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Negotiate this in your offer! Think of it as one of the many benefits in your overall comp package. Come to the table with market leave length, your requested amounts etc. I’ve had mat leave extended from my company’s embarrassingly low baseline leave policy and would not have known to ask for a longer leave upfront if a female mentor hadn’t advised me to
Unfortunately they already called me and there’s no flexibility. Guess it didn’t hurt to try though!
Is it a small company? You can find something better. It’s good to have paid medical leave beyond FMLA generally in case the unthinkable happens anyway.
Pro
Paid maternity leave beyond FMLA is an extra benefit that they may offer, but they don’t have to, but you could add some PTO days onto that leave and also ask about any remote options with HR (1-2 days a week) maybe. That can be negotiated. I would take the job.
If you’re planning a family this will be a big problem when you need it. Just know that.
I disagree with A3 above. After years of infertility I became unexpectedly pregnant with my first before I'd hit 90 days at a firm I'd just started. The maternity benefits they offered were available after a full year of employment. As I was ineligible my only options were what was available through the state (which in CA is decent enough, as I realize most other states offer much less).
I completely understand that this may be hard to stomach, but getting out of big law is hard and finding the right opportunity that gets you out is even harder. If this is your only or biggest concern, personally I'd take it. Being a new mom in Big Law, especially when you want out, is incredibly taxing. I would not recommend staying just for a maternity benefit that you don't know when you will use.
How’s PTO? Could you use some PTO if needed to supplement?
Are you getting the STD and FMLA weeks fully paid?
Could you take some additional time unpaid? Also, do STD and FMLA run concurrently?
Maybe you can bridge the additional time with unpaid time off if you can afford it (which hopefully you can save for if that’s the case)?
Honestly an extra month to get to 4 would be enough IMO, and you might not get much or any more than that in a lot of companies anyway.
I’m also in-house (upstate NY for reference). My experience was 6 weeks of STD and then 12 weeks of NYSPFL/FMLA time. They did not run concurrently so 18 weeks total. The 6 weeks was consecutive but at least in NY, you can choose how the 12 weeks looks. I did I think 6 weeks STD, 8 more full weeks PFL, and then with my remaining 4 weeks I started slowly - like 2 days a week at first. Check your state but NY lets you do whatever combo of days works for you but you can’t do partial leave days, only full.