The United Nations Recognizes 196 Countries

America being one the most industrialized nations it is shocking to most to discover that it does not provide a more beneficial maternity leave when compared to its European counterparts. Not only is Europe leading the way for a lengthier leave of absence for new mothers, they also provide financial benefits to those families with newborns, to American society this is not considered a cultural norm, in fact it is even bizarre to some that having a child while in the work force would even be beneficial. Consequently, the difficulty in accessing a reasonable maternity leave in America creates long term effects on a child’s development.

Only 9% percent of American companies offer paid paternity leave for all their employees (Ramnarace,). Since Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) are underpaid, it is very hard for fathers to be able to take a long absence from work and not be paid for the time off. 86 percent of men said they would not take a paid leave unless they made at least 70 percent of their current salary (Ramnarace,). There are 79 countries that have laws that require companies to offer paternity leave for fathers. There are 29 countries in Africa, 7 in Asia, 5 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 12 in Lain America, 2 in the Middle East, and 24 in the Developed Economies (Ramnarace,). The United States is still behind by only having 4 states that have adopted the new laws allowing fathers a leave of absence from work with some sort of pay. While the current family leave law allows for 12 work weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave in a 12-month period, I believe the law should be expanded worldwide to allow paid leave for all fathers without using their accumulated paid leave credits (Parental).

As we move into the new millennium more and more employers are allowing, some are even encouraging, their employees to bring their newborn babies to work with them. This is probably one of the greatest changes in child care norms that this country has seen in the past 30 years. Once upon a time, when a woman had a baby she almost always quit her job to raise her child, depending on her husband to support her and her child. Then along came the idea of maternity leave. This is when a woman takes a certain amount of time off to be with newborn. Once this time period was up, the woman still had a job to go back to. This meant that women no longer had to rely on their husbands for support. Unfortunately it also

The balancing act of family and work can be very difficult at times. At some point in everyone’s life, he or she will need to take time off of work to deal with family matters. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 was created to help employees find a balance between the challenging demands of work and home. This Act allows eligible workers that require time off for personal reasons or family emergencies up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave.

Creating a more efficient and fair maternity leave system in the United States requires policies that have women, especially mothers, at the center of the change. Policy makers can look at striving European countries, like Germany and the UK, for examples on how to initiate a fair and centralized maternity leave system. Both the United States and EU work with business organizations to create these leave policies, but the EU has been far more

What is Family and Medical leave Act (FMLA)? The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that was passed in 1993, is a national policy that grants workers up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave in four situations. These four situations are for pregnancy; to care for an infant, such as newborns, newly-placed foster children, and adoptions; to care for a relative with a serious health condition; or to allow an employee to recover and recuperate from a personal serious health condition. This paper will be discussing the impact of FMLA on employers and the protections provided by this law. (Vikesland, 2009)

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).

B: First, we will discuss family leave, which includes maternity leave for mother, and paternity leave for father. In 178 countries, paid leave for a new mother is guaranteed. Nearly 120 provide paid maternity leave for at least 12 weeks. And, the United States is the only high-income country in the world that does not offer a guaranteed paid leave program for fathers or mothers.

The Family and Medical Act went into effect on February 5, 1993, FMLA is designed to help employees balance their work and family responsibilities by allowing them to take legal unpaid leave for family and medical reasons that include: to care for a newborn or a newly adopted or fostered child, to care for a spouse, son, daughter or parent who has a serious health condition. The serious health conditions make the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job. It is also applied for any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that a spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a military member on active duty or called to covered active duty status. For any employee to get benefit from this act, he should spend at least 12 months working for the employer and has at least 1,250 hours during those12 months. An employee has the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period. An

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave and job protection for childbirth, adoption or foster care; to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, or parent; or for an employee’s own serious illness (Cañas & Sondak, 2011). It also requires that their group health benefits remain intact during the unpaid leave of absence. The employee must have worked for the employer for at least a year and must have earned 1,250 hours of service during the previous 12 months ((Cañas & Sondak, 2011, pg. 70).

Family Medical Leave Act provides employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year, dependent on time of service. It also protects an employees’ job and maintains health benefits during their time off. FMLA is to help employees balance family and work responsibilities by taking leave for certain family and medical reasons that is unpaid. According to regulations, employers must provide unpaid leave for a birth and/or care of a newborn child, adoption or foster care of a child, care of an

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

The family medical leave act has made advancements over the last few decades towards leave becoming equalized between mothers and fathers alike. Their most recent Act of 1993 requires companies with more than fifty employees to provide twelve weeks of unpaid leave for new parents. However, many fathers are still strongly discouraged in taking such leave for various reasons to include financial strain. According to an article by O’Brien (2007), Fathers have to use the Family Medical Leave Act to take off work for the birth of a child of theirs in the United States of America, unless they choose to take vacation time to be there during the birth of their child. Legislation still fails to support working fathers

Women give birth nearly every day around the world, yet some fathers are hardly present to lend them support. Some fathers may not be desirous of the opportunity while others can’t find time to be there long enough. Also, some fathers can’t afford to sacrifice their pay check, which their families need to maintain the new addition. Paternity leave is time off from work granted to male employees, in the private and public sectors, to be with their spouses and newborns. Most employers rarely pay male employees paternity leave to spend time with their spouses when they deliver a child, suffer a miscarriage, or adopt a child. Men wishing to take paternity leave to assist their spouse under these conditions usually do so through paid leave such