When to give notice with upcoming leave?

[jeromedawg]

Hey guys,

I'm in a situation where I have parental leave I originally scheduled 11/30-12/18. I accepted a job offer elsewhere and the official start date is 12/31. I got approval from my immediate manager to extend my leave through 12/25 instead (he doesn't care cause he's leaving the company end of this month). I plan to make my last day 12/30 either way.

It seems I have a few options on how to give notice:
1) give notice now or soon
2) give notice exactly 2 weeks before the 31st while I'm on leave...I could come into the office in person and try to find someone to give a letter to
3) give notice on 12/28

What should I do? Or is there another option? BTW the policy on parental leave *seems* to encourage using it up if you know you're terminating employment, which I find a bit odd, or maybe I'm just not reading it right...:

Q. What happens if I leave the company and have not taken any or all of my Parental Leave?
A. Paid Parental Leave is a benefit available while actively employed. Unused Parental Leave time not taken prior to termination is forfeited.

[jeromedawg]

To give more context: I already was given a target termination date of June 2016 at my current place along with a number of others. The division I'm in seems to be on the hook. Those who didn't get a termination "package" (because they're most valued assets) are occupied with the sole success of a last ditch project effort. So the sentiment is that most ppl with packages don't care about the success of the division or company, and most ppl working on the last ditch project are really trying to make it work... At least for now. Some are already looking or have found something else, like my manager. All those with packages have been tasked with "transitional" work and transferring knowledge to our replacements in China.

[seattlecyclone]

Do they have a policy that your leave becomes unpaid if you never come back? If there is, and you give notice while on leave, there's always a risk that they would simply terminate your employment effective immediately and you would lose that pay you were expecting while on leave. I would probably go with option 3 out of an abundance of caution.

[KCM5]

So are they going to can you when you give notice?

If not, I'd give the standard two weeks. Actually, I'd probably give the standard two weeks anyway, because I follow norms :)

[jeromedawg]

Do they have a policy that your leave becomes unpaid if you never come back? If there is, and you give notice while on leave, there's always a risk that they would simply terminate your employment effective immediately and you would lose that pay you were expecting while on leave. I would probably go with option 3 out of an abundance of caution.

Technally I'd be back in 12/28-12/30.

I was reading through the policy and there isn't anything in there talking about the leave becoming unpaid or that they would terminate me while on leave. The most I found is the q&a I posted.

As far as actual notice should I give a paper letter or would email and or a phonecall be sufficient?

[jeromedawg]

So are they going to can you when you give notice?

If not, I'd give the standard two weeks. Actually, I'd probably give the standard two weeks anyway, because I follow norms :)

This I'm unsure about. It's a new policy as of this year and there are no details or provisions really around giving notice while on leave. And I'm afraid if I ask HR it'll raise the red flag with them to go ahead and can me...like "why is he asking the question to begin with?" Haha

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Who cares if you get canned two weeks before your new job starts? Ask without fear!

[jeromedawg]

Who cares if you get canned two weeks before your new job starts? Ask without fear!

Trying to get the paid parental leave as well as health benefits as we're scheduling a vaccination/doc visit for my son end of dec

[jeromedawg]

If I requested the time off prior to accepting the offer(with expected start date) and i give my notice now or before i go on leave, am I protected in any way?

[KCM5]

From what I understand, FMLA protects you for 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a year of the child being born. And that protects your insurance. Not the paid leave. This is assuming that your company is required to comply with FMLA (50 employees within a certain radius?)

Most insurance is paid at the beginning of the month and runs through the end of the month. So if you wait until at least the beginning of December to give leave, even if they fire you immediately you'd still be covered under their insurance until the end of the month. And then there's the whole FMLA thing, so I don't imagine that they'd want to mess with that and contest it, but you know more about that than I do. And then there's COBRA.

I'd call/email in 2 weeks notice. Does your boss already know or are you just assuming he won't care because he's leaving?

