Oregon Paid Family Leave

Are there any full-time working mamas who’ve successfully navigated using OR paid family leave for maternity leave? Are there any other leave policies that can be layered onto the 14 paid weeks (12 standard + 2 for giving birth) to extend time off even further? I’d be ok with unpaid for a little while if I still had job protection. My company unfortunately doesn’t have any supplemental leave, and I’m struggling to figure out if I have any options to get closer to 20 weeks off once baby arrives next year. Thanks in advance for any tips & tricks!

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I only had the 14 weeks but my job did allow me to use my PTO if I wanted to but I wanted to save the 3 weeks

I don’t know of any yet but will be navigating this soon myself! I’m self employed, so I don’t have access to supplemental leave either. Happy to stay in touch and exchange insights when the time comes!

I recommend applying as early as possible (30 days) before you plan on taking leave. It will help you get paid when you start your leave. I applied about 2 weeks before I went on leave and didn’t get paid for about 2 weeks after but they gave me back pay

You can use PTO/sick days at work for more time, but my job is running OFLA with FMLA first. Once I have exhausted OFLA they’re using Paid Leave, so it’ll be a total of 26 weeks. My OB did put my return date for end of April for my FMLA medical certification with my due date being 29th of Oct.

@Daisy So you are taking 12 weeks of pregnancy disability under OFLA then? Unless there are complications warranting more time, typically pregnancy disability is only 6 weeks or 8 if you have a caesarean. That’s great if your work is granting you more time though!

Yes, you can take additional unpaid leave under OFLA and/or FMLA, if you qualify for them. It’s highly likely that your HR department won’t know this is allowed and you may have to fight for it but it is legally allowed. With OFLA you can take 6 weeks of pregnancy disability (8 if you have a caesarean) before you take PLO. With FMLA, you can take up to 12 weeks of bonding time before*m you take PLO (key here that you take it before you take PLO, because taking PLO triggers using FMLA time, but taking FMLA does not mean you have to use PLO.) Again you may have to do some legwork to convince your employer of all this but it’s allowed!

@Lisa it’ll be 10 weeks with pregnancy disability as I had my work days reduced and they are using OFLA for days I reduced which total to 2 weeks. I’m also doing short term disability. Oh girl no my pregnancy is non complicated and normal. My OB and PCP are my coworkers 😅 I ask her to make my time longer off from work.

@Daisy that’s great, more employers should be like yours!

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