When it comes to supporting families, the United States of America is stuck in the dark ages. There are many kinds of family leave, but the most common is paid maternity leave for new mothers. Among the 38 developed countries, generally defined as the members of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only the United States has no paid maternity leave at the national level. Among other OECD countries, a group that includes the European Union, Japan, Australia, and the UK, the average paid maternity leave benefit was 51 weeks in 2018.
Why do we have a minimum wage that is disgustingly low? Why do we have less vacation time/days than any other industrialized country? Why does every other western country have some form of nationalized health system that doesn't force sick people to choose between their health and their financial wellbeing?
We are stuck in a 19th century mindset while the rest of the world has evolved.
Sen. Joe Manchin’s Piper Saratoga plane did a round-trip flight (09/07/21) from West Virginia to Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky. I know that Manchin is registered as a Democrat, but his attitude & inclination tell me he is a Republican at heart. He’s made his fortune (as has his daughter - Google Heather Bresch & EpiPen scandal) so shows no interest in the well-being of his constituents. The Democrats have the majority in the Senate in theory, but with him & Kyrsten Sinema in the Senate obstructing progressive bills, it seems near impossible that things can be changed for the benefit of everyone, not just the wealthy. ( See the July/August issue of Mother Jones magazine for an interesting article about Sinema & how she arrived as a Senator.)
It seems to me that many Americans are too concerned with material goods & money. How much is enough? It doesn’t seem that money buys happiness. If my fellow travelers on this road through life have a roof over their heads, affordable healthcare, food on the table, balance between work & personal time, & a chance for satisfaction & happiness, then I benefit from that, too. I’m sad that the American dream (that I learned as a child) seems an illusion. We need to vote in every election until the progressives have a chance to fix it.
Most companies that claim to offer paid family leave don’t really do so. They add maternity/adoption as an event covered by their short-term disability policies. They reduce their costs to the incremental difference in premium, and outsource management to a third party. Disability policies impose strict limits on beneficiaries to keep them from collecting benefits while they claim to be “disabled”. Consequently, women (and let’s face it - most people who use these benefits are women) must sever all contact with their employers while they are on leave. Their email access is cut off, and their co-workers often are forbidden from even calling them while they are on leave, for fear that the insurance coverage might be invalidated. Thus, the careers of women who use corporate “maternity leave” can suffer long term career impairment from their loss of access, contacts, and institutional knowledge. Studies have shown that career gaps have a negative long-term effect on compensation and advancement, and these employer-imposed career gaps (which theoretically apply to all disabled employees) affect women disproportionately because so many more women than men take advantage of childbirth benefits (and perhaps even all disability benefits).
Employers don’t bear the cost of maternity benefits, women do. Maternity is NOT a disability and not should be treated as one. Maternity benefits should be administered in the same way as vacation/annual leave so that employers will manage the benefit in a way that works best for everyone affected and control is
The people in the population who will benefit are likely the least to support it. Everyday I read the GOP followers who struggle to keep up bashing Biden. They some how think they are part of the 1% and Corporate well being overrides their own. They are swallowing the Kool Aid with every Fox, Newsnax and OAN story they embrace. We know them, the 74 million who voted for Trump in 2020.
I think some time should absolutely be given to employees for the birth of a child or a medical issue but how long is too long and what would be considered enough time? Would raising taxes completely pay for this leave? How would it work for a small business? I currently manage one and we only have 8 employees. If one of them were out for 12 weeks, and I had to pay them for not working, that would really hurt us. We aren't a huge corporation and we don't have the budget to pay someone for 3 months to not come to work.
When you say the US has an average of 0 weeks paid family leave I presume you mean “required by law”. Because many companies have family leave policies, the the average cannot be zero as a result. Just saying that it isn’t zero.
"Why can every other developed country afford to have paid family leave, except the United States?"
It's easy to blame greedy CEO's (and they fairly earn that blame, if nothing else), but you'll never have the full picture on why the US can't afford X until you look at over 700 billion dollars a year for defense, more than the next 11 countries combined. America is seriously in danger of becoming a military that has a country instead of the other way around.
