“Our country's parental leave policies are woefully behind the rest of the world, and today San Francisco has taken the lead in pushing for better family leave policies for our workers” (Wiener) . Parental leave is when the companies/ government pay a worker to spend time with their newborn in the family. Recently the United States was acknowledged to be the only country to not have mandatory parental leave for parents of newborns. This would be arguable for whether or not it should be allowed and enforced as a new law. Reasons for parental leave would be financial issue, bonding time and educational increases. The last topic talks about the issues and cons of having parental leave for mainly mothers. The employers in the United States …show more content…
According to research, the lower productivity from the workers, ““The first major issue is that the mother's attachment to the job might be deteriorated along with extended period a home; her skills will decline and as a result will create obstacles to her return (Commonwealth of Australia, p. 5.17). Moreover, the impacts of paid leave on labour market also broaden beyond parents too. For instance, paid leave affects employees' wage rates and may discriminate against women because employers alert that female employees might have children in the future” (Uk Essay )The quote is telling us that having parental leave will deduct the production at work. The wages will drastically fall down since of the long time or period off. The women leaving work will be a main issue because, it was taking her away from the responsibilities of her own work. Jay miletsky is questioning the actions of having parental leave and how it can not be beneficial to the work area. The quote is trying to show you that the companies should not have your financial issues transferred on their behalf and have to work for you. Furthermore, it talks about how the family should plan out if their stable enough to have a newborn and create a new life finicaly. It also questioning the actions of the parental leave and the effects and tole it puts on the business that has less productivity now. In this certain serstance it would be lowering productions, but it will be also giving new opportunities to families who have just had a child. Which would be contributing to the lower mortality, higher IQ’s, bonding time with the mother and financial support to help raise that baby. In the research it says, “Paid parental leave can reduce infant mortality by as much as 10%, according to a 2011 study of 141 countries with paid leave policies. It also increases the likelihood of infants getting well-baby
In comparing the U.S. to Sweden, it has become very obvious that Sweden has taken its population health much more seriously. Sweden has put in place laws and programs which affect the prenatal and neonatal development of its children. (Bezruchka, 2011) Sweden has realized that good health outcomes begin early, and has in place social programs giving new mothers a mandatory year of paid leave. (Bezruchka, 2011) This paid leave allows the parents, especially the mother, time to be present during the most critical time of development. (Laureate, 2011) Sweden also has state funded day care centers for when the mother does return to work. By investing in the early stages of child development, Sweden is curbing the expenses of later health care costs. The U.S., in comparison, does not have any programs for maternity, paid leave or child day care. There are a few corporations such as Facebook, Google, and Cisco which are at the forefront of providing for their employees. (Alsever, 2013) These represent corporations investing in their employees, and not a government concerned about the health of its people. The programs are not free to the employees. (Alsever, 2013)
In 1988, Congress enacted the Family Support Act that combined an emphasis on education and training to help move Welfare recipients into jobs. As a governor, Bill Clinton was a strong proponent of the Family Support Act, but he campaigned for the presidency on a pledge to "end welfare as we know it." In 1994, the Work and Responsibility Act was passed. It also put more money into education and training for welfare recipients but had a limit of two years. This act was phased in slowly, starting with recipients that were born after 1971. “This phase-in had three advantages: it sent a message of personal responsibility to the younger generation; it gave states time to expand their ability to provide the necessary training and work opportunities;
Ray et al. Parental Leave Policies in 2 Countries – Assessing Generosity and Gender Equality. Center for Economic and Policy Research.
If you and your significant other had a child, would you want to be there to not only support your partner, but to see your child’s first milestones in real life? Of course you would! The problem is most parents miss crucial parts of their child’s life because of the lack of paid maternity and paternity leave in the United States. New families, across the nation, should be allowed a minimum six months of paid maternity leave.
This policy allows working couples to choose how they balance their work and parenting commitment to their new baby. The first two weeks are reserved for the mother but the remaining fifty weeks can be shared between both parents (Glegg, Swinson, 2013).This will definitely give chance to fathers to bond with their infants on an equal footing with the mother. Sarkadi, et al (2007) also suggests that policies should be made that fathers of young children may choose to do part time jobs so they can have time with their
Overall the Family and Medical Leave Act has raised many issues on whether leave should be encourage and/or paid for by the employers. As of today, no haven policy has been enacted to tackle the challenges surrounding this issue, but positive steps have been taken and one day there will be no question that hard working employees will get the rights they
Family leave has many benefits to children and the family. Rossin (2011) states, “[family] leave may affect the amount of time a child spends with his mother rather than in non-maternal care. [family] leave will also affect the quality of time the child spends with the mother, depending on changes to her stress level and her satisfaction with the trajectory of her career. The quantity and quality of time a mother spends with her child in his first year of life matter for the child's well-being”
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).
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.
Recently women’s rights and women’s equality in the workplace has come back to the fore as a topic for discussion in government agencies and the United Nations. Whilst this is a very important topic, when it comes to time off from work when a new child is born, women in the US have some provision, whereas men have none.
The United States is one of three industrialized countries that do not have policies put in place that mandate companies to provide paid parental leave. In 1993, U.S President, Bill Clinton, enacted the family and medical leave act (FMLA) which allows for employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for up to twelve weeks for medical reasons if their employer has more than fifty employees employed at the company. Later on in January of 2015, President Barack Obama signed an executive order that entitles federal employees for up to six weeks of paid sick days to take care of a newborn child or an adopted child. Currently there are only three states in the United States with paid parental leave policies which are California, New Jersey and Rhode Island. As of right now, only those employers who
America is the one and only developed country that does not offer any paid maternity leave. Maternity leave is a period of absence from work granted to a mother before and after the birth of her child. In America this means twelve weeks of unpaid absence that guarantees her job when she returns. We are so far behind everyone that out of all of the countries around the world seven out of 196 including America do not have mandatory paid maternity leave. (Colorado public radio news) That is a sad figure, to think that we place having a family so high but don’t give the mothers the protection and security they deserve.
Bringing a new baby into the world is one life changing experience. The lives of both the mother and the father are changed tremendously as they begin to learn to raise a child by trial and error. Maternity leave for mothers of newborns is never disagreeable; when it comes to paternity leave, however, it becomes one of the most controversial topics of the workforce. Reasons for maternity leaves and paternity leaves are both justifiable. Men should have the opportunity to take paternity leave from their jobs so that they can be a helping hand to the mother, have a chance to bond with their newborn child, and help bridge the gap in gender equality in the workplace without the stigma and criticism. After the birth of the child, women can become emotionally and physically fatigued, so men take an important role as care giver and supporter, especially in the first few weeks. If a father has an opportunity to stay home for the first couple of weeks, to care for both the mother and his new child, it will make a big impact for the family.
Maternity leave is a time when a woman leaves before her pregnancy and can stay gone from a company anywhere from 4-6 weeks, after the birth of her baby. The promise of holding your job is guaranteed, but on this leave you collect no income. The issues widely debated is whether men should have the option whether to take maternity leave and if maternity leave should be paid. Bonding is crucial to early childhood development for both parents. Introducing a baby into a family’s life, can affect a family financially and physically, due to lack of time with your child.
About 75 percent of the 68 million women working in the United States will become pregnant at some point in their careers. Women with children are one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. labor force. In 1975, 47% of women with children under the age of 18 were employed; by 2008, this number grew to a notable 71% (Miner et al. 60. The nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn Compared to other workers, mothers are often viewed as less competent, less productive, and less committed to their job, which is assumed to result in increased absenteeism and resignation (Byron and Roscigno 5).