[jeromedawg]

I think you should give notice on 12/1 as long as you have a solid offer from the new company, and offer to work for 2 weeks after you come back from leave to fulfill your transition obligations.  It's kind of crappy to give notice while on leave and then come in to the office for a few days, unless the type of work you do doesn't require a 2 week transition.  I don't know what business you are in but it's a small world and these people may be your future employers / employees and your reputation will follow you down the road.  Your reputation is worth more than 1-2 weeks of pay.

From what I understand, FMLA protects you for 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a year of the child being born. And that protects your insurance. Not the paid leave. This is assuming that your company is required to comply with FMLA (50 employees within a certain radius?)

Most insurance is paid at the beginning of the month and runs through the end of the month. So if you wait until at least the beginning of December to give leave, even if they fire you immediately you'd still be covered under their insurance until the end of the month. And then there's the whole FMLA thing, so I don't imagine that they'd want to mess with that and contest it, but you know more about that than I do. And then there's COBRA.

I'd call/email in 2 weeks notice. Does your boss already know or are you just assuming he won't care because he's leaving?

Good to know about the insurance thing and being covered under FMLA. I think FMLA protects you from getting fired while on leave. Not sure if that changes if you give notice though...I actually told my lead my situation and asked him not to say anything. He doesn't care because he's leaving the company end of November so he won't even be around. That will leave a gap on our team and I. Also unsure of who to even give my notice to after that but quite possibly the director. I'm not sure how "lenient" she is about things but she may also be understanding because I think everyone knows that the situation we're all in is pretty crappy and with bleak outlook.

That's why I was thinking it may not be that big of a deal giving my notice 2 days before my last day. especially because most transitional work I need to do has to happen well before that timeframe.

[MsPeacock]

If I recall from an earlier thread, your company just laid off a ton of people with no notice. Given the sinking ship atmosphere I would expect they will terminate you as soon as you give notice in order to cut costs. You have already secured a job and don't need them as a reference. I would give notice on 12/28. Two days notice, and expect to be told not to come back after that day (or even sent home). They won't hesitate one second if firing you saved them money. No reason for you to do otherwise given the circumstances.

I have severeal  who quit after parental leave. None of them gave notice until the day they were scheduled to return.

[Villanelle]

If your priority is maximizing benefits and leave, then go ahead and give notice on the 28th, and be prepared to be told it is your last day.  Also be prepared not to get a good reference in the future, so it that matters, you might want to rethink things. 

[jeromedawg]

If your priority is maximizing benefits and leave, then go ahead and give notice on the 28th, and be prepared to be told it is your last day.  Also be prepared not to get a good reference in the future, so it that matters, you might want to rethink things. 

If I recall from an earlier thread, your company just laid off a ton of people with no notice. Given the sinking ship atmosphere I would expect they will terminate you as soon as you give notice in order to cut costs. You have already secured a job and don't need them as a reference. I would give notice on 12/28. Two days notice, and expect to be told not to come back after that day (or even sent home). They won't hesitate one second if firing you saved them money. No reason for you to do otherwise given the circumstances.

I have severeal  who quit after parental leave. None of them gave notice until the day they were scheduled to return.

I may do that then. I don't really know the director who I'd likely be reporting to anyway and any references I would have used are leaving or gone or in different divisions and understand the overall predicament and atmosphere everyone is in. Now, there certainly is risk of bumping into that director again in the case that it becomes a burnt bridge but at this rate it might be worth the risk. I dunno... There's much to think about. Considering FMLA provides job and insurance protection I could still give notice on 12/21 technically while on leave and be protected thru 12/25
 Of course they could terminate me effective 12/28 in that case.

The other thought would be to extend FMLA coverage through 12/31 and give my notice on 12/21 and be willing to forfeit the parental leave time off and have to do transition work (but only agree to do it from home) for my remaining time there if they ask or need me to

[jeromedawg]

I guess the other way to look at it is to consider that whoever I'll be reporting to when the time comes doesn't know about the situation I'm in. For all intents and purposes I could have gotten an offer after the start date of my leave. So I could just give my advanced notice on 12/21 and live with it. If I have job and insurance protection through the 25th then they could just choose to let me go on the 28th but that would perhaps leave me on better terms since I did give a more advanced notice...