2/5/15

Leading on Leave

As a recent college graduate, I have yet to consider how one would handle starting a family while advancing a career and managing bills. Come to find out - it's not easy, especially in the USA.

We're the ONLY developed nation WITHOUT paid maternity leave.  Unpaid leave coupled with burdensome child care tuition is presenting families with quite the conundrum. Whole paychecks are going towards child care, or whole paychecks are given up to care for children at home. So, what are families doing when they want to BE a family?

By: Think Progress 
By: Think Progress
Thanks to the Family and Medical Leave Act some employees are protected from losing their employment and benefits when they take time off for the birth of a child, for tending to sick or injured family members, or  for committing time to the adoption process. Unfortunately, this protection does not extend to all employees. You have to work for a business for at least a year and there has to be at least 49 other employees working for the same business. Is this enough for families?

Some companies listed here choose to provide paid leave for their employees such as Google, Reddit, and Facebook. Does your company offer paid leave? If not, how would your family get by?

Proponents say that offering paid leave for families is not only good business sense, but necessary in closing the wage gap between men and women, because more often than not women assume the care-taking responsibilities.

Opponents say they would like their employees to reach out to them and work together to create a plan for leave, instead of having government mandated requirements.

Should the USA have mandatory policies for paid maternity leave? Paid paternity leave? Paid family leave?

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Or leave a comment below and we'll chat.

I leave you with a short video on the subject, by the US Department of Labor.