We have all heard of the term maternity leave. When a female co-worker is near her delivery date we tend to ask, “When will you take your maternity leave and for how long do you plan on staying home with your newborn?” However, do we ever ask expecting or newly expecting fathers the same question? Paternity leave just like maternity leave is the period of paid or unpaid absence from work granted by an employer immediately after the birth of his child. Paternity leave is critically important to fathers as it is to mothers. Should policies that ensure fathers the support they need in order to prioritize their family responsibilities, while still meeting their working demands be in place? As President Obama noted in the State of the Union when …show more content…
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, about 41 percent of American workers are not eligible for FMLA protection. In the United States, new parents in companies with more than 50 employees can take 12 weeks of unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but there is no policy mandating paid leave of any kind. In order to qualify for paternity leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act an employee must have worked for over 12 months for the state or federal government, a public school or private …show more content…
However, many working fathers lack the paternity leave they need to be with their family. Paternity leave can promote parent-child bonding and improve outcomes for children, and even increase gender equity at home and in the workplace. Paternity leave is also beneficial for mothers as it offers new mothers the break they physically need. Paternity leave also helps eliminate the stigma that women should be the only ones to take time off to care for their newborn child. Also, women whose husbands take paternity leave may decrease their chance of depression in the nine months after their child is born. Fathers who take and play an early hands-on role in the life of their child, are likely to be more involved in their child’s life for years to come thus creating a happier and healthier child. Paternity leave is also beneficial for employers. Paid paternity leave leads to less turnover, profitability and it boosts morale. As President Obama said, “Family leave, childcare, flexibility – these aren’t frills. They’re basic needs. They shouldn’t be bonuses – they should be the bottom line.” (Obama B. ,
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.
You get the phone call in the middle of the night. Your son or daughter has been in a serious accident and is hospitalized in critical condition. After several day’s they come home from the hospital with several broken bones and require your around the clock attention for the next eight to twelve weeks. You just got over a serious medical condition yourself which you acquired while on vacation and do not have any vacation time or sick time to take off. Do you have to quit your job? Can your employer terminate you for taking time off to be with your child? What options do you have? What can your employer do for you? Well, the answer lies in the Family and Medical Leave Act.
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.
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.
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
Balancing work and family is a concern of parents’ around the world. It not only concerns mother’s, it concern’s fathers. It is a societal norm that the mother is the “caregiver” and the father is “breadwinner.” With the feminist movement, things began to change, giving women additional educational and employment opportunities; therefore, millions of women entered the workforce. This shift required a change in attitude, as it implied new roles for men, which promoted shared parental responsibility. Sweden was the first country in the world to introduce parental leave, giving both parents the right to stay home with their children. According to Carlson (2013), “Fundamentally, Sweden’s parental leave insurance policy is not just about providing individual families with resources to make choices about employment and caregiving; it is a social policy with the defined aim of increasing gender equality for the Swedish people” (p. 65). It is asserted that Sweden’s government developed the parental leave policy to address; participation and wage equity in the workforce; and to promote gender equality in care giving (Carlson, 2013, p. 63).
Paid parental leave should be equal and for both parents once a child is born
Having said that, it is high time for a more effective and inclusive family leave policy to take effect. Even with private sectors and some states offering paid leave, 40 percent of American women do not enjoy the benefits (Wares). The Family and Medical Leave Act, although utilized widely, does not encompass all working American women/ because of its strict prerequisites, many women find themselves paying the motherhood penalty with unpaid leave, or not taking any leave at all, which jeopardizes their health and their child’s early
Sweet but bitter, Ralph Ellison’s short story “I Yam What I Am” follows a conflicted man as discovers the meaning of freedom while walking down the street. Ellison suggests that the contrast between the warm yam and the frost bitten yam reveals that when trying to overcome the stereotypes and the harsh views of others, it can be hard and confusing but pushing through is the only way to get through it. The narrator is eating the yams only to find out that one of the yams was frostbitten and instead of being upset he simply throws the yam away. The narrator goes through a variety of emotions including embarrassment for the things he can't change while at the same time, overcoming the social norms that are expected of him. While walking down the street the narrator sees a sign endorsing skin whitening products proclaiming that if you use this product you will be “truly beautiful.”
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.
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
Pregnancy and the transition to parenthood can be one of the utmost exciting, unsettling, and major developmental phases in parent’s lives. While men and women become parents at the same time it has been found that mothers and fathers experience parenthood differently. Practically all studies and research from the past have been focused more on the welfare of the mother and child without any regards to what the father may be feeling during this same adjustment period. However, with the new social changes in society such as increasing maternal participation in paid employment, and the emergence of smaller isolated families has resulted in fathers playing a greater role in partner support, the care of their children, and various studies focused