Should I take a sabbatical

In college, I remember being jealous of the professors who had earned a sabbatical. They would take a whole semester off, with pay, to basically do whatever they wanted. It seemed like the sweetest gig in the world. Every ten years they worked, they could take a three-month sabbatical.

About a year ago, I asked my boss if sabbaticals were a “thing” in our field. He told me Heck No and laughed in my face. I was bummed to say the least.

But guess what guys! I had another meeting with my boss yesterday, and thanks to future baby Ninja, I can finally take a sabbatical. Okay, not a sabbatical, more like unpaid time off because of FMLA benefits. But hey, I’ll take what I can get. 

My boss explained things like this…

I can take off as much (or as little) time off as I want, up to 12 weeks, immediately after our baby is born. Do you realize what this means! I could take ALL SUMMER OFF!!!! How incredible would that be!? I’m sitting here thinking of all of the different ways I can take advantage of these FMLA benefits. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

Option A:

Take the whole summer off WITH pay. I think I have about 550 hours of sick leave banked currently (14 weeks). So if I wanted, I could take virtually the whole summer off, with pay, by exhausting my sick leave. Awesome to take three months off with pay. Not awesome being “sick leave poor”. What if baby has a serious medical complication down the road, or I break my leg six months from now? I’d be screwed if I needed to take more than three weeks off.

Option B:

Take the whole summer off, WITHOUT pay. I am not required to use any sick leave under the FMLA laws. So essentially, I can take up to 12 weeks off, without pay, and keep all 14 weeks of sick leave in tact. Super sweet to maintain a healthy sick leave balance. Not so sweet to forfeit $18,500 in gross pay over those three months.

Option C, D, E, F…

Combine sick leave and unpaid leave. Here’s where things get interesting. As long as I give my boss advance notice, meaning a written plan before baby comes, I can combine my paid time off with unpaid time off anyway I’d like. So for those first 12 weeks I could do something like….

• Take two weeks off with pay, take two weeks off without pay, work two weeks, and repeat the cycle.
• Or how about, take every Monday off as paid leave, every Friday off as unpaid, and work every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
• Or Take a month off paid, take a month off unpaid, work a month.
• Or… well you get the point.

Between June 18th and September 18th I can work as much, or as little, as I want. And I can take off as much time as I want, paid or unpaid. It’s a FANTASTIC situation to be in.

Only problem is, I’m not quite sure what to do!!!

I’m seriously dreaming about taking the family to San Diego for three months and eating 10 years worth of California Burritos. Or maybe volunteering to work at a Young Life camp all summer. Or maybe knock out some major projects around the house. Or have four-day weekends, every weekend, for three months.

Put yourself in our shoes. You have a decent chunk of change in the bank, 16 weeks of sick leave banked (about what I’ll have when the baby comes), and the ability to take 12 weeks off.

What would you do?!