No maternity leave?

[cameraGEEK]

I will be delivering next year, during my final year or residency. A lot of next year will be elective time/not rigorous rotations, so it will be easy to have maternity leave and not need to have to have my co-residents cover me, which is why we picked my last year to have our baby.

However, I recently spoke to my program administration who told me the program has zero days of maternity leave, and that they follow the Family Leave Act, but any time I am gone is unpaid and will be need to be made up to the exact day. We also have no sick days that can be used, only vacation time next year can be used for maternity leave if you want to be paid during the time you are gone. Is this the norm?

How do your programs deal with maternity leave?
Are all days missed made up for at the end of the year 1:1?
Are there any ACGME rules regarding this?
Do no programs have paid maternity leave?

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[PTPoeny]

The only rule from ACGME is that each program must give interviewees information about their leave policies.

The hospital I did residency at offered six weeks paid maternity leave for female residents (one day for men). Some programs there have the residents make up every day they miss from that leave time, others don't. With regards to making up time, some of that is specialty dependant and determined by the specialty board. Other times program leadership can decide to make people pay back time even if the specialty doesn't require it.

My program would work with new parents and help us put together 2-3 months of mostly at home time using research months and board study time. The residents could do the work ahead of time and then be home during the official rotation time to take care of the baby. The six weeks of leave was the only time completely without responsibilities, the other time we would have to do clinic a half day a week and come to lectures.

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[LucidSplash]

Additionally, the ACGME has restrictions on the amount of time you can miss in residency no matter the reason. Some specialties have additional requirements specific to the last year in training. Needing to make up the time 1:1 is likely a function of that.

 

[DennisRubalcava]

I have also applied for the maternity leave in my office.

 

[RuralMedicine]

FMLA requires that your job is held for you but doesn't require that any of your leave be paid. It is pretty typical I think to have to use vacation, sick leave, and or short term disability (if applicable/eligible).

Lucid Splash's point about ACGME time requirements should also be considered. You may end up needing to extend your residency to make up time.

Best wishes! (Based on your wording it wasn't clear to me if you are already pregnant---if so, congratulations!)

 

[Hakuna Matata]

I'm currently on maternity leave and everything you mentioned applies. FMLA requires them to give you 12 weeks if you desire. They don't require them to pay you. I'm taking 6 weeks off and using 1 week of PTO time to get a little money coming in during that time. If you're not already pregnant, sign up for short-term disability! They will pay you about 66% of your salary during your maternity leave. Also, does your program have any sort of parenting/maternity elective? It seems more and more programs are offering those now. My program has one where I am in clinic 1 day per week and the rest of the time is home study doing a research project that I'll have to present at noon conference. So I get paid, counts as a rotation (don't have to make the time up like my other 6 weeks), and it's a nice transition back to work by somewhat working part time for a month. Maybe inquire about your program considering doing something similar. Good luck and congratulations!!


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