Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Parental leave policy pros and cons
Parental leave policy pros and cons
Parental leave policy pros and cons
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Parental leave policy pros and cons
Within the past few decades, there has been a rise in the number of dual-income families. In todays world, women are expected not only to raise their children, but also earn money for their family in the workforce. Most countries ensure that pregnant women are given paid maternity leave. Only two countries do not carry this policy, Papua New Guinea and the United States (Wares). While the United States at present has the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, merely 60 percent of workers can receive the benefits that this law grants. The Family and Medical Leave Act offers three months of unpaid leave to workers that have amassed 12 months of tenure at a firm of 50 or more employees (Wage and Hour Division). Presently, approximately 40 percent …show more content…
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 …show more content…
“To Grow Our Economy, Start with Paid Leave.” Northwest, Washington DC: Cato Institute, November 2014. Linda Houser, Ph. D. & Thomas P. Vartanian, Ph. D. Pay Matters: The positive Economic Impacts of Paid Family Leave for Families, Businesses, and the Public. New Brunswick: Rutgers Center for Women and Work, 2012. Document. Maternity Leave and Why the United States is the Only Developed Nation Without It. Directed by Tracy Wares, 2016. Miller, Claire Cain. “The Economic Benefits of Paid Parental Leave.” The New York Times. 30 January 2015. The Economics of Paid and Unpaid Leave. Issue Brief. Northwest, Washington DC: The Council of Economic Advisers, 2014.
...lley, W. H., Jennings, K. M., Wolters, R. S., & Mathis, R. L. (2012). Employment & Labor Relations. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
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.
by Donald M. Fisk Bureau of Labor Statistics This article was originally printed in the Fall 2001 issue of Compensation and Working Conditions.
In response to the increasing need for employees to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act. Without a policy like FMLA in place, many employees often would have had to choose between “the job they need and the family they love” (Hayes). The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is the first national law created to help Americans balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of the family. It successfully helps bridge the gap between family and work and secures the right for both men and women to get unpaid leave and assistance when dealing with family related circumstances.
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
The steady rise of healthcare costs and the ever increasing cost of health insurance premiums are making it harder and harder for employers to pay healthcare premiums for their employees. In the past, it was almost a given that employers picked up the tab for health insurance coverage. The health coverage was usually exceptional with little or no money paid out of pocket by the individual for the insurance premiums. Those appear to be the “good old days”, with fewer and fewer employers shelling out money for health insurance premiums and demanding a larger percentage to be paid by the employee. Other employers are simply unable to financially provide healthcare coverage for their employees and have stopped all together.
Figure 1, shows the top countries in the world for maternity leave, with all offering over 50 weeks, and Serbia and Denmark at 100% of salary. In other countries both the amount of time and percentage of salary differs, but as Amanda Peterson Beadle points out in her article for the ThinkProgress website, ‘Out of 178 nations, the U.S. is one of three that does not offer paid maternity leave benefits, let alone paid leave for fathers’. (6)
America is the one and only developed country that does not offer any paid maternity leave. Maternity leave is a period of absence from work granted to a mother before and after the birth of her child. In America this means twelve weeks of unpaid absence that guarantees her job when she returns. We are so far behind everyone that out of all of the countries around the world seven out of 196 including America do not have mandatory paid maternity leave. (Colorado public radio news) That is a sad figure, to think that we place having a family so high but don’t give the mothers the protection and security they deserve.
b. If employers allowed their employees to have paid maternity leave, then there will be less conflict between work and family life. Not all jobs are benefitted equally, such as low wage jobs usually lacking benefits and family-friendly policies, and low wage jobs also lack flexibility, which increases work-family conflicts (Dengate, 2016).
Trends in time off with pay can vary from public (i.e. not for profit) and private (i.e. for profit) sector organizations. Usually public sector employees are governed by benefits that separate vacation, sick, personal days, jury duty, funeral leave etcetera. Private sector employers primarily utilize Paid Time Off (PTO) that lump all of the instances of needing time off in a time bank that each employee is responsible for maintaining. Time off with pay is a topic that is regularly evaluated throughout organizations today. In this paper I will be discussing the paid time off benefits that are offered to public employees.
Paid paternity leave also contribute's to economies as well. First, it helps women return to their workplaces at a quicker rate; secondly, paternity leave strengthens family relationships as stated in my first paragraph. This is also great for companies, because when you have happy
Livingston, Gretchen. "The Link between Parental Leave and the Gender Pay Gap." Pew Research Center RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
“Parental Leave Helps Create Strong Bonds” by Barbra Nicholson, cofounder of Attachment Parenting International (API) and coauthor of Attached at the Heart
Most parents who experience the opportunity to have a child hope to receive time off from work for personal reasons. Mothers and fathers want to be there for their baby’s first moments, to adjust to their new lifestyle, or need to be home to take care of their sick child. There are many parental leave policies nationally and regionally that people will debate against whether they benefit or hinder mothers and fathers.