The state program program it aligns with, California Paid Family Leave, does allow for that, so I would assume so, but didn’t see it mentioned specifically.

This applies to the time period covered by CA’s Paid Family Leave Program. For a dad or an adoptive parent it might start at birth, but a woman who gives birth is entitled to go on Pregnancy Disability Leave from four weeks before her due date till eight to 10 weeks after the birth, and only then does the clock start…

I finally went into labor the night before I was going to be induced, and got an epidural as soon as we arrived at the hospital (around 3 AM) in the hope that I could get a little rest before active labor. At about 6 AM, the nurse came in to check on my progress, said “oh shit,” and hightailed it out of the room to…

I have a tube of this that I must have gotten in a sample bag that I’ve been putting off using it because it seems so manly! I am glad to hear a rave review...I will have to pull it out one of these days.

Are you secretly my husband? He claims that he can’t use conditioner because it makes his hair “too soft” (the horror!), and that beautiful kitty cat is a dead ringer for our Samantha.

I agree that the marketing is problematic - that product description is particularly ridiculous - but there are lots of reasons a person might use a lightening product that have nothing to do with lightening the overall color of their skin - fading hyperpigmentation or melasma, for instance. I have a few lightening…

It truly boggles the mind. The encampments on Division Street in particular - when I went on maternity leave in April of last year, there were a few tents here and there but nothing major, so when I started commuting again in October and saw the extent to which they developed in a six month period, I just couldn’t…

You’ve got to be kidding me. Have you spent any time on Division Street lately? The tent camps are no joke, and they’ve spread dramatically over the past year or so.

This guy is obviously a total asshole, like an increasingly large percentage of the population of San Francisco. But the homeless problem is getting worse and worse, and the powers that be don’t seem to be concerned with doing much about it (apart, of course, from sweeping it under the rug for Super Bowl). Anecdata, I…

They absolutely could. “We can’t afford to hire a temp” is complete bullshit.

“There’s generally no budget for additional cover” is really not true though. Companies are not required to provide paid maternity leave, so when a woman is out, she’s not being paid (unless she’s using earned PTO, which they’d have to pay out at one point or another anyway). Even in states that mandate some type of…

I’m glad I’m not the only one. Twice last year I got 50-100 pages into a novel, only to realize I’d already read it a few years before. Unless I really love or really hate a book, its plot completely escapes me within a matter of weeks.

I believe this is how it works in California. Pregnancy disability leave is covered under the state’s short-term disability program.

Even if she had been in a state with mandated and paid maternity leave, I’m not sure it would have precluded her employer from moving her to a different position. They don’t have to give you the same job back, they just have to give you one that is equivalent...and although the casual restaurant group is certainly…

North and South West-East!

Thank you for mentioning this - I had NO idea!

I had my daughter in the Bay Area and it was the same. My hospital schedule a prenatal psychology session toward the end of the first tri also, to give an informal screening and be sure you were aware of their support services should you need them.

I had my daughter in San Francisco, and the hospital I had her at automatically scheduled a meeting with a psychologist toward the end of the first trimester (IIRC). At the time I thought it was weird - they actually weren’t clear what it was so I had assumed it was a regular appointment until I was sitting in her…

I think I recall this particular episode, and JJ also mentioned having given up caffeine altogether for her entire pregnancy, so clearly the writing staff of Criminal Minds is not up to date on what pregnant women are and are not supposed to do.

I wasn’t aware this was a thing, so I binge-watched all 10 seasons of Criminal Minds while I was pregnant. So my daughter’s going to grow up to be a serial killer, right?