Family And Family Leave

The website, whitehouse.gov it states that, “Only 39 percent report being able to take some type of paid family leave for the birth of a child.” Not all the workers were offered paid leave or any of the benefits it provides. Workers should be allowed to take time off to care for their child as they require extensive attention and care. The parents should be granted family rights along with individual rights.  The website also mentions how not only businesses but families will benefit as their economy overall would benefit since making full use of American talent requires policies that let workers better balance their family lives. Aside from work benefits parents will save money on baby essentials such as clothing, diapers, and formula as the expenses will be covered by their employer. Babies are healthier when their parents can afford them and cover all of their baby’s expenses. Along with raising a healthy child, maternal leave also impacts the mother’s health as they get to bond with their child without worrying about any job-related

The FMLA benefits the employer by allowing him or her to excuse his employees for medical conditions or family issues. This benefits both the employer and employee in allowing them to both know that their can be a balance between the workplace and family life. (dol.gov)

Research from Israel shows that when more time is given off to new fathers, the more their brain changes to better suit them to be a parent (Thompson). Being around the new child and caring for them allows the father to share responsibilities that a baby brings along. Having time to dedicate solely to the child gives the father the ability to bond with their baby. A study by two Columbia University professors discovered that fathers who are given time off (two or more weeks) are more involved with their child’s lives in nine months, proving that better parental relationships come from paid paternity leave (“Columbia News”). Paternity leave also creates a foundation of trust between father and child, and relieves the pressure put on mothers. When fathers are around immediately after the baby is born, mothers are not forced to do all the work around the house while caring for a newborn. The two-week (or more) time frame when fathers are around would allow for a period where both parents can get settled and adapt to taking care of the child. In Sweden, to qualify for government benefits, the father is required to take off two months from work before the child becomes eight years old. More research has proven that for every month that fathers took leave to take care of their child, the income of mothers increased about 7% (Johansson, Elly-Ann). Thus, paternity leave not only benefits the newborn child, but also mothers. This paid leave can give new parents the ability to get to know their child and adapt to the new responsibilities. There are a multitude of countries that provide paid paternity leave, and the United States is one of nine counties who does not have this option. There is no reason that fathers should not have an allotted time to spend at home with their child and spouse, and so this country should mandate the option of giving paid paternity

Although current federal and state level legislation guarantee some protections, these policies do not cover all new parents. Parents must have worked a minimum of 5 months while contributing to State Disability Insurance to receive 55% of their salary during 6 weeks of their parental leave, and must have worked with an employer for 1 year to quality for 12 weeks of unpaid leave (“About Paid Family Leave (PFL),” n.d.). Parental leave is not accessible to all adults in the United States because of these requirements, and therefore makes early parenting even more challenging for working adults. Nationally, the trend for mothers on maternal leave has stagnated, although the US economy has expanded (Zagorsky, 2017).

     The Family and Medical Leave Act was enacted by Congress on February 5, 1993, and it is public law 103-3. This law allows for a person to leave work in certain situations without losing his/her job. An eligible employees must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and at least completed 1250 hours of service. An employee is able to leave work for up to 12 weeks for any of the following reasons: the employee expects a baby in his/her immediate family, the employee expects an adopted child in his/her immediate family, the employee has to take care of an ill family member which includes spouse, parent or his/her own children, and/or the employee has a serious medical

Paid family leave is highly supported amongst many employed parents in the United States, and is

The Urban Institute published a case study that promotes the creation of national paid family leave policy in the United States. In the study, it is shown that this issue has been debated countless times in the past. George H.W. Bush even vetoed an unpaid family leave act during his presidency. This displays the struggles of enacting policy relating to this issue. The lack of a national paid family leave program in the US has left working mothers with three options: “return to work immediately after childbirth, quit employment, or take unpaid leave” (Urban Institute, 2017, p.3). The issue with these options include, loss of pay, unemployment, or the lack of parental presence in a child’s early development. Moreover, although some private companies offer paid leave, less educated and lower income mother have little access to this paid leave, which exacerbates their financial instability, keeping them in a lower societal class. This study found that not only is the current system is inadequate, but it is also inequitable, which causes financial hardships across the nation. According to the study, there has even been a 32% decrease in income after childbirth. Although this is the current situation, some states have enacted a statewide paid family leave program, which displays

The lack of a paid parental leave law in the country does not necessarily mean that it is absent in the U.S. labor market. Some generous and more progressive companies do recognize the importance of the leave to employees and do offer it. According to the Employee Benefits Survey of 2015, 21% of employers nationally offer some paid maternity leave while 17% offer some paid paternity/adoption leave. However, about a fifth don’t have any kind of protected maternity, paternity, or adoptive leave. (Ray, 8; Time, n. pag.)

