Barefoot, Pregnant and (Not Very) Happy: Management and Healthcare Reasons for paid Parental leave in the U.S.
In 1993 President Bill Clinton signed the Family and Medical Leave Act. It requires employers 12 weeks of unpaid job protective leave and job-protected leave for child birth, adopting a child, and employees with serious medical issues. However, in the rapid change of the America’s demographic, the legislation is long overdue. FMLA only grants unpaid time off versus paid parental leave, and for the people who are part time, or has been with a company less than a year, and even parents that are working with a company who has less than fifty employers – decreases the Act’s efficacy. One author cited that United States is one of the three
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One of which is management issues, it is known that women come back to work shortly after giving birth. Primarily, the reason is that they cannot afford to be out of income for too long. However, it also depends on the demographic, women that are only high school graduate tend to not comeback after child birth, or use all paid time leave that they have left. On the other hand, it is found that women that has a college degree can afford to take the same amount of time off from work because they have more stable income. From a company’s stand point, they view paying employees parental leave as a disadvantage to productivity, however, in a bigger picture, it actually saves them paying for recruitment and training. A good example of a company that recognizes these disadvantages is Google, they just extended their paid maternal leave for five months, they believe that more women will come back to work after giving birth because they recognize that replacing talented and smart people is not cheap. Another issue that companies should take into consideration are health issues. There are established studies that recommends breastfeeding to newborns. Breastfeeding has numerous benefits to babies and also to mothers. It creates a special bond between the breastfeeding mother and the newborn. It also helps stimulate the child’s neurological development and psycho-social
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.
Lobbyist groups concerned with social reform and organized labor came together in the 80s and pressured members of congress to support legislation that required employers to grant leaves of absences for employees who had a serious illness, a newborn or newly adopted children or who were caretakers for other family members with serious illnesses. “These groups gained bipartisan support in both the senate and house and saw their bill introduced in e...
By neglecting to acknowledge the importance of balancing work and life, policies have failed to support employees and their circumstances. This disregard has also cost taxpayers their well-earned dollar. And who are these taxpayers? Needless to say, they are our employees. The Family and Medical Leave Act stipulates that employees are allowed a twelve (12) work-week leave in a twelve (12) month period (for specified situations dealing with childbirth, adoption, family care, serious health conditions etc.). Unfortunately, this act does not specify that the said employees on leave MUST be paid, and it only applies to about sixty (60) percent of all workers. The Federal government is the single largest
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was passed in 1993 and allows employees to take unpaid leave for up to 12 workweeks in any 12 month period because of any of the following reasons: the birth or adoption of a child, for the care of a family member with a serious health condition, or because the employee’s own serious health conditions makes the employee unable to perform the functions of her or her job. This paper will discuss the advantages and disadvantages to both the employer and the employee concerning this act. The current use of FMLA and management concerns over the FMLA will also be discussed.
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.
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
Starting and expanding families is challenging for most working people in America. Job uncertainty, financial insecurity and catering to the needs of a newborn are just a few of many challenges American families face when taking a leave of absence from work after the birth of a child. Every company should have a family policy that gives its employees the option to take paid leave if a family emergency occurs—most importantly the arrival of a newborn. Paid family leave will give working parents in America the chance to adjust to the lifestyle changes associated with having a newborn, without putting the stability of their home at risk. Pregnancies will be less stressful for mothers and fathers; businesses will increase production and the economy
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.
Imagine you were pregnant, When you gave birth to your child, the only maternity leave you received was a month’s worth of vacation and sick time. And when you went to return to work, you found your job no longer existed. Since your employer was a small company, it didn’t have to go by federal laws that require 12 weeks of job protection after birth. This story is fictional, but it is real for so many. In America, there is no federal mandated paid maternity leave and that is hurting our women and our children by causing the miracle of birth to be masked by the all too real cost of no paid maternity leave.
There is one thing that is irreplaceable, America’s true and pure freedom: the freedom to speak or write whatever one pleases and the freedom choose whatever religion one follows. America is blessed with the gift of freedom and safety that is fair for all. What other monument symbolizes freedom better than the Statue of Liberty? Dating back to 1876, the statue was sculpted by David Michelangelo, and was a gift from France to the United States. It was to help strengthen the trust and the peace of both nations.
Kelly, Jon. "The Politics of Paternity Leave." BBC News. BBC, 26 Aug. 2010. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
By businesses allowing fathers to take time from work this grants time for a father-child bond to form. Being open to share duties with her significant other and both planning for new responsibilities of parenthood is very important to be prepared for their new child. Having more support from their spouse is a way of allowing both parties to be a part of the child 's life as well as not putting all the responsibilities on one parent. Allowing men to have this option whether to take maternity leave or not is eliminating stereotyping among women and men. Fathers are the primary care providers in a family, with them being off for maternity leave there is no income coming in for the family. However if maternity leave is paid for both mother and father, the income will still be coming in but is decreasing the business income. Businesses would be failing because they would be paying workers that are not
Throughout a person’s life, there will come a period of time, when an employee will need to take a leave of absence. The Family and Medical Leave Act has helped many people balance their daily living situations with their work life. Many years ago people were unable to keep a career due to everyday life changes. It has taken a very long time to put this Act into place but it has help our countries people in so many ways. The Family and Medical Leave Act is a law providing help for hard working Americans to retain their careers throughout their challenging journey.