out, figure out your start date, paternity leave doesn't have to factor in. If they want you to start a little early, either do that, or explain you're wrapping up paternity leave and available to start on x date.

Kinda screwing over your current employer, though, if you do that. They're expecting you back, and if you go to another job when paternity leave is up, you never reall gave them the notice, you didn't work to help hand over your responsibilities, etc. Personally, i'd try and make sure i came back from leave, and THEN give my 2 weeks' notice at the very least.

The "right" answer to do everyone right is to quit INSTEAD of taking leave, but that means you don't get pay/benefits, so isn't wise from your POV. Trick is to take as much as you can, but not in such a way as it looks like you're screwing over your employer (unless the new job is already in the bag).

 

[Cmdr.Druss]

Wel I want to get out as soon as possible, but I will need the paternity leave to beable to look after my girlfriend while she recovers as she is having a c/section as well as looking after the baby and our 4 year old daughter.
I don't look forward to work, hate it when im there and have absolutely no motivation to do any work.

As for the paternity leave, im entitled to 1-2 weeks consecutive paternity leave at £135 per week or 90% of my average weekly earnings if I earn less than that per week.

 

[RevDMV]

Depends on the state, if I recall CA grants more leave.

I spent the first month home with both my boys after they were born, time well spent.

 

[Scout101]

Out of curiosity, what do you DO? Kinda makes a difference if we're talking about a corporate setting, or delivering pizzas. Unless I screwed up conversions, you're talking about $200 a week, give or take, and implying that you could possibly earn less than that in a given week. Assuming a 40-hour week, that's like $5/hour. Even at a 30-hour week, you're at like $6.50/hr.

What field are we talking about?

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, I very rarely hear of Paternity Leave. Unless it's just an unpaid LoA.

 

[Warp Coil]

My employer actually provides 3 weeks of paid paternity leave. I'd never even heard of such a benefit (but I don't have kids, so it's not like it's something I'd need to know).

 

[Cmdr.Druss]

Out of curiosity, what do you DO? Kinda makes a difference if we're talking about a corporate setting, or delivering pizzas. Unless I screwed up conversions, you're talking about $200 a week, give or take, and implying that you could possibly earn less than that in a given week. Assuming a 40-hour week, that's like $5/hour. Even at a 30-hour week, you're at like $6.50/hr.

What field are we talking about?

Im an administrator in a elderly residential home, that has recently changed hands from a single non-profit making company to a large group.

At the moment, im earning around £300 per week so stand to lose pay, but thats not the issue here - I need to take paid paternity leave as we can't afford to take it unpaid.

 

[gturner]

What?? Did he work in a very small company?

The Family Medical Leave Act covers "paternity leave" in the United States. If your employer has more than 50 employees, they are required by federal law to offer up to 12 weeks (unpaid but job protected) leave to take care of your newborn. Most companies allow you to exhaust your sick time and vacation time to help make up for the lost wages.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/

When our daughter was born, I got to stay home with her and her mother for the first six weeks (that's all I could afford).

Thank you, President Clinton.

WTF? How long does it take a guy to smoke a cigar? I can see getting an afternoon off to spend down at the bar high fiving the buddies and drinking some celebratory pitchers, but 12 weeks?!

That's contrary to nature. When the wife has a baby, you don't give up hunting for three months, you track a mammoth for 36 straight hours and after you bring home the leg, you go right back out for a gazelle (because kids and nursing women are picky, which is why we ran out of mammoth meat).

My boss's wife recently had a baby (Jan 1), and though he could give himself any kind of leave he wanted (being the company owner), he went on the road to run projects in the field because this continent if fresh out of mammoths and running a crew of electricians is the closest he can come to a leading a hunting pack, plus he can get his room cleaned without having to cope with an post-partum hormonal tear fountain and she-witch.

So instead of trying to slip paternity leave past an interviewer, shouldn't the OP be checking openings for the Navy Seals, the French Foreign Legion, or Russel Crowe's posse?

 

[Deckerd]

It's the law but not very common in the UK. Most men don't think it's the sort of thing they should be doing.

As regards the OP, jobs are hard to come by so don't jeapordise the one you have for some nebulous ideal, especially since you have another child about to be born.

 

[1001001]

What?? Did he work in a very small company?

The Family Medical Leave Act covers "paternity leave" in the United States. If your employer has more than 50 employees, they are required by federal law to offer up to 12 weeks (unpaid but job protected) leave to take care of your newborn. Most companies allow you to exhaust your sick time and vacation time to help make up for the lost wages.

http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/

When our daughter was born, I got to stay home with her and her mother for the first six weeks (that's all I could afford).

Thank you, President Clinton.

WTF? How long does it take a guy to smoke a cigar? I can see getting an afternoon off to spend down at the bar high fiving the buddies and drinking some celebratory pitchers, but 12 weeks?!

That's contrary to nature. When the wife has a baby, you don't give up hunting for three months, you track a mammoth for 36 straight hours and after you bring home the leg, you go right back out for a gazelle (because kids and nursing women are picky, which is why we ran out of mammoth meat).

Continuing that metaphor, we can stock up on mammoth meat during the pregnancy and stick it in the freezer. That way when the baby comes, we can eat and stay home.



Also, in our case, both kids were born by C-Section. My wife couldn't drive for six weeks. I needed to be home to take care of her.

And then there's all that tree-hugging druid crap about...you know...bonding with my child...