INTRODUCTION
Is America falling behind the rest of the world in terms of the services it provides? As a proud citizen of this great nation I, unfortunately, have to say “yes.” Our once outstanding country has been falling behind in a number of areas including technology, education, economics, and yes, even in family care! America is now one of only three industrialized countries that hasn’t set up a nationwide policy for paid parental leave. With this knowledge I desired to know more, particularly if we as a nation are not doing much to rectify the situation. Then, to learn if any states were doing something about this issue which effects so many people in the workforce. I wanted to see exactly how far behind, compared to the rest world, we are in the issue of paid parental leave. The Pew Research Center conducted a study of government supported leave in 38 OECD countries, and found that the US had the lowest figures with zero weeks of paid leave. Though we did fare better when it came to the number of weeks provided for protected leave with 12 weeks. We were still far worse than most other OECD countries (see Figure 1 at right). Knowing that we were rated worse I wanted to know what people are saying that we can and should be doing to change this situation?
BACKGROUND
The first recorded policy involving working pregnant women was in 1877 in Switzerland. It stated that a women could not work for at least six weeks after giving birth. Then in 1878 Germany issued a
The development of policy changes that support fathers increased participation in family life will be a significant social development of the twenty first century (Brien, 2013). Policy development is heavily influenced by the government’s ideology, lobbying of special interest groups, economic viability, community attitudes, current trends (McClelland & Smyth, 2014), societal norms and culture (Cameron and Moss, 2007). Often, as seen in Australia’s current policy the government focuses on developments targeted at providing support for the main carer, frequently the mother, while the main breadwinner, frequently the fathers, are left out of policy development (Finch, 2006). It has been argued by some that if paid parental leave is not taken
Some history on the case, Francis started working with Elsevier in 1991. The role of his employment was that of a production assistant. After a while, he was rehired after a company restructuring in which his new position was that of an associate database publishing editor. The main problem of the case concerns his wife's condition, amytrophic lateral sclerosis. Due to her condition he considered his potential rights under the Family Leave Act with a human resources representative from the company. A boss change led to him being interviewed with a new supervisor where he discussed his wife's condition. Shortly after he was dismissed. "Randall Francin had worked at Mosby, Inc., for twelve years before his wife was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (LouGehrig's disease). "(Cross & Miller, 540) I believe if Francin's wife's condition was not discussed his performance would not have come into question. From the evidence presented especially after the appeal, I believe he was unlawfully terminated considering the close timing of his dismissal after it was known of his wife's condition.
Paternity leave should be a right for all male workers for two weeks. Paternity leave is a period of absence from work granted to a father after or shortly before the birth of his child. Usually, pregnant women who are nearly due for delivery are able to take parental leave from their employment, what about men? Shouldn’t they have the ability to go on leave for the birth of their children? Paternity leave should be granted for male workers for many reasons. This essay will consider some of those reasons, such as if the partner is not well after the birth of the child, needs care and supervision or if she is going through tough pregnancy and needs her male partner to assist her delivering their child. It is also important for an infant-father bonding as much as an infant-mother bonding after the child is born. Also if a horrible circumstance occurs like mother passing away during her delivery, that would leave the father as the first and only carer.
With regards to the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), Company X is in full compliance. The FMLA clearly states that if an employee of a company that has been with a company for more than 12 months, they are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave every 12 months for qualifying events. Qualifying events would be considered as, but not limited to, child birth, serious medical injury or the placement of a child into adoption or foster care. There is a secondary provision in place that would allow you to take 26 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for the care of a covered service member for serious injury or illness.
Employment, Family Leave, and Parents of Newborns or Seriously Ill Children describes Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and California’s Paid Family Leave Insurance (PFIL) both promote an individual to take time off for their family to care for illnesses or newborns. The article used a semi structured qualitative interview with 20 newborn parents and 20 parents of children with special needs from Los Angeles with equal ration of men and women from different families. The article found that many parents do not thoroughly understand their benefits and sometimes made decisions that are not well thought of and less beneficial because of their complexity. The article does note that families that are planning newborns were less stressed compared to
Take a moment to think about this: you and your significant other just took the step to become parents. Though you are young, you both believed it was time and went ahead and brought a baby into your lives. Staring at your baby and your spouse with loving eyes, you do not think life can get any better. However blissful life may seem, things soon come crashing down. You and your significant other work average wage jobs and are having a hard-enough time supporting each other, and now the cost of diapers, clothes, furniture, formula and baby food are creeping in on you and sucking the life out of your bank account. You want to spend time with your new bundle of joy, but suddenly, your baby is being ripped out of your hands and being sent to an
The Expand Maternity and Paternity Leave Act (EMPLA) is a law that provides certain parents with up to fifteen weeks of paid, job-protected leave. The parents or single parent can start their maternity leave seven weeks before their due date and eight weeks after, around 75% of their normal pay. They can extend the leave for another two weeks if the child gets sick or has special needs. The fifteen weeks of paid leave annually for parents or single parent of newborn or newly adopted children. To be eligible for EMPLA, you must meet United States residence requirements, worked at least a year before their birth or adoption of their child, etc.