Why do we have a minimum wage that is disgustingly low? Why do we have less vacation time/days than any other industrialized country? Why does every other western country have some form of nationalized health system that doesn't force sick people to choose between their health and their financial wellbeing?
We are stuck in a 19th century mindset while the rest of the world has evolved.
Sen. Joe Manchin’s Piper Saratoga plane did a round-trip flight (09/07/21) from West Virginia to Mitch McConnell’s Kentucky. I know that Manchin is registered as a Democrat, but his attitude & inclination tell me he is a Republican at heart. He’s made his fortune (as has his daughter - Google Heather Bresch & EpiPen scandal) so shows no interest in the well-being of his constituents. The Democrats have the majority in the Senate in theory, but with him & Kyrsten Sinema in the Senate obstructing progressive bills, it seems near impossible that things can be changed for the benefit of everyone, not just the wealthy. ( See the July/August issue of Mother Jones magazine for an interesting article about Sinema & how she arrived as a Senator.)
It seems to me that many Americans are too concerned with material goods & money. How much is enough? It doesn’t seem that money buys happiness. If my fellow travelers on this road through life have a roof over their heads, affordable healthcare, food on the table, balance between work & personal time, & a chance for satisfaction & happiness, then I benefit from that, too. I’m sad that the American dream (that I learned as a child) seems an illusion. We need to vote in every election until the progressives have a chance to fix it.
These facts are so clear. The opposition is truly shameful. I wish every American could read this.
Most companies that claim to offer paid family leave don’t really do so. They add maternity/adoption as an event covered by their short-term disability policies. They reduce their costs to the incremental difference in premium, and outsource management to a third party. Disability policies impose strict limits on beneficiaries to keep them from collecting benefits while they claim to be “disabled”. Consequently, women (and let’s face it - most people who use these benefits are women) must sever all contact with their employers while they are on leave. Their email access is cut off, and their co-workers often are forbidden from even calling them while they are on leave, for fear that the insurance coverage might be invalidated. Thus, the careers of women who use corporate “maternity leave” can suffer long term career impairment from their loss of access, contacts, and institutional knowledge. Studies have shown that career gaps have a negative long-term effect on compensation and advancement, and these employer-imposed career gaps (which theoretically apply to all disabled employees) affect women disproportionately because so many more women than men take advantage of childbirth benefits (and perhaps even all disability benefits).
Employers don’t bear the cost of maternity benefits, women do. Maternity is NOT a disability and not should be treated as one. Maternity benefits should be administered in the same way as vacation/annual leave so that employers will manage the benefit in a way that works best for everyone affected and control is
We need more Democrats in the Senate with DINOs like Manchin and Sinema already in.
The people in the population who will benefit are likely the least to support it. Everyday I read the GOP followers who struggle to keep up bashing Biden. They some how think they are part of the 1% and Corporate well being overrides their own. They are swallowing the Kool Aid with every Fox, Newsnax and OAN story they embrace. We know them, the 74 million who voted for Trump in 2020.
I think some time should absolutely be given to employees for the birth of a child or a medical issue but how long is too long and what would be considered enough time? Would raising taxes completely pay for this leave? How would it work for a small business? I currently manage one and we only have 8 employees. If one of them were out for 12 weeks, and I had to pay them for not working, that would really hurt us. We aren't a huge corporation and we don't have the budget to pay someone for 3 months to not come to work.
So the US is a third world oligarchy. Sad.
When you say the US has an average of 0 weeks paid family leave I presume you mean “required by law”. Because many companies have family leave policies, the the average cannot be zero as a result. Just saying that it isn’t zero.
"Why can every other developed country afford to have paid family leave, except the United States?"
It's easy to blame greedy CEO's (and they fairly earn that blame, if nothing else), but you'll never have the full picture on why the US can't afford X until you look at over 700 billion dollars a year for defense, more than the next 11 countries combined. America is seriously in danger of becoming a military that has a country instead of the other way around.
While it wasn't sustainable, Greece offered a year's maternity leave to new mothers.