Company just announced that we are moving to 18 weeks paid leave for paternity / maternity / adoption leave. Previously it was basically FMLA. Wish we would have had it for our first 2 but glad to see it change. Not incredibly uncommon in Silicon Valley nowadays but for Atlanta it is on the rare side.

Is Raleigh, or elsewhere, trending towards something similar?

7/26/2016 7:50:54 PM

previous company did 5d paid for paternity
need to check current

7/26/2016 10:42:19 PM

Quote :

"he Family and Medical Leave policy provides 12 workweeks of unpaid, job protected leave in a 12-month period for the birth, care for and/or adoption of a child or newborn, and placement of the child with you for foster care."

I think it's great that companies have paid leave for children-related matters and fully understand the necessity, but I also think that more companies should offer something for people who never plan to have kids too, like paid sabbatical. Does that make me a monster?

7/27/2016 9:24:27 AM

^ good point. people with no kids should also get paid leave

7/27/2016 10:08:51 AM

The thing about FMLA versus companies with paternity / maternity / adoption leave policies is that FMLA "covers" providing any medical support involving direct family members. So the no-kids folks can still invoke it to take care of an ailing parent or something. If companies really want to pay for this, they should at least be as inclusive as the government policy.

7/27/2016 10:21:03 AM

There was a silly article floating around a couple months ago with the same premise, written by some millennial hipster. Anyone who thinks that paternity/maternity leave is anything like a vacation or a sabbatical is completely out of touch. Leave is not needed so a mother or father can contemplate life and find themselves. It's needed because the first several months of a baby's life are so critical to later development, it requires 24/7 attention.

My company didn't have paid leave designated for paternity leave, but they do have a generous vacation policy. So i just used my PTO for the first three weeks my twins were born. I think offering paid maternity and paternity leave is a great benefit. But I don't think it should be mandated by law.

7/27/2016 10:23:44 AM

New Jersey has some kind of payroll tax for paid family leave that everyone has to pay. My mother in law worked up there for about a month on a contract and the shit was taken out of her check despite the fact she has never lived in NJ and is too old to have children.

The payroll company told her she could file a tax return in NJ and get it back at the end of the year, but it was not enough money to justify having another return done over. They basically just took the money and provided her with nothing in return.

I think its great for companies to offer this as a benefit. The thing is the people who need it most (low wage workers) will probably never see this type of benefit provided by their employers unless its under a government mandate.

7/27/2016 10:28:13 AM

My wife works for a company based out of Belgium. She gets 6 weeks paid and then another two or three months off at 60% of her salary. For some reason I thought it was going to be better than that, but we're pretty satisfied.

7/27/2016 12:53:24 PM

Bunch of tech companies last year did something similar to the OPs company setup. These companies have offices everywhere. I work for one and they did it all over the US, not just in Silicon Valley.

7/27/2016 5:15:28 PM

Is it legal to fire somebody because they're having a kid? like, can you just say "Okay, if you're going to be gone for more than two days, don't come back."

On the face of it, I feel like this should be legal.

8/2/2016 12:27:34 AM

It is.

8/2/2016 1:27:03 AM

Whether right or not this is one of the reasons many companies don't want to pay women the same amount as men for the same job. Many expect men to miss a week or less when having a child where as women miss 6-8 weeks or more not to mention the on going doctor visits and such.

8/2/2016 8:21:39 AM

^^^it absolutely should be legal

8/2/2016 8:53:19 AM

It should totally be legal to punish women for continuing the human race...

8/2/2016 8:56:10 AM

Quote :

"Is it legal to fire somebody because they're having a kid? like, can you just say "Okay, if you're going to be gone for more than two days, don't come back.""

Quote :

"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; to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition; a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job; any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or Twenty-six workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave). "

[Edited on August 2, 2016 at 9:07 AM. Reason : f]

8/2/2016 8:56:26 AM

Yeah I mean I don't think its legal to tell someone you are firing them for having a kid but in a right to work state like NC all they have to do is come up with some other reason and say that is why.

8/2/2016 9:15:54 AM

Quote :

" Anyone who thinks that paternity/maternity leave is anything like a vacation or a sabbatical is completely out of touch. Leave is not needed so a mother or father can contemplate life and find themselves. It's needed because the first several months of a baby's life are so critical to later development, it requires 24/7 attention."

for the record, I said in my original post that I totally understand the necessity/benefits of maternity/paternity leave.

however, leave is leave. I may never get married, or if I do, may choose never to have/adopt children. I believe I should have a similar benefit available to me and sabbatical seems like the most appropriate comparison, even though I get that it doesn't capture the medical necessity of what maternity/paternity leave is.

All I'm saying is that I feel like the system (tax included) rewards marriage and childbirth and in today's society and I think that it isn't necessarily fair to people who don't ever have children and in some circumstances can even be abused.

Just to play devil's advocate for the employer - How many times can somebody use that type of leave? 18 weeks of paid leave per child can add up quickly, especially if you plan a family that has 3-4+ kids. Should employers have limits on the number of times you can exercise that leave? Should an employee who has used that type of leave one or multiple times still be entitled to other leave like sabbatical later on so they can "find themselves" or whatever they deem necessary to take that leave? Do they still retain all of their saved PTO or should there be some sort of matching system to a point?

