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 …show more content…
can afford to pay parental leave (only 11 percent) (Devlin para.2) which is not the majority. But for those employers who cannot afford it often have to dismiss the employee who is seeking paid parental leave or have to take some wages out of other employees’ salaries to cover the cost. Most workplaces, as seen in schools today, offer a limited amount of paid sick or vacation days to employees throughout the year. Those days are limited and therefore do not extend over a period of more than a month, which is the least time that a woman needs to recover after childbirth Before a final decision is made on whether paid maternal leave is beneficiary or not, I want to start out by saying that yes, paying employees to take time off from work is expensive overall. Paid parental leave is something that the government may not want because of the fact that it “come[s] with higher federal and state taxes, if funded by the government, and higher costs for businesses, if funded by employers” (Furchtgott-Roth para. 9). The government does not require company employers to pay their employees for family leave for the fear that it could affect the country’s economy. The amount of time that the parent has to take off in order to care for their child is a factor that is seen as a negative because it affects the productivity level and therefore the consumer is affected. As of now, many employers in the U.S are not fortunate enough and therefore are not able to offer it to their employees, they are only able to offer unpaid leave. For those employers who do offer it, often offer it in benefit packages that come with the job. The whole pregnancy journey is not an easy one for a woman to deal with. When a woman recently bears a child, their pregnancy journey is still in effect because they are in the postpartum stage which affects their body and mental health which change after that experience. Any woman who has just given birth needs enough time (at least 6 weeks) to make a full recovery and return back to her normal everyday active life. No one wants to put a mother’s health at risk do they? Their newborn child needs them as well as their employer who needs their abilities and talents in the company. If not given the proper healing time, women risk physical health concerns such as “backache[s], headache[s], fatigue, sex-related concerns, perineal pain, and gastrointestinal problems” (Aitken et al. para.5). Mental health state is also taken into accountability. An American study found that having “less than eight weeks paid leave was associated with a 9% increase in the geometric mean depression score and a 2% greater risk of severe depression compared with women who took eight or more weeks of paid leave” (Aitken et al. para.38). After labor, a woman’s body and mind is weak and tired, they need to let their bodies and minds heal before anything because if not then there could be a risk of an infection or mental-emotional disorder that could hinder her recovery therefore halting her return to work. When women develop those health concerns, either physical or mental, they need someone, their counterparts in most cases, to aid them with tasks around the house, any type of hard-to-endure physical activity, or taking care of the child so that the mother could get some rest. That is why paternity leave should also not be ignored. Paternity leave is something that is not as popular and advocated as much for as maternity leave because they are not the ones bearing the child right? That is hard to believe because fathers are also a stakeholder in this situation because their female counter partner needs assistance from them or they may become single fathers because their counter partner dies in labor. If that is the case, paid paternity leave need is beneficial because “going without a father’s income — for even a few weeks — is a financial hardship for most families.” (Appelbaum and Goldin para.2). Fathers play a big role in their families lives because they are the head of the family and allowing paid paternity leave not only allows for a father to take care of their counter partner who is recovering but it also “ increases fathers’ involvement in the lives of their children and the time they spend caring for them” (Appelbaum and Goldin para.4 ). Looking for the best interests for a company is beneficial not only in the eyes of the employees but more importantly in the eyes of the employer. A survey conducted by Ruth Milkman, a sociologist of labor, and Eileen Appelbaum, a senior economist at the center for economic and policy research showed that “the vast majority said that [paid leave] has had a positive or no negative effect on profitability and performance (91 percent), productivity (89 percent), turnover (93 percent) and employee morale (99 percent)” (Devlin para. 9). Paid family leave could also bring about a positive instead of a negative effect on the country’s economy because it “reduce[s] government spending on public assistance and increase[s] labor force participation, which would bring concomitant economic gains, generating a larger tax base and increased consumer spending” (Gault et al. pg. 7). Finally when speaking about this issue, the newborn children are the ones who would be most affected by the decision of whether to grant paid parental leave or not. Their health depends on whether or not they are receiving proper care. A study of Tanaka 2005 has shown that “there is a more than 20 % decrease in infant mortality with paid leave” (Rowe-Finkbeiner et al. para. 6), that could be due to the fact that mothers are at home more time since they are not at home and can therefore breastfeed, give medicine to, burp and overall can ensure the child’s health as being in a good state. The newborns parents are the ones who will have to provide for them. Policies need to be put in place to improve the situation of employees that need paid leave because they are having a child and therefore need time to properly take care of the child without having to worry about getting fired or going bankrupt. For women at often times the wage “pay gap widens [because they are] forced to take unpaid leave after giving birth” that also affects their counter partner because when “coupled with the sky-high cost of childcare, which now amounts to more than college in most states, [it] sets families back financially for years to come [and] is one reason why a quarter of young families are living in poverty” (Rowe-Finkbeiner et al. para. 7). Paid parental leave is not such a bad thing as everybody makes it seem because when further studied, it can reveal the many benefits that come from it that outweigh the negative effects. The number of women in the workforce is only increasing they will soon make up a large portion of a company’s employee ratio and a lot of those women will become and are mothers.
