Special
Yes, people in other countries are startled to learn we have no federally mandated paid maternity leave. I just heard from a startled person on Twitter. Employers are free to provide it, but they’re also free not to.
NPR did a piece on the subject last July.
If you’ve been paying attention to the political news in the past couple of years, you know that the U.S. stands virtually alone in not mandating paid leave of any type for its workers.
It’s because we love freedom. We love the freedom of employers not to provide it, and we love the freedom of workers to be screwed over.
President Obama likewise brought new attention to paid leave this year as well, when he pointed out in his State of the Union address that the U.S. is the only advanced economy that doesn’t mandate paid sick or maternity leave for its workers.
He was right about that — it’s true that most American workers are covered by the Family Medical Leave Act, which allows workers up to 12 weeks of leave per year to care for family members. But that leave is unpaid.
I remember fuming about that during the Clinton administration (which is when the act was passed) – the media were making such a big deal of it but it was just unpaid leave. God we’re pathetic. We’re the only advanced economy that doesn’t. What a miserable distinction.
But of course our elections are sold to the highest bidder, so what do I expect?
The U.S.’s campaign finance system helps businesses keep these laws off the books, says one expert.
“Money plays a role in politics in many countries, but the extent to which the amount of dollars [is] spent on campaigns in the United States just dwarfs the amount spent in campaigns elsewhere,” says Jody Heymann, dean of the School of Public Health at UCLA. “The ability [to make] very large corporate contributions plays a much more substantial role in our elections than in other countries.”
Another miserable distinction.
I’m Norwegian. We get 47 weeks (100 % pay) or 57 (80 %). Some of that is reserved for the mother, some for the father, the rest you can share as you like. And sick leave… if you’re sick, you get sick leave. If you need more than 3 days a few times a year you need to see a doctor and get her to agree that you are too sick to work. If you’re sick for more than a year they can fire you (firing people just because you feel like it is illegal ).
When I was on maternity leave (33 years ago!) I had only about three weeks of sick leave built up (I hadn’t abused my leave, but we didn’t accumulate it very rapidly, and I’d only been there about a year and a half). I had to go on leave early because of complications, and needed 9 weeks off. I was very scared, because my husband and I were living decently off what we both made (though not living fancy), and the idea of trying to get by on just what he made was frightening. Then he lost his job.
We were fortunate that his family helped us until he found another job, but it was still a struggle. And many people don’t have that!
Well, see, since it is your duty* to bear numerous children you will be punished for it. Also, for trying to not. Easy!
* as a female woman uterus-haver
Canada doesn’t have mandated sick leave. It is at the discretion of employers.
Public sector workers are generally covered, however even at that sick leave can be denied by one’s supervisor in cases where no doctor’s certificate is presented…even if only absent for a day. Usually it’s accorded, but there’s no guarantee. If after more than a three day’s absence you’ve no doctor’s letter to justify the time taken, those days can be deducted from your pay quite easily
The federal gov’t offers maternity leave AND paternity leave, although the latter isn’t nearly as generous. The same is true for provincial employees.
IN the private sector, though, paid sick leave is often non-existent. Ditto for maternity or paternity leave.
Private sector workers in Canada are in virtually the same position as their counterparts in The States.
20 or 25 years ago things were somewhat better, but benefits are slowly being eroded even for unionized workers.
Yay for California – We get 6 weeks paid (55% upto a max) for each parent – Its called baby bonding or something like that.
just more of that american exceptionalism I keep hearing about.