Paid family leave in the United States
MSNBC looks at paid family leave in the United States.
Until I read that, I didn’t know that a couple of states (California and Washington) have paid family leave.
Sure, we’ve had The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in the United States since 1993, but it generously allows you to take time off using any sick and vacation time you’ve accrued in your job, so it is an unpaid leave.
I agree that FMLA was a start to help people take time off in certain situations and have a job to come back to, but it seems like we should have made a few more strides since then since many people can’t afford to take so much time off without pay.
Additionally, I agree that the current U.S. system is outdated (from the same article):
The lack of paid leave is unusual among the world’s industrialized nations. Other nations without paid family leave include Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland, says Kate Kahan, director of Work/Family program for the National Partnership for Women & Families.
“We are way out of sync with the world,” Kahan says. “We are out of step with the evolving American family.”
The U.S. system generally is structured around the old model of Mom staying home with the kids and Dad being the breadwinner. “Workplace policies need to catch up to the fact that 70 percent of families have both parents working,” she says.
I know first hand that having an employee on a leave can be very stressful and disruptive to the workplace, and that employers are resistant to paying people for not working, but there’s also a cost involved in unexpected absences from employees who are taking care of family or are ill themselves.
Tags: FMLA, paid family leaveRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Time off
4 opinions for Paid family leave in the United States
karina
Jun 4, 2008 at 1:48 am
It is difficult to manage both, family and career. I am the more traditional kind of person.
FMLA law Family Medical Leave Act update, Latest cases on FMLA Law : FMLA Law News Update June 4
Jun 4, 2008 at 8:03 am
[…] Paid family leave in the United States By elizabeth Sure, we’ve had The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) in the United States since 1993, but it generously allows you to take time off using any sick and vacation time you’ve accrued in your job, so it is an unpaid leave. … Career and Kids - http://www.careerandkids.com […]
DJ Nelson
Jun 19, 2008 at 8:21 am
We do have to catch up, and I’m sure there are ways to be helpful to both the employee on leave and the employees who have to make up the slack.
Someone at my husbands job is on leave and it’s been very stressful for him and in turn it’s stressful for me. There has to be another solution besides “ok she’s gone, you do all of her work plus yours and don’t expect anything because its in your contract”.
Maybe one day people will take the time to actually care.
New Jersey enacts Paid Family Leave bill
Jun 19, 2008 at 9:46 pm
[…] the heels of our discussion about paid family leave, I read that New Jersey recently became the third state in the United States to enact a paid family […]
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