The Family and Medical Aid Act (FLMA), of 1993, provides for 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for certain specified events (8). Whilst one could refer to this as maternity or paternity leave if taken because of a pregnancy, this would not be strictly true. Where maternity and paternity leave are offered around the

“Separating a mom from her baby, because she does not have sufficient income to stay home, is NOT a family value, it is the opposite. That is why I will fight for 12 weeks of paid family leave.” –Sen. Bernie Sanders. In the national primaries of 2016, Senator Bernie Sanders realized the magnitude of the issue this country is facing regarding not having a paid maternity leave. Currently, the United States has something called FMLA, also known as the Family and Medical Leave Act. This act allows 12 work weeks per year of leave for any medical need in the family including maternity leave. While it is great that the United States has FMLA (which did not come into effect until 1993) FMLA does not require the company to pay this individual while they are on leave. As a highly developed country and the only developed country out of 41 OECD countries that does not provide paid maternity leave, the United States should require businesses to provide a mandatory 12 week paid leave; unpaid maternity leave has been shown to effect the health of the mother and infant, and also has an impact on businesses as well.

The fact that women’s health can be affected negatively just because employers don’t provide paid maternity leave is something I learned from this article. There is study after study that shows a positive effect of paid maternity leave and woman’s health. I never knew it actually effected the woman’s health, I just thought that it would provide more support for them. Not only will it be more support for them but it will affect their health in a positive way.

Maternity leave is to allow for the women to heal after delivering a baby. Having the father/ spouse home during the first ten days is helpful but not enough time. The father/ spouse being present can allow for them to take on some of the child rearing activities. These activities can range from bathing, diapering, feeding and etc. This helping hand will allow for the mother to get more rest aiding in a faster recovery, provide breaks from child rearing that reduces the likeness of postpartum depression and create more flexibility. Parental leave will provide the ability for the father/ spouse to support the maternal mother through the duration of her medical recovery, which is an average of six weeks. This can be a stressful time as the female body regulates its hormones. Another important medical factor is the father/ spouse can help monitor the mother’s signs and symptoms and get the help if necessary. In addition, having both

California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island are the only three states in the United States that guarantees at least four weeks of family leave at partial income. Since most states don’t guarantee this commodity, public programs have started popping up to help pay workers whose employers don’t offer paid family leave. Denver; Franklin, Ohio; Madison, Wis.; Hawaii; Indiana; and Pennsylvania have been granted $1.1 million by the U.S. Department of Labor to research the expenses of starting their own paid family leave programs. Family leave is a controversial issue that the U.S. is far behind the world in. At the moment, the U.S. grants all new parents 12 weeks off and Democrats believe that all workers should be paid during those 12 weeks. Republicans

Two unlikely countries have one unlikely thing in common. The United States of America and Papua New Guinea are the only two countries worldwide that do not have paid maternity leave. The United States’ effort to pass paid maternity leave goes back to the 1920s. In the years since, most other countries have guaranteed a salary for mothers taking time off, and some even cover father’s paternity leaves. Through countries with paid leave, we have learned the many ways paid leave helps babies, parents, and entire families (Rubin 1). So why has the United States not yet created a paid leave mandate? In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Family and Medical Leave Act. This act mandates a minimum of twelve weeks of unpaid leave for qualifying reasons, including the birth of a child (White House 4). When I was born, my mother was given the opportunity, through her work, to apply for disability insurance. The insurance, paid for by her employer, covered pay for approximately 70% of her salary for six weeks of leave. There was no pay given for the other six weeks provided for by the Family and Medical Leave Act. My mother’s employer gave her many health benefits and the flexibility she needed when she had her children.

In the United States, the recent argument of paid parental leave has started a slight controversy among business owners and employees; many people would agree that employees deserve such leave during the early stages of parenthood. However, may business owners feel that by providing paid parental leave the business overall may suffer financially. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee paid parental leave. While most female citizens are guaranteed unpaid maternal leave for 12 weeks, the lack of paid maternal leave has a negative impact on new working mothers. The United States needs to implement a policy that mandates paid maternal leave in the United States.