Maternity Leave

Our present situation is that my DH is SAHD and I am working 30 hours a week - until Christmas. And we have until the end of that time to decide what to do for next year. We don't want to put our children in care, basically our ideal is that one of us will be home with the kids while the other one works. Things have been going heaps better than I expected with me working and DH being full-time dad, and I'm starting to consider it as a long-term option. Especially since I am really enjoying my work and there is unconfirmed potential (at this stage) for it to become a permanent position when my time ends.

I think I'd be happy to dive straight into that except that both of us feel that 3 kids is not our final number. In fact we were (before I got this job) hoping I would get pregnant again about now, and have been casually TTC (to no avail) since June! I think I'd be alright with leaving a 6mo at home with DH while I worked, but I'm not so sure about a 3-6mo - and obviously 3mos is the present cut-off of paid maternity leave.

So now I have a tonne of questions about maternity leave. I've never taken it before so I don't know what to expect or even what to ask. So if you think of anything I haven't asked that would be helpful, add that too!

Questions:
Is maternity leave pay a set rate or calculated as a % of your previous earnings
Do you still get the WFF In-Work Payment when you are on maternity leave? (Presuming that your DH is working less than 30 hours)
Paid maternity leave is currently set at 12 or 13 weeks? And how long do you have to work first to be eligible (6mos?)
I heard that if you want to be eligible for the full 12 month leave (which is 9mos unpaid), you need to first work a year in that one job. Is that correct?
Do you get WFF In-Work Payment when you take 3-12m maternity (unpaid) leave? (Presuming that your DH is working less than 30 hours)
There has been talk about extending maternity leave so that leave is fully paid up to 12 mos by 2015 or something. Is that actually happening or was just a proposal that the Government has not taken on?
Who pays maternity leave, the IRD? (or the employer)

Hey, it is at a set rate if you earn more than $372 a week i think... Well anyways i get the maximum at the moment and its $640.20 a fortnight.
I dont know about WFF, but if you can get it id like to.. but on the WFF online form to register for it, it says you cant be getting parental leave??
You have to be in paid employment for 6 months then you get 14 weeks paid M leave.
Yup you have to be there a year to get the 12 months (9 months unpaid)
I again dont know about the WFF or the new proposal.
IRD does pay it to you.

Ok I haven't read everything (too lazy) but I found out I was pregnant whilst working my notice at one job, ooops we had planned to stop TTC until i had been at the new job 6 months. So basically I was 9 weeks when I started the new job, I was entitled to the full 14 weeks paid and it was calculated on what I had been earning at the new company. Because I had not been with them for 12+ months at my due date I was not entitled to take off anymore than the 14 weeks. My work are really lovely and I am not starting back till jan they let me have time off unpaid even though they were not legally obligated too.
I can't answer the WFF stuff as we don't qualify for any help whatsoever.
Hope that helps

eek that's really low

Oh that $326 is after tax. Always makes me laugh that the government pay you something then tax it, doesn't it come out of tax money? Aren't they taxing tax?

Yea lol cuppatea!!

Janine - I'm a fainter LOL!