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Home › Articles › Family Life › Staying Home With Mom and Baby

Staying Home With Mom and Baby

The Facts About the Family Medical Leave Act

By Teri Brown

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The following tips to help your family plan for taking Family Medical Leave were prepared by Arlene Vernon, a professional human resource consultant and owner of HRx, a consulting and speaking firm that helps business owners deal with how they attract, hire and manage their employees.

  • Determine how long your leave will last.
  • Contact your human resources department or employee handbook to get the specifics on how time off pay (vacation, sick, personal days, holidays, etc.) and continuation of medical insurance will be handled during FMLA.
  • Find out if you have "short-term disability" insurance benefits also during this time.
  • Calculate the difference between your regular income during this period and your available paid time off, leave and disability pay.
  • Determine how much you will need to live on during that decrease in earnings and start saving from each paycheck and decrease your regular spending to fill that gap.
  • Set this money aside in a separate bank account so it doesn't get spent my mistake.
  • Bonus yourself 10 percent over your estimated gap, just in case.
  • Avoid taking vacation and sick days at work so they're available during your leave.
  • Find out if you need to pay your portion of your insurance benefits before you go on leave. You can't afford to have these canceled.

There's a lot of information to absorb when preparing for FMLA. Don't procrastinate to protect your time and your income during this period – then you can spend time with your newborn the way it's meant to be spent.

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