Have you checked out any defense contractors? My mom works for a small one, and they end up with all kinds of positions for government contracts, and being "too military" is seen (as it should be) as a positive rather than a drawback. A lot of the jobs are remote as well--her entire company is remote.
Would you be able to elaborate on this via PM?
I find myself at a quandary. I had posted several months ago about my difficulty finding work and being in a tight spot and many of you guys were super supportive and it was genuinely appreciated.
In April I began working in a new role in midtown - I don’t love it; I’m not really cut out for the civilian world it turns out… leaving the military was a mistake - but it pays well enough and there is room for growth in the future so, all things considered, couldn’t complain. We don’t all get to love what we do, but if I’m paying my bills and supporting my family, beggars can’t be choosers, right?
So anyhow, when I was hired in April I was very forthcoming about my wife’s due date and that I would need to take at least
some time when Henrik was born. I work in the NY office of a company that has offices in MA, NH, CT, NJ and NY. My boss is only in charge of the NY office but as my direct report, he told me no problem man, absolutely, let me know what you need. This was during the interview phase. When I was on-boarding the head of HR told me “(NY boss) told me you and your wife are expecting, congrats! Let me know when you need to take off and I’ll get you all set up with family leave.” My boss reiterated on multiple occasions that I was “good to take leave” even though I was a newer employee. When it was time for my wife to be induced the night of the 22nd, I told HR that I was going to be beginning leave on the 23rd and only planned to take 2 weeks; I had promised my boss I’d only take 2 weeks since they were being so generous in letting me take leave after only 2 months with the company. I was told “no problem, go do dad stuff”.
I ended up taking 3 weeks due to how long the induction and labor were, and the emergency c section. I kept in touch with all of my clients and accounts that I was responsible for, responded to emails, phone calls and texts and when something was too involved for me to handle from the hospital or home, I looped my boss in and otherwise kept him abreast of what was going on with my responsibilities. I came back to work this Monday and the head of HR called me on Wednesday to let me know that I “only had 20 hours of PTO” so that was all they were paying me for. She also told me that the company policy was for me to apply for benefits through my state. The deadline for applying from the state is 30 days from the start of your leave - in other words I have 5 days remaining to get this submitted. I did my part of the paperwork but then had to overnight it to the MA office for HR to fill out their portion. They refused to mail it to straight to the state for me, so they said they’d mail it back to me, at which point I then need to mail it to the state.
The mail has been delivered today and I still do not have the documents. What’s more frustrating is that these documents could have been submitted up to 30 days in advance of my leave but the head of HR neglected to let me know this was the company policy despite being well aware of the situation. She also, could have, at any time - be it benefit enrollment during onboarding, or my 3 day trip up to headquarters during orientation - let me know that my upcoming paternity leave was not covered, since we spoke extensively about what he would be named, how my wife was doing, etc. Now I have to hope I can get these forms back and submitted in time and get paid eventually for my time away from work (at 66%), but as it stands, I received no pay this Friday and will only receive pay for 1 week next Friday. Unfortunately, 2 months at work wasn’t really enough for me to build up enough of a safety net for me to survive with no pay for 3 weeks. So I’m a bit screwed. I don’t know that I’ll be able to afford my weekly pass for the LIRR on Monday to even go in to work the next couple of weeks.
Now, I do understand that
expecting the company to pay me for my time away may have been a miscommunication and assumption based on the way “you’re good to take leave” and “I’ll set you up with your family leave” were conveyed to me, so while I am upset at them not paying me, I imagine I don’t have much of a leg to stand on there. However, it seems pretty irresponsible of HR to only tell me after the fact to apply for the state benefits in lieu of any company policy when I could have set that up in advance to cover this gap in pay and they had ample opportunity, during the course of informal conversations about the impending birth, to mention that I’d have to apply for external benefits. I also find it a bit frustrating that my boss allowed me to continue working with my clients to the extent I was capable of, if he knew that I wouldn’t be paid for that time off. Had I known I was burning what little PTO I had accrued, I would have unplugged completely.
He claims he thought that I would be paid for the time off. I also find it frustrating that had I known I would be going off the state benefits, not only could I have applied ahead of time, but I could have set up benefits a month or even longer if I had wanted to, because if your company relies on the state for benefits you are entitled to up to 3 months of leave. Instead I worked while I was off and rushed back to the office, when I could have utilized this information to plan my leave and my return to work to better coincide with my wife’s recovery.
Part of me wants to push the issue with my company and state my case that I feel I should receive at least a partial compensation since I worked while I was out of the office. One of my deals got closed while I was out of the office (my company made $27,000 profit on it) and I closed another deal I had been working on while out of the office on Wednesday (for a $28,500 profit). On the other hand, I feel that I’ve already pushed it to the extent that I can without burning bridges. If I’m going to stay at the company, I don’t want to ruin my chances of a future promotion over 3 weeks of pay. On the other hand, I have $108 right now and I’m not so sure that I want to have a future at a company that operates this way.
I am le stuck. And frustrated.
