The Negative Issue Of Maternnity Leave

1008 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Pros and cons of increasing paid parental leave

The topic of maternity leave has been a controversial subject among working women for many years. In 1993, Bill Clinton, during his first term, signed the Family and Medical Leave Act. This law mandated a minimum of 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave (“Maternity Leave Laws - FamilyEducation”). This applied to new mothers everywhere. Now even though mothers are receiving a 12-week leave, many believe that they should receive payment while away. So together politicians and women’s advocacy groups called on lawmakers to mandate paid leave for new moms. They declared that the lack of this policy was unfair to women and detrimental to the economy. Over the last two decades, new study has occurred, and the national economy has grown by 66%. The gross domestic product (adjusted for inflation) rose from $9.9 trillion to $16.4 trillion a year (MacMillan). During that time, new family leave policies have been implemented in three states (California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island). Even though paid maternity leave may seem good and some have …show more content…

Some take it and then there are some that leave it. Reason behind this is simply, some women believe that if they do receive it they run the risk of losing their job. It could also be said that women will choose to leave the work force if employers don’t apply payment to their leave. Well to this, it becomes a lose-lose situation for hiring women. Another researched showed that 63% percent of Americans don’t have enough money saved up to provide for the new baby (Malacoff). If a woman were to leave work while not having paid leave, she still has every day expenses. Because of this very reason, new mothers would much rather go back to work to receive any form pay so they can provide for the child. So, the question is, “Why should employers provide maternity leave if majority women are going to reject it due to not having enough

Show More
Related

  • Women’s Rights: How Far Have We Really Come?

    1499 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ray et al. Parental Leave Policies in 2 Countries – Assessing Generosity and Gender Equality. Center for Economic and Policy Research.

    Read More

  • Sick Leave Case Study

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    This paper will describe the problem that Kelly experienced with her new job with the sick leave policy. We will discuss if Kelly should call CLAIR, or discuss this further with Mr. Higashi? What is this main dispute about for Kelly? For Mr. Higashi? In these types of conflicts is a compromise possible? What are the tangible factors in this situation? What are the intangible factors in the negotiation Is saving face more important to Kelly or Mr. Higashi? Why? Which are more important, the tangible or intangible factors? Is this true for both Kelly and Mr. Higashi?

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay For Paid Family Leave

    717 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Wage Inequality And The Texas State Government

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women working in the Texas state government suffer wage inequality because all women carry the expectation that they will leave work to have a baby. Women determine whether they will or will not have kids, but even though their colleagues do plan on having kids or are pregnant, they all have the same designated pay. When hiring women employers have a doubt that they will stay the entire time and that it will be a permanent job so the employer does not feel a need to give them an equal pay compared to a man doing the same job.

    Read More

  • What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Birth Control

    1341 Words  | 3 Pages

    With all the work put into finding ways to prevent pregnancy and help the pain of menstrual cycles, it is a shame to see it denied to women working for big companies. The amount of girls and women who use any type of birth control is very high and continues to stay this way because of the benefits and the percentage of birth control working for these women. Taking away working women’s access to affordable birth control is unacceptable and I hope that one day soon all women will have access to affordable birth

    Read More

  • The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA)

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Unmasking the Gender Pay Gap: Causes and Impact

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    The IWF has found that when women take leave for their family, men are able to gain experience and therefore more earnings (Cooper). According to Lydia Frank from the Harvard Business Review, “...the largest pay gaps existed between married mothers and fathers who tell us they prioritize family at least 1-4 times per year. No pay gap existed between single men and women without children who said they never prioritize home/family over work.” The causes of the gender pay gap can be easily fixed if the government takes

