Clerkships and Maternity Leave Forum

[Anonymous User]

I am about to graduate, and I have a D. Ct. clerkship lined up starting in August and a COA clerkship lined up for the 2015 term. My husband and I also just found out that we are expecting, which means I will need to take a couple of weeks off during my D. Ct. clerkship in order to have a baby.

Setting aside the typical TLS "zomg you have just ruined your career by considering having a baby during a federal clerkship!" response (because there's nothing that will change about that now), how will this affect the pay bump between my D. Ct. and COA gigs? I've heard the bump from JSP-11 to JSP-12 occurs after 1 year of working + bar passage. Will taking 2-3 weeks off for a maternity leave impact my "one year" status? If so, will I be eligible for the bump at some point during my COA once I hit the one year mark?

Thanks!

[Arbiter213]

I am about to graduate, and I have a D. Ct. clerkship lined up starting in August and a COA clerkship lined up for the 2015 term. My husband and I also just found out that we are expecting, which means I will need to take a couple of weeks off during my D. Ct. clerkship in order to have a baby.

Setting aside the typical TLS "zomg you have just ruined your career by considering having a baby during a federal clerkship!" response (because there's nothing that will change about that now), how will this affect the pay bump between my D. Ct. and COA gigs? I've heard the bump from JSP-11 to JSP-12 occurs after 1 year of working + bar passage. Will taking 2-3 weeks off for a maternity leave impact my "one year" status? If so, will I be eligible for the bump at some point during my COA once I hit the one year mark?

Thanks!

Congratulations, to start.

Even assuming the 2 or so weeks of maternity leave count against your seniority under the federal system (which I have no idea about), you would move up a pay grade as soon as you hit a full year of work + bar passage, in this case, <number of weeks taken off> into your Circuit position.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Ha, I wrote something long winded and rambling, but it boiled down to what Arbiter213 said, so I'll just cosign that.

[Anonymous User]

Ha, I wrote something long winded and rambling, but it boiled down to what Arbiter213 said, so I'll just cosign that.

This.

Also, it depends on your judge. A lot of judges, if not the majority, don't require their clerks to take formal leave (with the corollary of you do not expect to have formal leave, or be expected to use your accumulated formal leave whenever you want).

Relevant anecdotes: a co-clerk of mine had to have surgery unexpectedly, which required him taking off almost 3 weeks. His judge said to not worry about it and just asked him to work as hard as possible before and after. Similarly, my co-clerk got pregnant unexpectedly (use protection, everyone) and had the baby as a single mom. Our judge was also a single mom due to an unexpected pregnancy during law school, so she was incredibly supportive. She let my co-clerk take off 2 months off and didn't notify HR, etc.

[A. Nony Mouse]

About taking formal leave - not all judges put their clerks on the leave act, and even if they did, presuming you're a one year term clerk, you would only accrue 13 days off by the end of one year. So no, judges may not make their clerks take formal leave, but it might be that there isn't any formal leave to take. Which just goes back to how it's all at the judge's discretion, of course - judges really do seem to be able to deal with their clerks as they please.

(Where I clerked it seemed to be expected that clerks who were on the leave act wouldn't actually take leave, or any significant leave - they'd just get it paid out as a lump sum at the end of the clerkship. But I'm sure that varies by judge/district.)

[Anonymous User]

OP here - thanks for the feedback!

[Anonymous User]

About taking formal leave - not all judges put their clerks on the leave act, and even if they did, presuming you're a one year term clerk, you would only accrue 13 days off by the end of one year. So no, judges may not make their clerks take formal leave, but it might be that there isn't any formal leave to take. Which just goes back to how it's all at the judge's discretion, of course - judges really do seem to be able to deal with their clerks as they please.

(Where I clerked it seemed to be expected that clerks who were on the leave act wouldn't actually take leave, or any significant leave - they'd just get it paid out as a lump sum at the end of the clerkship. But I'm sure that varies by judge/district.)

Yeah, in my court, it depends. My friend's judge explicitly told them at the beginning that it was an 11-month clerkship--they were expected to take no time off (aside for weddings, holidays, etc.) but then they unofficially get to finish 3 weeks early. Another friend's judge had a completely hands-off approach. The clerks were given their parts of the docket and got to handle the schedule however they wanted. I remember talking to my friend about accumulated leave after his year was up and he didn't even know we had formal leave.

TL;DR more anecdotes about how leave policies are basically up to the judge's discretion.

[Anonymous User]

I'm in a slightly similar situation. I recommend talking to HR if you can -- at my courthouse, HR told me that I would get some sort of maternity leave if necessary and one of the rotating clerks would fill in while I'm gone.