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…
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
As we all know, majority of females are mothers and many are single mothers to beat that. Therefore, the thought of them not having paid maternity leave is quite disturbing to me. Why is the United States the only country in the world that doesn’t make paid maternity leave mandatory in the workplace? How are these females supposed to support their child, along with them if there not getting paid for the time they must take off? In many cases, that female may not have anyone to care for that child, so that she can go back to work. Things such as these may not be put into consideration by employers, but giving birth is a remarkable experience for females. Most importantly, maternity leaves gives a mother time to bond with her newly born child and it gives her time to recover or heal from the overwhelming birthing process. Therefore, the least companies can do is give paid maternity leave to females, while they’re missing work
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?
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
...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.