    Read More

  • The Ethical Issues Of Family Medical Leave Act

    1777 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was eight long years in the making. After many bitter debates between the Republicans and Democrats, Congress passed the Act on February 4, 1993. President Clinton signed the measure into law the following day. The Act became effective on August 5, 1993. The Act required employers with fifty or more employees within a seventy-five mile radius to offer eligible employees up to twelve weeks of unpaid leave during a twelve month period for a variety of medical reasons. Some of the general medical reasons are, for the birth or adoption, to care for a seriously ill parent, spouse or child or to undergo medical treatment for their own illness. The Act spelled out provisions on employer coverage; employee eligibility for the law's benefits; entitlement to leave, maintenance of health benefits during leave, and job restoration after leave; notice and certification of the need for FMLA leave; and protection for employees who request or take FMLA leave. (1) The law also requires employers to keep certain records. It was estimated that the Act would affect five percent of America's employers and forty percent of all employees. This paper will show the ethical standpoint on how employers handle FMLA. In addition, this paper will show the progress FMLA has made in five years, becoming more ethically correct.

    Read More

  • Paid Parental Leave

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 world, they are separate from any other leave due to medical or family reasons. The leave in the U.S. provided through the FLMA is also, as mentioned, unpaid. This creates a number of issues for the expectant family as, regardless of their job being safe for the time taken off, without the income it may be harder to look after the new born child as a couple of unpaid parents, than one parent not taking leave, or neither taking leave and relying on relatives to care for the child as much as possible.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Paid Parental Leave

    1512 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Pregnancy Discrimination Act

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    With the rise of the modern age economic survival has become difficult for families based on a single income. This economic need along with modern attitudes toward gender equality has resulted in women being represented in the workforce in greater numbers. However, until the 1960’s women faced severe discrimination when trying to enter and maintain a position in the workforce. Often qualified women would be passed over for men with less experience and education. Employers were fearful that women were too emotional and were not equipped to handle the stress of the work environment. Also driving the decision to not hire or promote women was the concern over the additional health care expenses and leave time pregnant employees would require. The road to equal treatment of women in the workforce would begin with the passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964, specifically the portion entitled Title VII. While Title VII offered women some projection against discrimination in the workforce the ambiguity of the law would prevent protection on one key area: pregnancy. The legislation that would remove the final discriminatory roadblock to woman in the workforce would come from the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. This momentous act would extend the coverage of Title VII and prevent discrimination of women in employment due to a pregnancy and pregnancy related complications. While the law may have stemmed from a controversial decision by the Supreme Court

    Read More

  • Why Men Should Get Paternity Leave?

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Benefits Of Paternity Leave

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is time we stop treating child care as a side issue or a women’s issue, and treat it like the priority that it is. Paternity leave is good for women's careers. “When childcare responsibilities fall exclusively on the mother, the effect is to reduce women’s wages. Time out of the labor force deprives women of experience and promotions. When men shoulder more of the childcare burden, the effect is lessened (“The Benefits of Paternity Leave”).” Paid family leave has become an important way to signal to employees that the company is invested in them. People feel their company is committed to them in the long term. Overall, paid family leave helps keep people in the workforce after they have children. “When more workers are able to take leave, they are more likely to choose to remain in the labor market. Paid parental leave is associated with higher employment in economies around the world (Covert)”.

    Read More

  • Maternal Employment

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many other developed countries recognize that maternal employment plays important role in defining the direction of changes in society. In those countries, many different public policies are placed to insure support for working mothers. However, U.S. is way behind on implementing those types of policies. In fact, U.S. is the only developed country that does not...

    Read More

  • Case Study Of Sick Leave Costing Employers

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    The purpose of this report is to analysis and evaluate any management problems that are current in todays workforce in accordance to the well known ‘sick leave day’ also known as the Australian ‘sickie’ This report will be mainly focusing on the case study; Sick Leave Costing Employers (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Poole, Woods, Simon, & McBarron, 2014). Management of a business consists of 4 major functions, these include: Planning, Controlling, Organising and Leading (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Poole, Woods, Simon, & McBarron, 2014, p. 332). Sick leave is leave that employees are entitled to when they are unable to attend work due to the fact that they are either sick or injured (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Poole, Woods, Simon, & McBarron, 2014, p. 334). Within this report management problems will be identified, a discussion of these problems will occur and also any recommendations for the organisation that need to be implemented will be identified.

    Read More

More about The Negative Issue Of Maternnity Leave

Open Document