I also feel like my colleagues with children get special treatment. I actually see it extend to spouses, and sometimes even finances. If I'm sick and take leave, I feel like it's frowned upon, especially if it's more than one day or more than once a month. Some employers even require a doctor's note. However, my coworkers with family/so's can use their leave to "take care of sick [kid/wife/fiance]" with no questions asked. It also comes into play with scheduling vacation, etc. If you have a "family vacation" I've seen it take precedent over a single person's request. I'm salaried, but I've also had friends get scheduled over holidays despite asking off in advance because they were single and the employer gave preference to people they knew had kids, etc.

Again, I'm not arguing against paid maternity/paternity leave - I'm all for it. However, it is undeniably a benefit. It's a perk that you consider when taking a job and I think that people who don't want to have kids or are incapable, etc. should have a similar benefit option available to them, even if it means signing a wavier to forgo maternity/paternity leave in lieu of something else (sabbatical, extra PTO, etc.).

So bring on the shit storm calling me an idiot/monster

8/2/2016 10:25:05 AM

You also have to look at the entire picture I suppose. Those who are single and are able to actually work more are probably more likely to get promotions and bigger raises and make more money down the line. So that can cancel out some of those benefits over time I would imagine. Sure you may get some additional time off but if you are an employer are you really going to promote someone you know is gonna be possibly taking over 1/4 of each year off for the next 5-10 years because they say they want to have 3 or 4 kids?

8/2/2016 10:39:24 AM

^^ If you're single, every minute outside of work is a "sabbatical" compared to people who are married with kids. Get over it.

8/2/2016 11:28:14 AM

Women want guaranteed leave for having a kid and then complain because they aren't paid as much. Can't have your cake and eat it too.

8/2/2016 2:16:15 PM

Quote :

"^^ If you're single, every minute outside of work is a "sabbatical" compared to people who are married with kids. Get over it. "

Yeah that pretty much sums it up haha

8/2/2016 2:17:59 PM

^^^

word

Quote :

"Women want guaranteed leave for having a kid and then complain because they aren't paid as much. Can't have your cake and eat it too."

The mantra has always been equal work for equal pay. And your moronic false equivalency doesn't account for the pay disparity for women who never plan on having kids, have already had their kids, or for employers who offer no paid maternity leave at all, but still pay women less.

8/2/2016 2:35:24 PM

Why not just stop monkeying with things and let the free market work it out? If an employer wants to offer paid leave, they are free to do so. If an employee does not feel they are being paid fairly, they are free to go sell their labor elsewhere.

8/2/2016 3:07:34 PM

And the fact remains that even the FMLA requirement to allow someone unpaid leave and hold their job for them is a disincentive to hire women (and men, to a lesser extent) of child bearing age. It literally drives the total average price of female labor up, thus driving their wages down. Economics is funny like that. You have to consider the totality of circumstances. There is no wage more fair than that set by the free market.

8/2/2016 3:12:50 PM

Quote :

"^^ If you're single, every minute outside of work is a "sabbatical" compared to people who are married with kids. Get over it."

that's the kind of attitude that I'm talking about. so somebody who doesn't have a marriage and kids, their free time is "sabbatical"? like they don't have meaningful things to do with their lives, it's just time to piss away so they don't deserve an extended period of leave where their jobs are protected just like people planning children get?

time is time, and it's finite for everyone. a single person without children's time is just as valuable as a person with kids. nobody forces you to get married or have children, but there is clearly a reward for doing so.

my point is - and again to reiterate I support paid maternal/paternal leave - that there is clearly an incentive for married people with children and I think that if they get it, there should be something for single people as well if we're really trying to put it under the equal rights / progressive type of banner. hell, it would even help to eliminate discrimination in hiring decisions just like NeuseRvrRat pointed out as far as hiring women / people of childbearing age.

8/2/2016 3:46:30 PM

My medical school is giving me two weeks off after the birth that I will make up in December instead of having time off for the holidays

8/2/2016 4:27:37 PM

^^ I was mostly joking, but since you took it and ran with it...

Ah, nevermind. You just don't get it because you've been living in single la-la land for too long. Get married, knock a lady up, go through a pregnancy, go through a childbirth, go through sleeping 3 hours a night for six months (or longer)...then re-visit this thread.

Or just go work for a fancy tech company that gives you all the free time you want.

8/3/2016 7:23:16 AM

Quote :

"so somebody who doesn't have a marriage and kids, their free time is "sabbatical"?"

Until you have kids, you just wont understand. It's one of those things where you just have to trust us.
But why do you have to equate maternity leave with a paid sabbatical? Isnt a sabbatical noble enough on its own to ask for from an employer?

Quote :

"That there is clearly an incentive for married people with children "

An incentive for what? To have more kids?

8/3/2016 11:17:02 AM

I promise you that no one has a kid thinking sweet I am gonna get all this time off of work!! It would kinda be like if you got a few months off for breaking both your legs. Sure you get some time off work but its not like you can go out and do a whole lot or have a ton of fun.

8/3/2016 11:25:22 AM

Yeah preparing for my first kid, mentioned I was going to be off 3-weeks next month and one guy goes "wow, very nice" and all the guys with kids looked at him like, "he won't be on vacation, he'll be begging to come back."

8/3/2016 1:50:16 PM