Greetings!

My wife and I are expecting our first in about 3 weeks. Unfortunately, my wife's company does not provide any paid maternity leave (while mine actually provides me with some paid paternity leave!) so she was planning to go on short term disability for the duration of her leave. She is planning to take 12 weeks following the birth of our son under the F.M.L.A.

Her HR person had originally told her she would be eligable for $170 per week (not 50% of her salary, but apparently the maximum payout in NYS) of Short Term Disability for that duration. Now, our doctor's office that is filling out the paperwork is telling us that my wife will only be paid disability for a maximum of 2 weeks prior to birth and 6 weeks after (8 weeks after for a C-section). We have been back and forth across a bunch of different sites, and honestly there's a reason I'm not a lawyer! :p

Any confirmation or additional resources would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for your time!

Paid maternity leave is not required by law in any state except CA, and not always there. NY, however, is one of only 5 states which mandates disability benefits.

STD benefits are not intended to provide income replacement for any time except for the period of physican disablity, which for a pregnancy is generally considered to be six to 8 weeks. Unless there is a medical reason why she needs to be out longer than that, which can be confirmed by a physician, any time beyond that will be unpaid.