Maternity Leave
What does the state offer nowadays for leave? I wanna say 4 weeks before and 6 weeks after. Also if you dont take the whole 4 weeks before can that be added on to the 6 weeks after?
Mom to be For NJ Disability, it's 6 weeks after for a regular delivery and 8 weeks after for a c-section. Regarding time before, that depends on when your Dr. says you can no longer work. There have been ladies where I work that have gone out up to 3 months before, if there is a issue and some have worked up to 2 weeks before. Time off before the birth has no bearing on the time after.
You can also look into the NJ Family Leave act. This gives an additional 6 weeks to bond with your child. It doesn't have to be taken consecutive, but has to be taken within the first year after the birth.
Hope that helps.
Calico696 
Tracy 
gm momFederal family leave is unpaid, but NJ Family leave is paid. You should be contributing a payroll deduction to it, just as you do with SUI and SDI.
NJ Family Leave is paid. I'd suggest talking to your HR department before you go on leave. Get the necessary paperwork and steps to file for 'disability' & family leave. Understand your company policies. You do not want to deal with all of this when you are trying to bond with your newborn. I had a C-section with my first and my disability insurance only granted me six weeks. Time I took off prior to delivering was deducted from my time post-delivery as well. This was our company policy (sounds shady to me) but I didn't find this out until post delivery. Needless to say, with my second child I took leave the day my water broke.
Amateur I ended up getting 20 weeks. I was on disability for 8 weeks due to having a C-Section which I was paid at 60% of my salary from our companies private disability insurer and then I used the full 12 weeks of NJ Family Leave. Under NJ Family Leave, you get 6 weeks paid and 6 weeks unpaid. The 6 weeks is paid at the same rate as NJ Unemployment. I hope that helps.
I had to do all the research myself because when I told my company I was pregnant they said all I would get was 6 weeks total.
kkjones25 Mom to be, then you will just apply for NJ short term disability. I am a contractor too, and that's what I did. Go to the website and read the instructions.
http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/tdi/worker/state/sp_pregnancy.html
You can start to fill out the forms and when you are close to your due date, have your doctor sign their portion of the form. You can also give your employer (the temp agency) a head's up that you are going to be filing so they know to expect the forms. You need to send them the forms too so they can complete their portion and verify your employment. I'd get that in to them as quickly as possible because in my experience they are usually the ones that take forever to do it.
As soon as you give birth (or your doctor signs you out of work), mail the completed forms. You can't file the claim until you "have the disability" (ie. have the baby). It's super annoying that all of the paperwork for this is still on paper and not electronic, because it's slow. Once you are approved, they will send you a debit card where your funds will be deposited. There may be a point where they stop the payments before your time is up, because they need to "verify that you are still disabled" (ie. have your doctor sign another stupid form) and then they will continue your benefits. Once the regular temporary disability has been exhausted, they will automatically send you the information to continue with the paid bonding leave under NJ Family Leave Act.
Another tip. If you have any problems, don't even bother trying to get through to a human being on the disability numbers. Call the Department of Labor and usually a human will answer and transfer you to someone at disability. When I did that I thankfully was connected with a very helpful person.
Good luck and congratulations on your new addition.
I have a question about payment for short term disability through the state. I filed at the end of August ( my son was born August 9th but I wasn't allowed to file until August 29th because that's when my contract at work starts) and it was processed on September 14th. On average how long did it take you to get paid? The reason I asked you is because women that I know said that they did not get paid till it was almost time to go back to work. I also have a short term disability policy through my work but that is taking a long time to process and I can't take them concurrently) I go back at the end of November. I am starting to panic because we planned financially up until we thought I would get paid for my maternity leave and I haven't. Let's just say Panic is also an understatement because my husband's salary will cover rent, our health insurance, and some food not including car payments credit card payments cell phone which mine will be cut off soon. Unfortunately we just live paycheck-to-paycheck in this state
Sunshinenj I would call the department of labor and have them transfer you to disability. You should be able to get someone on the phone quickly who can answer your questions. If the claim was processed on Sept. 14th, you should hopefully have money soon. It's usually 3 weeks or so. Did you receive the debit card?
I haven't received anything yet, which is why I am starting to panic. I will try the dept. of labor, it just seems impossible to get a hold of anyone.
Have you created an account online? That usually shows you the payment history and pending payments.
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