Family Leave is time off from work with pay to care for another family member, give birth and take care of a new baby, or recover from illness. North Carolina also gives employees the right to take time off domestic violence leave and children’s school activities. Family Leave is very similar to parental or maternal leave. Maternal leave is the period of time where new mothers take off from work following the birth of her baby. Paternal leave is the period of time where new fathers take off from work following the adoption or birth of a child. Family leave is a mixture of both maternal and paternal leave. Family leave has also more to do than just the birth or adoption of a child.
Benefits
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”
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Kaufman, Lyonette, and Crompton (2010) explain that in Britain, family leave is short and offers low income replacement; while in the United States, family leave applies to some fathers and is unpaid (p. 322). After researching, Kaufman, Lyonette, and Crompton (2010) find “British fathers benefit from a policy that provided one week paid leave in the recent past and currently offers two weeks (partially) paid leave. American fathers know less about family leave policy, and even for those who are aware of FMLA, they are aware that it is unpaid” (p. 336). Research also showed that British fathers took one week of paid leave. American fathers had to deal with unpaid leave and used vacation days to take time
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.
A parent is allowed leave for the birth of a child and care of a newborn. The entitlement to FMLA/DPL leave expires twelve months after the birth of the child. Intermittent/reduced schedule leave may not be taken for the birth of a child unless approved by the department head.
Ray et al. Parental Leave Policies in 2 Countries – Assessing Generosity and Gender Equality. Center for Economic and Policy Research.
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
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
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.
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
With no pay and the risk of losing their jobs--if additional time is requested--parents return to work in as little as two weeks after the birth of a child. This results in the absence of one or both parents during the most crucial part of a child’s life—the first year of life. Ultimately, it is the children who will suffer. The events that take place in the early years of a child life, as well as the people that surround, will influence who they become. Children need love and guidance from their parents. Babies can learn so much, parents have the time to teach them and watch them grow. It is their duty as well as their rights as parents to enjoy the first moments of life with their children. Susan J. Douglas says, “The first five years of life are so crucial to cognitive and emotional development” (Douglas Par 8). Parents often send their babies to daycare at too young of an age because they are expected to return to work and have no other choice. Others quit their job because they do not want their babies to go to daycare. This creates a financial strain on families and has lasting effects on the newborn and other young children in the home. Sharon Lerner says, “Paid parental leave frees mothers and fathers from choosing between their careers and time with their infants” (Lerner 20). Paid family leave alleviates a great deal of stress for parents who are expecting. It makes starting a family less frightening because families have enough money and time to adjust with their new lives before returning to work. This makes workers less likely to call out of upon returning and more likely to be focused on the
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.
Men have the same rights and obligations, as a child’s birth mother, to spend quality time, bond with, and care for a new baby. With some families living isolated from close relatives, it may be difficult for the mother’s family to support her after the birth of the child. “A study released in January found that fathers who took two or more weeks of leave upon their child's birth are more likely to be involved in the direct care of their children beyond leave” (Gringleburg). The time proceeding childbirth is the most stressful and tedious time. Parents have to adjust to the new baby and his or her schedule, especially the mother. With the both parents home, a lot of the stress is taken off the mother be...
Before enrolling in my first Communication studies course, I never heard of paternity leave, nor had the concept ever crossed my mind. On multiple occasions, I witnessed my mother take some form of occupational leave due to family matters, but never my father. This created a household dynamic that placed my mother as the primary care giver. The responsibilities associated with parenthood should never be left to one parent. This economically reinforces the idea that child care is exclusive to women. For this reason, family leave should be both available and required for male parents.
The average time off for maternity leave is 6 weeks, some take longer as allowed through FMLA and some take even less time. Many women feel that if they take longer under FMLA guidelines, the will be viewed as less serious about their career. However, if a person goes out on short term disability for any other reason for a duration similar to maternity leave, they come back to the same job with well wishes for a speedy recovery. The same time off does not equate to the same treatment upon return. Maternity leave in the business world is often interpreted as a shift in priorities and will then be overlooked for future considerations. If we do take extended time off, we can expect to reenter at a lower level than the one we were at before
Childcare is widely known as the regular non-parental care of children while parents are absent. Many reasons like work, studying or just having a break from raising children push parents to the use of child day care. But with the increase of both parents, especially mothers, opting to go back to work sooner rather than later after having children, demand for child day care is increasing accordingly. This increase has initiated much research into the short and long term emotional, cognitive and social behavioural patterns of children receiving non-parental care.
After the employer has received the employees thirty day notice the employer may then see if the request qualifies for FMLA. The request may only be qualified for specific reasons such as child birth, adoption, fostering of a child, serious health conditions of the employee, seriously injured or ill immediate family member, or an immediate family member who is called to active duty. If both expecting parents work in the same workplace they equally will divide their leave of absence between the two of