In the spirit of debate I speak to the following representatives/senators of the concept bill C addresses. Should parents be forced to suffer financially and mentally because they gave birth to a baby? They should not and I am in affirmation of this bill because it protects families from financial stress and has health benefits to the mothers and their children.
The FMLA entitles eligible employees to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/
Many believe that the success of a functioning community can be measured by the development of the youth, with the assumption that they would progress society as the future generation. Today’s children are tomorrow’s working class and the main contributors of social progress. Thus, the developmental stages in a child’s life is pertinent to success of a community, and in these stages parental involvement is a necessary component, which is why Family Leave is a policy implemented worldwide. Policy regarding family leave refers to the leave granted to employees in order to care for their newborn child. All countries, with the exception of two, have gone a step further by requiring employers to partially or fully compensate employees during family
The lack of a paid parental leave law in the country does not necessarily mean that it is absent in the U.S. labor market. Some generous and more progressive companies do recognize the importance of the leave to employees and do offer it. According to the Employee Benefits Survey of 2015, 21% of employers nationally offer some paid maternity leave while 17% offer some paid paternity/adoption leave. However, about a fifth don’t have any kind of protected maternity, paternity, or adoptive leave. (Ray, 8; Time, n. pag.)
Paid parental leave should be equal and for both parents once a child is born
Pregnancy and early child development is a fundamental aspect of human society, and is pertinent to the development of a successfully functioning community. The developmental and social progress of any civilization relies on children, as they will compose the future working population. Therefore, a mother or father’s involvement in the child’s development is of extreme importance, which is why family leave has been implemented all over the world. Family leave refers to the period of time granted to the employee to care for their newborn child. As communities evolve economically, financial stability is necessary, for what is perceived to be socially successful for a child’s development, which is why paid family leave is popular throughout the world’s nations. However, ABC News reports that “the U.S. is only one of three countries in the world that don't offer paid maternity leave” (Kim, 2015); the same is true for paternity leave. The United States government has an interesting track record dealing with family leave, but in order to analyze what the US government and advocacy groups have done to solve this issue, there first needs to be an understanding on why this issue is so difficult to resolve. The arguments that support and oppose paid family leave in the United States are equally valid, therefore causing a stalemate in the attempted policy making of legislative bodies.
During the changing of world economy, it is increasingly common to hear the term ‘emerging markets’ and from news and report. In the mid-1980s, the term ‘emerging markets’ was created by the World Bank, and has significant influence on the global business world nowadays (Gwynne, Klak and Shaw 2003). To raise investor’s attention to those developing countries, there are numerous characteristics springing up which are given by researches and economists. However, some of those characteristics are contradictory and it is difficult to give a real definition. This essay discusses the main characteristics of ‘emerging markets’ as defined by the World Bank and economists.
Access to paid leave is often identified as an issue that primarily concerns working mothers, yet paid leave is also critically important for working fathers. In a society that continues to evolve, it is even more imperative to address this unequal access with an increasing number of fathers who are serving as stay at home parents (International Labor Organization, 2014). Legislation that supports fathers having the support they need to prioritize family responsibilities can significantly increase the personal and economic well-being of their growing families (United States Department of Labor, 2015). Despite these advantages, the growing importance of paternal involvement with their newborns is not always supported in today’s society. The economic and social barriers fathers face may hinder them from taking paternity leave altogether, such as inadequate access to paid leave and outdated cultural norms about male breadwinners. According to survey data, most fathers in the United States only take one day of leave time for every month the typical mother takes (Harrington et al., 2014). This means that even in the twenty-first century, it appears to be more widely accepted for mothers to take off time from work to care for their families than fathers. Fewer than half the countries in the world provide men with access to paid leave to care for a new child, while virtually all provide paid maternity leave (ILO, 2014). Paid paternity leave and laws related to promote