Pregnancy/Disability/Unemployment in MD

[fordham2]

I am eight months pregnant and was just informed last week that I will be unemployed as of June 30. This is not a case of pregnancy discrimination, as the company is ceasing operations and everyone at our location is losing their jobs. My issue right now is with health insurance, as I am weeks away from delivering my second child and my husband’s employer does not offer health insurance. The only severance I am being offered is two weeks pay which would not even cover one month of COBRA, so I am preparing a letter to the parent company who is shutting us down in which I plan to ask for them to cover 2-3 months of COBRA premiums. (After COBRA we will have to contract individually with an insurer until I find a job and benefits kick in. At $1,400 a month we simply cannot COBRA forever.)
One point I wish to make in my request is that once I deliver the baby, I will cease to be ‘Able to work, Available for work, and Actively seeking work’ for approximately one month and therefore unable to collect unemployment during that time period, however, this is the point I need to clarify through this forum. My research on unemployment in Maryland has found that if you become ‘sick or temporarily disabled’ (pregnancy specifically is mentioned nowhere, though I know it legally qualifies as disability, as normally STD would apply) you can file a ‘sick claim’ and they will make the determination as to whether you can continue to collect a reduced benefit or any benefit at all. I called unemployment to try and verify what would happen in my situation but the rep could not comment one way or the other, as I am not yet even in the unemployment system. Has anyone had experience with going on unemployment sick claim and what was the determination? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe I should be able to collect from the state during the time when I would obviously not meet the ‘triple A’ test, I just need to verify this to use as ammo in my letter to my soon-to-be former employer. I believe I need to make a factual appeal, rather than an emotional one. I understand it’s not their problem at all that I’m pregnant, but the timing of these events is going to have a severe financial impact on my family, and as they are the ones taking away my livelihood, I feel I should be compensated more than two weeks pay.
One last question: I only get one chance to make this request. In this situation, would you consult with an attorney just to help you write a severance negotiation letter to make it more compelling? And if you’ve read this far, thanks very much for your time!

[Marketeer]

Unfortunately, there are no laws requiring employers to provide severance. You can certainly consult with a lawyer, but there's really no guarantee that having a lawyer write the letter will bring you any better results than if you write the letter yourself. You also face the issue of why the employer should continue your health insurance when there are undoubtedly other employees who will also have difficult in paying the COBRA premiums as well.

[Beth3]

In this situation, would you consult with an attorney just to help you write a severance negotiation letter to make it more compelling? No, because you have no leverage here there's nothing for an attorney to help you with. All you can do is appeal to your employer's good graces and ask them to provide more severance and/or pay for several months of COBRA. If they say "no," then that's it.

I'm not familiar with MD's UC reg's but unless your State has some very unusual UC statutes, you won't be eligible to receive UC benefits at all during the time you are disabled due to your pregnancy and birth.

[ElleMD]

In MD you would not be eligible for UC if you are incapacitated by childbirth. Generally speaking the medical exceptions are granted when there is a short period of incapacity during an established period of job searching and UC. Say a month into UC and actively looking for a job you break your leg and bed rest is recommended for a week or two. That would almost assuredly be granted. I've not known the UC folks to approve when the employee in question is going to be out for an extended period of time almost as soon as they qualify.

While you can write the letter requesting COBRA, I wouldn't count on it being granted. They don't have to provide even the 2 weeks severance and I'm sure most of your coworkers would like to have their health care extended for a few months. If they are closing your whole division I'm guessing money is fairly tight and this may not be financially feasible. It never hurts to ask. While you can have an attorney draft something for you I wouldn't count on it producing any results you wouldn't achieve on your own. Plus, you'd be out the money for the attorney.