By an SBPC Mothers Navigating Careers member

When I was pregnant with my first son, I worked at an established tech company in SF that was undergoing changes to the parental leave policy. The positive outcome of these changes was that the majority of a parent’s salary would be covered through a combination of disability and paid family leave, which is paid by the state, and the remaining covered by my employer. This means that for a mother with a “standard” birth, 12 weeks of paid leave would be covered: 6 weeks of disability and 6 weeks paid family leave, with the difference in salary covered by the employer. As of January 1, 2018, San Francisco employers with more than 20 employees are now required to supplement the wages of an employee who takes up to 6 weeks of paid parental leave to equal 100% of the employee’s gross weekly wages.

We hear in the news about companies like Google, Facebook, Netflix, etc. who offer generous amounts of paid parental leave—not only to the mother, but to fathers too! So being in our Bay Area bubble, this type of benefit can become something that we take for granted here, compared to what working parents have to deal with in other parents of the country.

Last June I joined a biotech company located in South San Francisco with less than 100 employees that was about to go public. When I signed the employee handbook as part of my orientation paperwork, I took a mental note that the handbook noted no paid benefits for disability and parental leave. I sort of understood why the policy never was an issue; the company formed in 2013 and as far as HR could recall, there was not a history of employees taking medical leave. Early in 2019, there were a few first-time moms who got pregnant, and I got pregnant a few months afterwards with my second son. When I inquired about what the lack of parental leave meant, it turned out that no paid benefits really meant no paid benefits. Take the state disability and paid family leave, use up sick and vacation time, and the rest goes unpaid. I asked what happens if someone goes unpaid—how do withholdings take place for medical and dental insurance premiums? HR told me that the employee can either pay the company a monthly bill or when coming back to work, have a portion of the paycheck cover the period they owe. I knew that these first-time moms had no clue what to do; they are more junior than me in their career so they haven’t been as exposed to industry norms and didn’t have the same confidence I did to speak up. I told HR that this lack of parental leave was unacceptable for a company in the Bay Area, especially one that is focused on developing a drug to improve people’s lives, and this lack of parental benefits does not encourage employee retention or positive morale. In addition, I said that there needs to be a dedicated mother’s room that isn’t just a dark and dingy closet and that I would be happy to help contribute my thoughts on designing a mother’s room. 

The company has since improved the disability benefit, paying up to 90% of the employee’s gross wages, but the same benefit does not apply during the paid family leave, leaving fathers out in the dark. I fortunately have a supportive manager who is willing to work out a “part-time, work from home” arrangement so that I can get paid during my maternity leave period when I don’t receive disability benefits, without having strict requirements for my work performance during this time period. I’m not opposed to helping answer questions and whatnot during my leave since the company runs so lean that I’m OK with helping people out. However, not everyone is so lucky to have a supportive manager. I recently found out another colleague is pregnant and she asked me about what to do. She reports to an influential executive of the company and my manager advised that she should also get a similar arrangement with her manager and that the more that people speak up, the better chance of driving change. I still feel guilty that these more junior first-time moms got the shaft on benefits during their paid family leave duration (they did get adjusted for the disability benefit), since they 1) weren’t in a position where they felt they could speak up to their managers, 2) didn’t know what to expect and 3) aren’t as established in their career so the financial situation is probably a lot more stressful for them. Changing corporate culture is very difficult to do, but I feel a sense of responsibility knowing how challenging it can be to come back to work, and having this financial burden on top of these new parents doesn’t create any job loyalty. 

Here are some ways to influence change:

1. Do your research. Find out the specific laws in the city/county you’re employed in, and for the size of the company. 
2. Find out what type of benefits are the norm for the industry; with parental leave being such a big PR thing that companies like to flaunt, name competitors who proudly disclose their benefits.
3. If you have a supportive manager, find a solution that might work for both sides. If the employer is really dependent on your role and you’re willing to not be completely off the grid, try to find a compromise. Personally, I couldn’t handle tracking hours and submitting a timesheet during leave, and fortunately, my manager is open to finding a more open ended “part-time” solution where I can help answer questions here and there and not come back to work with a bill for my insurance premiums.
4. Network with other new parents, if any, at your workplace to find out what others did.
5. If you aren’t pregnant yet but starting to plan, look into disability insurance that will cover lost wages. Here is an article that briefly covers this topic.