Continuing to freelance while on maternity leave?
June 13, 2013 5:55 AM Subscribe
As of yesterday I'm officially on maternity leave from my full-time editing job at Rigorous Company. I am involved in simple year-long freelance editing project for Fun Company. You are not my lawyer, but will I run into trouble if I continue to work on the freelance project while collecting short-term disability from Rigorous Company?
More details, if needed:
- I live in upstate New York.
- I started my leave yesterday, at 39 weeks pregnant, and plan to take eight weeks of leave after the baby arrives. Between now and six weeks after the baby arrives, I will be paid at 50% of my regular rate under short-term disability; the last two weeks will be unpaid. It's my first pregnancy, so it's entirely possible baby will be late.
- My work for Rigorous Company is done on-site and involves editing and legislation and a very high level of concentration and focus. I had originally planned to work up until my due date (next week) but started leave early after discussion with my midwife, as my end-of-pregnancy exhaustion made focusing on dense legal text very challenging.
- My project with Fun Company involves copy-editing for a well-known children's puzzle book club. I am doing, on average, a project piece every ten to fourteen days. The work is enjoyable and I would like to have something to stimulate my brain, even a little, by the end of my maternity leave. I submit invoices at my convenience, so it's entirely possible for me to complete the work as it comes and not submit any invoices until I'm back to work for Rigorous Company in late August (or until they stop paying me six weeks after the kid arrives?).
I asked The Google about this, but for some reason most of the sources I found were a) several years out of date, and b) focused on the UK.
More details, if needed:
- I live in upstate New York.
- I started my leave yesterday, at 39 weeks pregnant, and plan to take eight weeks of leave after the baby arrives. Between now and six weeks after the baby arrives, I will be paid at 50% of my regular rate under short-term disability; the last two weeks will be unpaid. It's my first pregnancy, so it's entirely possible baby will be late.
- My work for Rigorous Company is done on-site and involves editing and legislation and a very high level of concentration and focus. I had originally planned to work up until my due date (next week) but started leave early after discussion with my midwife, as my end-of-pregnancy exhaustion made focusing on dense legal text very challenging.
- My project with Fun Company involves copy-editing for a well-known children's puzzle book club. I am doing, on average, a project piece every ten to fourteen days. The work is enjoyable and I would like to have something to stimulate my brain, even a little, by the end of my maternity leave. I submit invoices at my convenience, so it's entirely possible for me to complete the work as it comes and not submit any invoices until I'm back to work for Rigorous Company in late August (or until they stop paying me six weeks after the kid arrives?).
I asked The Google about this, but for some reason most of the sources I found were a) several years out of date, and b) focused on the UK.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's request -- taz
"if I continue to work .... while collecting short-term disability"
Is known as benefits fraud.
posted by three blind mice at 6:06 AM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
Is known as benefits fraud.
posted by three blind mice at 6:06 AM on June 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
so it's entirely possible for me to complete the work as it comes and not submit any invoices until I'm back to work for Rigorous Company in late August (or until they stop paying me six weeks after the kid arrives?)
Doing this would be fraud.
Related: Your name and information about you are in your profile, I'd suggest deleting or anonymizing this question pronto.
posted by arnicae at 6:37 AM on June 13, 2013
Doing this would be fraud.
Related: Your name and information about you are in your profile, I'd suggest deleting or anonymizing this question pronto.
posted by arnicae at 6:37 AM on June 13, 2013
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posted by jon1270 at 6:05 AM on June 13, 2013