I am also a woman who in a few years will be in the workforce and will eventually become a mother that is why I am a supporter of paid family leave and believe that it should be available for both mothers and fathers. The support for paid maternity leave is and has been growing over the years, in the U.S advocates are everyday people who are put in the situation of having to deal with and or make a decision between their children and their job. Paid parental leave has been debated over a course of years but the only strive the U.S has taken is protected unpaid family leave which isn’t enough due to the fact that “legislators are not swayed by the empirical evidence alone. We consistently hear that legislators need to hear the voices of their constituents explaining what paid family leave means to them” (Rowe-Finkbeiner et al. para. 21). That is why the United States government should mandate paid parental leave policies for both mothers and fathers in most if not all businesses in all fifty
states.
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 FMLA was passed to help families in the time of a crisis so that the individuals would not have to choose between work and personal responsibilities. The eligible employees are permitted to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons. The leave can last up to twelve workweeks in any twelve-month period. Reasons for leave include: pregnancy, prenatal complications, adoption/ fostering of a child, hospitalization, care of an immediate family member, or a health condition that makes the employee unable to do his or her job (Solis). This law applies to any employer “engaging in commerce” ...
Whether the government should impose a tax on employers to provide workers with benefits such as unemployment insurance or mandate employers to provide workers with benefits, which are normally benefits such as health insurance or workers compensation will ultimately depend on how much their employees value the benefit. Mandated benefits are those benefits that are protected by federal law. Firms are liable to make these benefits available to their employees and failure to do so will result in severe penalties. Payroll tax is relatively different from mandated benefits for the reason that payroll taxes are imposed on the wage of employees, which are either paid by the workers or the firm. When analyzing to see how successful a mandated
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.
Our nation has a lot of problems that we need to get lined out to become better as a whole, paid family leave being one of them. Some people will say that paid family leave is bad for business, but recent studies of the three states that are currently offering paid leave,” California, New Jersey and Rhode Island -- New York's plan goes into effect in 2018 -- found that a majority of companies experienced positive or neutral effects on productivity.” While it may not be entirely positive, it’s not negative which is a step in the right direction. Other say that it would be hard to keep women in the workforce, therefore, messing up gender equality, but Schulte says that “there's this sweet spot that most studies will show it's between nine months to a year where nine months is where it's positive and up to a year. Anything longer than a year tends to be kind of a detrimental effect to women's wages, women's return to work and their career prospects.” It’s not an easy process but it’s necessary for our future as a prospering
As the world’s leading country, United States (U.S.) is one of the few countries without a federally mandated paid family and medical leave for workers. However, there is a mandated unpaid family and medical leave for 12 weeks (National Conference of State Legislatures [NCSL], 2013). Out of the 50 States in the U.S., there are four States that passed the initiative bill for a paid family leave for their workers. California, Rhode Island and New Jersey have state mandated disability program that provides paid family leave. In addition, there are employers mainly in white collar industry and that offer 6 weeks to four months of paid maternity leave to their employees (Suddath, 2015). While not every company offers a paid maternity, family and medical leave, a limited employers offer a short term disability insurance (STDI) through an outside company for three months at a prorated monthly cap with a monthly premium deducted from the employees payroll. The STDI covers maternity leave except preexisting
Single moms are the most affected and providing childcare on campus is very beneficial to them. More than 4 million women attend two-year public institutions or community colleges, and more than 1 million of them are mothers. Many student mothers struggle to stay enrolled all the way through graduation. Most of them are more likely to drop out of school, and the reason is because most often there is no affordable or available childcare and the students have limited financial resources. The average daycare center cost for an infant is higher than a year’s tuition and fees at a public college. It makes affordable on-campus child care a necessary provision for students. Childcare on campus helps to contribute to the learning
First, when it comes to paying child support, some men are lazy and try to find reasons or excuses to get out of paying what they owe. Child support is a payment that a noncustodial parent makes as a contribution to the costs of raising a child. Failure to receive such payment has a great impact on the well-being of the child. The U.S. Department of Human Services has reported that since 1975, the total child support arrears have accumulated to more than $114.5 billion. This result is because the nonresident fathers are not paying their child support payments.
Paid parental leave should be equal and for both parents once a child is born
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 is a law compelling all employers in the United States to provide unpaid but job-protected leaves to their employees. These leaves should focus on different qualified family or medical reasons. Some of these reasons are meaningful and can affect the wellbeing of the affected individuals. This fact explains why the passage of the FMLA of 1993 was something revolutionary towards supporting the needs of many Americans. Some of the “qualified issues that affect a large number of employees in the United States include military leave, family/personal illness, adoption, pregnancy, or foster care for children” (Chatterji & Markowitz, 2005, p. 18).
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.
Is it fair to have to take a course and pass a test to become a parent?
...eave a month before she had the baby and it showed that there was a seventy-three percent less likely to have a caesarean section. It works better for the mom if she doesn’t have a c-section so then it’s a shorter hospital stay and takes less recovery time. Also it has been shown that women who take maternity leave have less diverse complications and birthing problems ( Med Page Today). This is very affected by stress and having more maternity leave time can help reduce stress. Even though in the end it would be more effective for the men to receive a paid paternity leave since mothers already have one in place.