Sometimes, this European maternity/vacation stuff is annoying.

AmoroAgain

In Sweden, men receive 6 months of maternity leave.  So, one of H's coworkers is getting ready to take his, and then told his boss he was going to take another 6 weeks of vacation, therefore having 7 1/2 months off.  WTF.  It's his right, yes, but it annoys me because H gets stuck with all this guys work.  GRRRR. 

aMrsin09

coco, yep, it was the best employer I have ever worked for.  You started out with 21 vacations days, 12 sick days, and every Gov't and public holiday off which added an extra 11 or 14 depending on how they fell.  I forget what the break out was, but by the time I was there 5 years I had 6 weeks vacation and 18 sick days a year.

AmoroAgain

I honestly don't mind the 6 months at all, I think that's wonderful.  However, sticking the extra 6 weeks bugs me when they're already short staffed and H has to pick up all the slack. 

Actually, I wish the US would do something like this, allowing people to spend time with their babies. I just don't like that he's taking the extra EXTRA time afterwards.  He's off 6 months already, does he NEED to take 6 weeks after that?  Nope.

vallyhoo

I honestly don't know much about maternity leave in other countries, much less here in the US, but I just wonder if companies that allow you to bank months of time off would be okay with you taking it all at once 'just because' and not for the sole purpose of maternity/paternity leave. Guess I should ask my HR person about that...

SwedishChick2011

Amoro - I agree with you about the extra 6 weeks.  That's overkill and obviously very inconvenient for the other employees.

squirrly

Here, we can't bank any vacation or sick days.  Use it or lose it.  Plus, I think when you go on maternity leave it eats sick days first, then vacation days, and then short-term disability kicks in and covers the rest of the time.  So. . . if you go into labor in January, you're screwed and have zilch for vacation for the rest of the year.

sucrets4

We were hanging out with a couple last night and the woman is from Germany and said that they get THREE YEARS off per kid.  So, she had another kid at the end of the time and got 6 years off.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

We used t be able to roll over 80 hours of paid time off (which is out vacation and sick time), and then I was accruing 160 hours a year, so in theory I could have gotten 6 weeks of time off if it was the end of the year. But they chopped the time we accrue, so now I get 120 a year. Still not shabby, I suppose. Plus I think you can take 12 weeks of short term disability in California.

Kati0105

I honestly don't know much about maternity leave in other countries, much less here in the US, but I just wonder if companies that allow you to bank months of time off would be okay with you taking it all at once 'just because' and not for the sole purpose of maternity/paternity leave. Guess I should ask my HR person about that...

Planning on taking some anti-maternity leave, Vally?