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 …show more content…
Employees who pay into the State disability insurance fund qualify for six weeks of paid leave at a 55% of their weekly earnings with a capped amount (PFLCA, 2015). Please see the attached …show more content…
However, in WA a limited companies offer STDI once a year during an open enrollment period. While STDI covers any short term disability upon enrollment, it does not cover preexisting condition such as pregnancy. For instance, if a female employee gets pregnant any time before the open enrollment, the STDI will not cover pregnancy related disability for nine months even if the female employee starts to contribute to the
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” ...
FMLA/DPL leave is available on a consecutive, reduced schedule or intermittent basis for up to twelve workweeks only for specific trigger events:
The topic that I am choosing to do is on Obama Care. I chose this topic because the idea of the government forcing people to obtain insurance is wrong in my eyes. I am interested in analyzing the validity for what has been said about this topic in order to increase my understanding about Obama Care. I am not an expert when it comes to Obama Care. I know that this is an insurance that is being provided through the government for the general public. I have read that President Obama never initially read the whole bill itself. I also know that people who cannot afford it, but make too much money to qualify for Medicaid are being heavily encouraged to get this insurance. Some of the common knowledge that I have found that the general public has about this subject is that some people are for Obama Care and think that it is a wonderful idea and that there are some people that are dead set against Obama Care. Younger adults, specifically college age and individuals that are in their twenties tend to be for Obama Care. The insurance is being forced upon individuals that may or may not want it. It also seems as though that the insurance being offered is pretty generic in terms of coverage. Some of the questions that I have that I believe will aide me in writing this paper would be the following: What are the pros and cons of Obama Care? What are the thoughts of Obama Care with the people of the government? As well as what are the basics of Obama Care?
I am terribly ashamed to admit that prior to this class I really did not have a position on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I simply ignored what was going on because I had insurance through my employer and I didn’t feel like the ACA would have that much bearing on my life. I was aware of some of the positive and negative aspects but had not really given it all a lot of thought. The one thing that did intrigue and interest me was the potential for Medicaid expansion. This was both exciting and troublesome because my job is totally structured around people who qualify for Medicaid. Increasing the rosters would have had a drastic effect on what I do and would have meant tremendous growth for my business but since Tennessee opted not to expand
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.
The individual mandate and the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare”, is the idea that citizens should be required to have health insurance or otherwise pay a certain penalty. The Affordable Care Act essentially is the ability for all Americans to be able to afford health insurance. “One goal of the ACA, often referred to as the Affordable Care Act…is to bring down the costs of health care and make it available to more people.” (Will the Affordable Care Act improve health care in the United States?). The ACA was signed into law in March 2010 and currently ongoing. Although the Affordable Care Act does potentially have some positive effects to it, like bringing affordable health insurance to uninsured Americans; the Act does also have
Trial and error tests have been exercised, including the extension of Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI), to examine how beneficial or detrimental it is to the economy. Some short term solutions and suggestions have also been pitched. Lovell and Helmuth claim that one policy that would reduce pressure on the early child care, thus cutting down on leave time, is to expand support for employees caring for their newborn at home. Providing paid parental leave for workers is projected to improve retention of young workers, preventing millions per year in costs associated with employee turnover. Having a policy that would reduce the costs to workers and society for carrying out basic life tasks would be the ideal and admired implementation.
As of 2014, all Americans are required to have healthcare insurance and there are many people who do not agree with paying for health care insurance. However, I believe that The Affordable Care Act should remain available and required for everyone who either does not think that they need it or if there are others who feel that they do need the care. There are so many benefits on receiving health care insurance as well as some downsides. The Affordable Care Act was signed and passed by President Obama on March 23, 2010. According to “FamiliesUSA”, three in ten adults were uninsured during 2012 and that is about 55 million people uninsured. (“New Results from National Health…”)
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.
Short term Disability is a program many people use to this day because of the benefits they receive from it when they have medical issues. What is short term Disability? According to book Employee Benefits written by Martocchio Short Term disability is an inability to perform the duties of one's regular job usually for less then 24 weeks. Conditions that include eligibility for benefits are recovering from surgery, recovery from injuries, treatment of illness that may require hospitalization, and pregnancy. An employer cannot deny you benefits for pregnancy because it’s covered under Pregnancy discrimination act of 1973 (MARTOCCHIO 174). Now there are a few things that majority of plans do not cover and it’s any mental illness caused by drug
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)
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.
is used to track why the time was extended. This can prove to be very time consuming depending on the type of organization you work for. In terms of paid time off, public sector employees are awarded substantial amounts of paid time off, including approximately 13 days of sick leave per year, 10 paid federal holidays and up to 26 days of paid vacation per year, contingent upon the number of years of service.
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.