U.S. Guarantees No Paid Maternity Leave

 

A Majority In U.S. Want Law Requiring Paid Family Leave

In 1993, the U.S. government passed a law requiring employers to give new parents a 12 week leave without losing their jobs, but that leave was an unpaid one, and many Americans do not make enough money to take advantage of it. Other countries know better. They require that family leave to be a paid leave. In fact, the United States is the ONLY industrialized nation to not require family leave to be paid, and only one of four nations worldwide (the others being Lesotho, Swaziland, and Papua New Guinea).

A significant majority of Americans don't like that. About 54% want the U.S. to join the rest of the civilized world in requiring employers to provide up to 12 weeks of paid family leave. Less than a third disagree (29%).

The chart above reflects the results of a new Rasmussen Poll -- done on February 5th and 6th of a random national sample of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3 point margin of error.

The United States Is Still The Only Developed Nation Without A Guarantee Of Paid Medical Leave For Workers

To it's great shame, the United States remains the only developed nation that refuses to guarantee workers at least some paid medical leave. While a few employers offer some paid sick days and some offer paid medical leave for new parents, no business in the United States is required to do that -- and quite a few take advantage of that to offer nothing. In those businesses, an employee who gets sick or has a baby would lose their pay, and could lose their job completely.

But while our Republican-controlled federal government does not want to require businesses to offer paid medical leave, that is not the feeling of the general public. As the chart above shows, 85% believe workers should receive paid medical leave for a serious medical condition, 82% want mothers to receive paid leave after having a baby (and 69% would extend that to fathers also), and 67% say a worker should receive paid leave to help care for a family member.

Who should pay for that medical leave. Members of both political parties say it should be employers rather than the government (and they like the idea of giving employers tax credits to do so).

The public also believes guaranteeing paid medical leave would be good for the economy (65% to 34%), for families (94% to 4%), for women (93% to 5%), for men (87% to 11%), and for most employers (52% to 47%). They do however say that it would not be good for small businesses (41% to 57%). That could be addressed through some kind of government help for those small businesses.

The charts above are from the Pew Research Center. The information is from two surveys done between November 17th and December 14th. The first queried 2,029 adults, and had a 2.3 point margin of error. The second questioned 5,934 adults, and had a 2.1 point margin of error.

The Only Developed Nation Without Guaranteed Paid Leave

Americans like to think that we live in the best country in the world, but that is not true in every area of human endeavor. In the area of paid leave for workers, the United States actually comes in last -- being the only developed nation that does not guarantee all workers at least some paid leave.

There is no excuse for that. The United States is still the richest nation in the entire world and refuses to guarantee any paid leave for workers. Democrats have tried to pass a requirement for poker paid leave, but the Republicans (at the behest of their corporate masters) have blocked every attempt to do so.

The following op-ed from 8/5/16 is by Jane Farrell of the Labor Department:

As we gear up for the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics, there’s one race where the United States has already fallen behind: the sprint for paid leave. Twenty-three years ago today, the Family and Medical Leave Act went into effect – a law that today provides nearly 60 percent of working Americans with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected family and medical leave annually.

But we have a long way to go before we can sport any medals. Since 1993, the U.S. has only fallen further behind nearly every other nation when it comes to paid maternity leave, and we rank dead last among developed nations when it comes to providing some form of paid leave.

While we’re still far from gold, there is a silver lining: states, cities and employers are moving paid leave down the field. Since 1993, three states – California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island – have all enacted paid family leave laws on top of existing medical leave programs. And New York passed similar legislation earlier this year that will go into effect in 2018. Over the past three years, over two dozen localities across the country – from Seattle to Austin to Kansas City to Newburgh Heights, Ohio – have implemented policies that provide paid parental leave to municipal employees.

Private employers are also recognizing the benefits of paid leave firsthand. After increasing its paid maternity leave policy from 12 to 18 weeks, Google saw its retention rate for new moms increase by 50 percent. Patagonia offers eight weeks of paid family and medical leave so employees can care for themselves or any loved one, old or young, without worrying about a loss of income on top of the stress of recovery or caregiving. Nike, a sponsor of many Olympic athletes, also offers up to eight weeks of family caregiving leave to full-time employees and an additional six weeks for new moms. Spotify offers up to six months of paid leave to new moms and dads to help attract and retain quality employees, and because “it’s the right thing to do.” But no hardworking American should have to win the boss lottery to have paid, job-protected leave.

A universal paid family and medical leave program would have countless benefits for our society and economy, and the costs of inaction are steep. In 2012, 70 percent of men taking leave for parental reasons took fewer than 11 days, largely because the leave was unpaid. And 60 percent of workers who didn’t get their full paycheck while on family or medical leave reported having difficulty making ends meet.

Nationwide, nearly 25 million working Americans also provide unpaid care to their elders, without the benefit of paid family leave. There are also less obvious costs –work-family policies that enable workers to be both breadwinners and caregivers would go a long way to help boost U.S. women’s labor force participation rate.

American workers shouldn’t have to choose between family and money, or their health and a paycheck. They deserve better. They deserve the gold standard of leave – a policy that is equitable, fair and inclusive. Fortunately, thanks to the hard work of advocates, policymakers and forward-thinking business leaders, the momentum behind paid leave is picking up speed. For this reason and many more, I’m hopeful we’ll cross that finish line before athletes board their planes to Tokyo in 2020.

The Only Developed Nation Not Guaranteeing Paid Leave

The chart above (from the U.S. Department of Labor) shows the amount of full paid leave (in weeks) granted to mothers in the world's developed nations. Note there is only one of those nations that guarantees NO paid leave at all -- the United States.

This is shameful, and it must be changed. We can argue over how much paid leave should be granted to mothers after giving birth, but the idea of no paid leave at all is unacceptable and inexcusable. We bend over backwards to help corporations and give tax breaks to the rich. Why can't we help mothers just a bit. Aren't they providing for the future of the nation in every bit as important a way as corporations and the rich?

Of course, the reason why we don't provide that paid leave is because our Congress is controlled by the Republicans (whose true constituencies are corporations and the rich). It's one more reason why they must be voted out of power in November.