Prenancy leave and the bad economy
A recent article by Sarah E. Needleman for the Wall Street Journal pointed out that the pregnancy leave is under the gun nationally, especially in small businesses. But even in this bad economy, a few small businesses offer a paid pregnancy leave to help build staff loyalty. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the pregnancy leave requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, and in this economy they are seriously considering any possible cost savings. Paid leave is, of course, rarer than pregnancy leave per se. Needleman cites a survey late in 2009 of 534 Human Resources professionals that found "that just 12% of U.S. employers with fewer than 100 workers offer paid maternity leave. And among businesses of all sizes, 7% said they plan to reduce or eliminate the benefit within the next 12 months."
Pregnancy leaves are popular with employees. Needleman cites a 2008 study of small businesses by the Families and Work Institute. They surveyed employees with one or more children under six years of age. Of 225 surveyed, 80% responded that they had time off for a newborn child. The average time off was 11 weeks, and 59% of them were not paid while on leave.
What is the policy for pregnancy leave at your location? Are you satisfied with it?
A. Bare legal minimum is all that is provided.
B. I don't know what our policy is; it's not well publicized.
C. They offer more than the minimum required by law.
Those of you following this thread, next week (the first week in August) a summary of the law in this area is going up, by Sonia Pressman Fuentes, a co-founder of NOW and a lawyer expert in Title VII. Watch for it! And ask your specific questions of Sonia.
cheers,
Laura
Hi Helen,
Yes! We do need more paid pregnancy/maternity/paternity leave. That is one of Finland's secrets, a reason why they don't have one of those scissors curves where the higher you rise, the fewer of you are women. Paid. A small but potent word!
cheers,
Laura
I agree Laura. Men want to stay home and nurture too! And having to give up my husband's salary to take FMLA was just not workable. We're the only Western country in the world without a federal mandate for baby leave. And without access/availability of AFFORDABLE good childcare, parents make some tough calls about their family planning. I read an article in my doc's waiting room about the rise of singleton children in this country and elsewhere for exactly those kinds of issues!
Hi Helen,
I think your situation just illustrates a point we all made in the discussion of whether men could help women's issues...men need some of these same rights. Men probably never would have started by asking for paternity leave, but in a context where women have maternity leave and it's partly for bonding, they see that and want some for themselves, and very rightfully so. I wish your husband had been able to get more.
cheers,
Laura
For maternity leave or baby bonding leave (adoption) which I took recently, the benefits are pretty good. 6 weeks paid by the company and 6 weeks by the state. So you're off for 3 months which is nice. And it's full pay. I hope that won't be changing anytime soon. However, my company did just remove the one week paid paternity leave that employees were entitled too. So now dads have to take vacation to spend time with their children. My husband's company has a similar policy which meant he was only able to stay home with our son for a couple of days before returning to work. That was a situation we both found unsatisfactory.
Hi crabby,
I know what you mean. I got the same treatment with cancer that I did for having my daughter. Not really appropriate.
BTW, I have some good material from Sonia Pressman Fuentes about pregnancy leave policies that I'll be posting at the start of August.
cheers,
Laura
A. I guess it might be a little more because I think a semester is longer than the required minimum. I hate that it's treated sort of like a disability, though. Huh. Human race-necessary disability.
I don't think they'll stop giving us maternal and paternal leaves, but who knows? I hope the economy picks up fast. There's too much cutting of what we really need. First it was closing the state parks in California, then the emergency rooms, then the HOV lanes are slated to convert to purchase-a-commute lanes to get more money from the national government, and now this. Let the confounded men running the government have their own babies with no leaves!
Oh great. Now they'll be saying we don't need it at colleges, or maybe that a whole semester is too much to let us have. ARRrgh!
