Here it goes......I am having my first child, they say the due date is the begining of November. I started my job at the end of November of last year. I'm going to be approx. short 2 weeks of a year. Is there anything I could do to be able to guarentee my job when I return from maternity leave? Also, my mother in law was telling me to look into disability so that may still get paid a portion of my salary while I'm out. Would I qualify? How would I apply? I'm scared to ask my employer, cause they're nickle and dime kind of people and I don't want to cause any waves that might bite me in the butt. I work for a sub-contractor as an estimator and though I'm not in the union, it is a union shop. Honestly, I may be jumping the gun, I'm still months away, but I would like to have everything in order. Please advise. THANKS! :D

There is no way to hold your job outside of FMLA, but I will look for a state program for NY. You cannot apply for disability insurance after you've already become disabled (the pregnancy). In the insurance industry, that is called "buying a claim". They are not going to accept 6 or 8 months of premium, to turn around and pay it right back to you, knowing that you are already "disabled". Save the money that you would have used to pay the insurance premiums for the time after the baby is born. Congrats.

NY is one of the very few states that mandates disability coverage and pregnancy/giving birth would qualify. Disability is not the same as job protection which would not be in place until you have been there at least one year.

You can find out more about it here http://www.wcb.state.ny.us/content/main/offthejob/IntroToLaw_DB.jsp

I believe NY requires employers to have a DI plan but I don't know details - maybe someone else will come along & know.

Elle - when I started typing my previous post, your post wasn't there yet. I just didn't get mine submitted before you. I knew someone would come along & know more details. Thanks.

Assuming that your employer has 50 employees or more within 75 miles of your location, and assuming that you have worked no less than 1,250 hours when you go out on your maternity leave, job protection will kick in on your anniversary date.