Maternity leave

Maternity leave is a leave of absence for an expectant or new mother for the birth and care of the baby. This is a very important factor in creating a work-life balance for families, yet in the United States most states do not offer any paid time off, for this important time in ones life. Many mothers are forced to return to work only weeks after having given birth to their children; missing out on important bonding time with their child. At this age, newborn babies and their mother are forming an important bond and the child is learning to trust and count on their parents. Yet, they are often sent to daycare and are now being cared for by a non-family member. According to the US Census, Almost two-thirds of American women (62 percent) with a birth in the last year were in the labor force in 2008 http://www.census.gov/

Some new mothers (and fathers) will take unpaid time off, allowed by the Family and Medical Leave Act. The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers 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. Eligible employees are entitled to twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:

• the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
• the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or

foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement; http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/ Some states will allow paid time off for maternity leave under the states Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI).

State	TDI Benefit
California	55% - 60% of highest quarterly earnings during a 12-month base period up to $959 (2009)
Hawaii	58% of average weekly wages up to $510 (2009)
New Jersey	66% of average weekly wages up to $524 (2008)
New York	50% of weekly wages up to $170 (2008)
Rhode Island	4.62% of employees highest calendar quarter wages in the base year, up to $671, plus dependent allowance of $10 or 7% of weekly benefit for up to 5 dependents (2008)

http://www.paidfamilyleave.org/pdf/PaidLeaveinStates.pdf

At the state level, California was the first state to offer paid family leave benefits for its workers. While the benefits only last for 6 weeks ^[28] this is the first major step for maternity leave in the United States.New Jersey lawmakers are pushing legislation that would make their state the second state to add this worker benefit. Under one New Jersey proposal, workers who take leave would be paid through the state’s temporary disability insurance fund, "augmented by a 0.1 percent charge on workers’ weekly wages."^[29] Traditionally, many conservatives have opposed paid family leave, but there is a sign that this mindset is beginning to change. Reverend Paul Schenck, a prominent member of the National Pro-Life Action Center recently stated that he would support paid maternity leave on the assumption that it might encourage women to follow through with their pregnancies instead of having abortions. According to Heyman, "Across the political spectrum, people are realizing these policies have an enormous impact on working families. If you look at the most competitive economies in the world, all the others except the U.S. have these policies in place." ^[29]

The United States is not as workplace family-oriented as many other wealthy countries. According to a study released by Harvard and McGill University researchers in February 2007, workplace policies for families in the U.S. are weaker than those of all high-income countries and even many middle-and low-income countries.

For example, the study notes that the United States is one of only five countries out of 173 that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave. (The other countries are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea).^[29] Other differences include the fact that fathers are granted paid paternity leave or paid parental leave in sixty-five countries; thirty one of these countries offer at least fourteen weeks of paid leave. The U.S. does not guarantee this to fathers.(survey) Sweden, Denmark and Norway have the highest level of maternity benefits—Sweden provides 68 weeks paid maternity leave, Norway provides 56 weeks paid maternity leave and Denmark provides 52.^[30]

Men

Men know that work alone may not provide their lives with meaning. Young men can lose their meaning of life; they want a balance between paid work and personal attachments without being victimized at work.^[24][25] More men are realizing that work is not their only primary source of fulfillment from life. A new study on fatherhood (2010) shows that more men are looking for alternatives to their 40-hour workweek in order to spend more time with their family. Though working less means a smaller paycheck and higher stress levels, men are looking for flexibility just as much as women. However, with an ever-changing society, flexibility is becoming much more apparent. “It seems that some traditional stereotypes are starting to lessen just a bit in terms of who’s responsible for care of the children” says human resource specialist Steve Moore. Traditionalism is becoming less frequent due to what’s actually practical for each individual family.^[31]

Men often face unequal opportunity to family life as they are often expected to be the financial supporter of the family unit, “[t]he masculine ideal of a worker unencumbered by caregiving obligations is built into workplace structures and patterns of reward.”^[32]

Дата добавления: 2015-09-05