Some countries are very generous with their maternity leave policies for pregnant women. The United States is not one of them.

What would you do if you were pregnant but worked for a company that didn’t provide any paid maternity leave?

That’s the situation the woman in this story finds herself in. She has an idea about how to try to get a couple weeks of paid maternity leave, if her bosses will go for it, but she’s not sure if it’s a good idea or not.

Keep reading for all the details.

WIBTA If I (Salaried) Used My “OT” To Negotiate 2 Weeks Paid Maternity Leave?

I’m struggling with a moral quandary as I prepare to discuss the logistics of my impending maternity leave with my bosses. Some background info…

I work in the USA and the size of the company I work for is very small (husband/wife owners, one coworker).

There is no maternity leave policy in place.

Here’s some more context about where she works.

Now, I work customer service and thankfully the end of the year/holidays is actually extremely slow for the office.

They should hire someone else, we need a 3rd in the office in general, but if I was going to miss work for more than a week it’s the best time of the year for me to do it.

Another thing of note is that despite being salaried my coworker and I must clock in and out every day.

We currently get all of the negatives of hourly work (clocking in and micromanaging of our hours) and all of the negatives of salary (no overtime pay).

She has worked quite a bit of overtime.

I sat down this morning, curious, and checked my hours for the whole year. On average I work 42.7 hours a week and have worked 88.4 hours ‘overtime’ so far.

I’m very seriously considering asking for the following for my maternity leave, despite the fact that I only have 3 PTO days left, due to these numbers.

My plan is to start by asking them what sort of paid leave options there are, I do not want to be aggressive or rude.

Here is what she’s thinking about suggesting.

• 2 Weeks PTO
• 1 Week UTO & 1 Week Remote Work (Will not be able to answer phones, but this is the LOWEST call volume of the year and we don’t get that many calls. I can still do most of my job.)
  -or-
  2 Weeks Remote Work (Will not be able to answer phones, but this is the LOWEST call volume of the year and we don’t get that many calls. I can still do most of my job.)
• Return to Work Full Time.

She’s not sure if her suggestion is a good idea or not.

I’m not sure if this is an awful move. I’m salaried, and working 42 hours a week isn’t an absurd or unreasonable suggestion.

I’m trying to impact them as little as I can. I have to work for my husband and I to pay our bills, so taking a bunch of unpaid time off isn’t an option for us.

But… It’s a small business. They’re not offering paid maternity leave because there are basically 2 people (including me) that work here.

She needs advice.

I’m not a perfect employee. (My job always gets done, but I’m posting this at my desk.)

Additionally, I will be getting a new job and leaving as soon as I can beginning 2020.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman whose HR department advised her to quit if she was that unhappy, so she did and found herself in a role reversal years later.

So, reddit, WIBTA if I use the “overtime” I have worked this year to negotiate paid maternity leave for two weeks?

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It’s too bad there’s no paid maternity leave. Let’s see what Reddit suggests.

A business owner has a question and a suggestion.

This person wishes her luck.

This person thinks her idea is a good one.

Everyone is rooting for her.

It’s awful that she can’t take more time off. Even two weeks isn’t enough. She deserves more time to bond with her baby before having to focus on work again.

I hope she gets the time off though.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who works fast and helps her coworkers, but is met with disapproval from her supervisor because of this practice