Maternity Leave: Do You Get Benefits If You’re Part-Time?

Congratulations! You’re pregnant, and in nine months, you’ll bring a bundle of joy into the world. But what if you only work part-time? Do you still get benefits?

This is something that pregnant women everywhere struggle with when the time comes to have a baby. They only work twenty or thirty hours each week, and wonder if they’ll get paid leave when they’re ready to deliver.

Unfortunately, maternity leave works the same as any other medical malady when it comes to benefits. Different companies handle their benefits package differently, so it’ll depend on the policies set forth by your employer. Some companies give partial benefits to part-time employees, while others don’t provide them at all.

When you find out that you are pregnant, ask a human resources manager for a copy of the employee handbook, if you don’t already have a copy. Read through it to find out what benefits apply for part-time employees, regardless of the situation. Very few employers will have special benefits for maternity leave, though it doesn’t hurt to look.

In most cases, maternity leave is treated like any other major surgical procedure; if you had a heart attack, you’d be afforded the same benefits. Some companies offer short-term and long-term disability benefits for part-time employees, and you might qualify for that even if you don’t get paid leave.

In most cases, you’ll have to have worked a minimum of 25 hours per week for the twelve months prior to taking maternity leave in order to qualify.

You’ll also find that some companies offer partial maternity leave benefits for part-time employees, but do not include paid leave. For example, some will guarantee that, if you stay out of work for the duration of your leave (but not longer), your job will be waiting for you when you return. Other employers give no such guarantees, so make sure to read the fine print.

Employee handbooks can be difficult to decipher, so ask a human resources manager to help you determine your options. If you are a valuable employee who brings a lot to the table, your employer might be willing to negotiate benefits if you come to him early in the pregnancy.

He or she will certainly not want to lose you when you are ready to come back. Maternity leave is something thousands of women have to deal with, and many of those people are part-time employees with no benefits at all.

Whatever you do, don’t try to convince your boss to make you a full-time employee without telling him your motivation. This can be cause for dismissal, and can also hurt your reputation as a worker. Since most benefits packages are based on the previous year of service anyway, you probably won’t benefit from that deception.