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I wouldn’t sign anything without clarifying the parental leave policy. They might have given you a custom offer, but without it in writing you have nothing to stand on right now.
It does give me a bit of a red flag that things seem so chaotic there. Hopefully it’s just HR, and not your future team.
I would ask to confirm - but I will say at my previous employer (also 16 weeks) it was like 10 weeks of maternity benefit through disability and 6 weeks of bonding time through the company.. and in the handbook it was weirdly written to where I thought it was only 10. So it could be a scenario like this.
Definitely confirm. I’m curious if they are lumping 4 weeks of vacation to the 12 weeks and calling that parental leave? Also, are to find out how many of those weeks are paid at 100% vs prorated. At one company I worked at, I received 8 weeks paid at 100%, plus 4 weeks parental leave at 66% and was allowed to buy up to two weeks of vacation (prorated over a year) so that I could take my whole 12 weeks paid. The next place I worked (a health ins company) I used my 3 weeks of vacation then 6 weeks paid at 66%. I ended up going back at 9 weeks because I could afford to not be paid.
The US is the only nation that does not offer a mandated paid Parental Leave... Its actually by choice of the company and how much they appreciate their employees.
If you still have access to the previous handbook check to see if there is a clause for them to change the handbook at their own discretion without warning. A common standard across the United States is actually UP TO 12 weeks they aren't required to provide the 12 weeks everytime nor more than that how much time you receive depends on where you place in the FMLA guidelines. There is a good chance negotiation for higher would be shut down but the worst they could say is no! 🤷🏻♀️
Def red flag. Get clarity and I’m writing
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Some places start at 12 weeks and go up to 16 weeks after multiple years of employment there. It’s also possible it’s 12 weeks and then you can use 4 weeks of PTO/vacation/sick leave. Since you shared above it was a HR consultant who told you that, it’s possible they misspoke. Hopefully the company is better organized than their HR seems at the moment.
Update/new question: I heard back today and the consulting HR rep did misspeak and it’s 12 weeks, not 16. I do believe that it was just a (careless) mistake, but I am frustrated, especially as this is less than what I currently get and was a factor in taking this position over holding out for another (higher paying) one.
Should I try to negotiate the leave? If so, should I try to hold them to 16 weeks paid? Compromise” to 14 (which is what I get at my current company)? Ask for the extra four weeks but unpaid? Just get over it accept it? For what it’s worth, it’s a small enough company that FMLA doesn’t apply.
This is all of course negotiating for a hypothetical, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have the need for leave at all, but my thinking is that if there’s ever a time to negotiate this it’s now when I’m being hired and before the need for leave actual arises.