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Maternity Leave

Making it Work For You

Part Two

Realistically, self-employed entrepreneurs or women who run large companies from home may not be able to give themselves any more leave without risking professional success. Again, careful planning can minimize the trauma of returning to work, for mother and baby. Demas suggests that a self-employed mom "set up her work before the baby is born so that she has no new projects or a limited amount of work to do during the time she has defined as 'leave.'"

The advantage that salaried telecommuters have over their self-employed sisters is that employees of a company – regardless of whether they work in the office or telecommute – should be eligible for 12 weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA).

"Telecommuting does not change the contractual relationship between the employer and the employee. The only thing that changes is where the work is done. Therefore, the laws that cover in-house employees also cover telecommuting employees," says June Langhoff, author of The Telecommuter's Advisor and editor of Telecommute magazine.

Knowing your legal rights is an important part of becoming a mother. If you are a salaried, telecommuting employee, make sure you speak to your human resources department. If women who work in the office are entitled to an hour off every day (without pay reduction) in order to breastfeed, you should receive those benefits as well. Whether you telecommute or run your own home-based business, when you go back to work, you're working – and that means for at least part of the day, you're not taking care of your baby. Childcare is a must for women who go back to work, no matter where the workplace is. You can, of course, hire someone to care for you child in your home. That way, you can still have "power lunches" with your new baby, and you can feel comfortable knowing that you're close by in case of an emergency. And if you can arrange your schedule to do some of your work in the evenings when your spouse is home, you can reduce the cost of full-time childcare.