What do typical Maternity Leave policies look like?

[Guest snewell]

Hello!

This is my first time posting a message on this or any other sight. Hopefully, it will prove to be an efficient way to find the answer to my question, which follows:

What do typical maternity leave plans look like? I work for a small start-up that doen't yet have a policy on maternity leave, but does have the resources to be as generous as a larger employer. Do women out on maternity leave generally only get paid the nominal amount that the insurance company pays them or is salary continuation also common? If so, for how long? 6 weeks, a week for every year of service, etc?

Any advice anyone can provide would be very, very much appreciated. I'd be very interested in hearing what the policy on maternity leave is at your company.......

Thanks so much!

[KIP KRAUS]

Most employers I’ve been involved with do not have maternity specific leave policies. The most typical situation I’ve seen is a disability policy that applies to all disabilities including maternity. The most common formula I’ve seen is 100% of pay for a specific number of weeks based on years of employment; i.e. 1 week of 100% pay for each year of service based on the employee’s anniversary date of hire. Thereafter the employee received only the STD benefit from the insurer or from a self-insured plan.

You of course can be as creative as you would like to be as to how much the employer is going to pay.