The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is one that ties in heavily to the first situation. “The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides certain employees with up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per year” (Solis, N.D.). This leave must be for the birth and care…
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), was created to benefit families where both husband and wife work, the growing importance of both parents being present in early childhood development, and inadequate job security for people with serious health conditions. There are costs involved with the FMLA as well, however, ideally this law has promoted family integrity, enabled parents to take care of their children after birth, and most importantly has helped secure employment for unhealthy people. In 1993, the FMLA became a federal law which required employers with 50 or more employees (and public companies of any size) allow employees to take unpaid leave to care for ill family members and to return to the same position or to a substantially similar position following the leave. The implementation of this Act was designed to be equitable to both the employee and the employer, which has made it a win-win proposition for both. Some of the benefits an employer reaps from this Act are they are able to retain a valuable employee, as well as displaying good faith, and shows a willingness to work with their employees. If an employer and an employee possess a good relationship they both can work out a flexible work schedule that can be intermittent or consecutive. Another benefit an employer could offer is to substitute paid…
There can be many cons to taking a paid paternity leave, but in the long run the family will benefit from the father taking off that time at the beginning after a birth or adoption. The possibility of losing a job is a legitimate concern, but when the father returns to work it will be easier for the father to balance out the workplace and family. The other concern of social judgement is also understandable, but the choice to take that leave to be able to spend time with the child and spouse will ultimately benefit everyone in the situation. Paid paternity leave, when added to paid maternity leave, will have the ability to keep the family financially stable while the family recuperates to the new life of having a child.…
Babies who weight 5.5 pounds (2500grams) or less at birth are low babies with low birth weight. Babies weighing 3.3 pounds (1500 grams) or less are Very low birth weight babies. There is a significant medical and social cost for low birth weight infants and preterm births. Low birth weight is a major predictor of infant mortality. Ethnic and cultural group’s disparities related to low birth weight infant and preterm infant are significantly disproportionate, affecting minority Americans. Although infant morbidity can not be directly linked with low birth weight but it is a frequently used as a marker for poor health at birth because it amounts for the leading risk factor for infant morbidity and for subsequent mortality among the surviving infants. The extent of which ethnic and cultural disparities in low birth weight reflect socioeconomic inequalities, cigarette smoking during pregnancy, young maternal age and low educational achievements are also associated with low birth weights. The hospital costs for low birth weight infants during the first year of life in 2001 totaled $5.8 billion, representing forty-seven percent of all infant hospitalizations costs and twenty seven percent of all pediatric hospital costs. Even if the infant’s family has insurance, the co pay amount is significantly large, if we include cost of travel, lodging, food, time off from work and loss of productivity; it is very expensive and unaffordable for the society and the families. Pre term births increase a child risk for health and developmental problems. Pre term births less than thirty seven weeks of gestation is associated with poor health and social/emotional functioning measured at preschool age, adolescence and young adulthood. Less than 29 weeks of gestation age infants are at risk of increased impaired brain function due to brain injury and disruptions in early brain development. Low birth weight is also linked to various problems in infants, including : chronic conditions such…
According to Evelyn Nakano Glenn in her piece, From Servitude to Service Work: Historical Continuities in the Racial Division of Paid Reproductive Labor, reproductive labor “includes activities such as purchasing household goods, preparing and serving food, laundering and repairing clothing, maintaining furnishings and appliances, socializing children, providing care and emotional support for adults, and maintaining kin and community ties” (Glenn 1). However, since all of this work is mostly done inside the home without pay, it is not recognized as real work. Not only is it done without wages, it is also done mostly entirely by women. Only in “public” reproductive labor is when women get paid for doing some of these daily tasks. As noted in…
The policy in question is the Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The Federal Medical Leave act was originally enacted over twenty years ago but has not been revised and expanded to include payment while time is taken off. FMLA is currently the closest thing the United States has to a parental leave policy, as it allows for some working women and me to take time off from their job while they have a child or care for their family; this leave from work however, is not paid. The idea for the FMLA originated in 1984 in California when a court in California ruled that the Pregnancy Discrimination amendments in 1978 was discriminatory towards men based on their sex.…
Labour Canada (2007). Maternity Leave: Work and Family Provisions in Canadian Collective Agreements. Retrieved from http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/lp/spila/wlb/wfp/11maternity_leave.shtml#tphp…
Advocates and policymakers have been calling out for paid family leave policies; some of these campaigns have seen recent successes. With the callings, a number of bills also have been introduced in the U.S. Congress that would expand the right to access family leave.…
Imagine that it takes a couple months instead of a couple days to get a cancer screening or the mammogram required for a certain age range. A man or woman fears that the doctor’s office will not accept their insurance and can’t pay the medical bill. A teen needs an STD test because he or she is unaware of the harms in sex. A pregnant woman needs a place to feel safe and not judged by her personal choices. Planned Parenthood gives each of these people what they need and provides the need in an efficient and timely manner. The United States Senate has been recently debating on whether or not Planned Parenthood should be funded based their issues on one subject, abortion and the research connected to abortion. Planned Parenthood should be funded by the government because it does not just provide abortions, but also other health options such as affordable disease testing, relationship development, and gender identification for women, men, and teenagers.…
When people think of reproductive health care centers their mind automatically jumps to the name Planned Parenthood. Since its founding in 1916 by Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood has amounted to a number of people rallying both for and against them. The fight for Planned Parenthood has never completely been resolved, and even now the issue of federally- funding Planned Parenthood is an issue discussed at large when deciding who to elect to represent our country for the next four to eight years. People advocating for the funding of Planned Parenthood by the federal government are doing something that is rightfully so. It should not be an issue whether or not Planned Parenthood should be funded or not. The question that asks whether it should…
Yet the United States is the one of few developed countries that does not provide paid parental leave to women workers (or their spouses) to bear and care for children. With little public debate, the United States has chosen a fundamentally different approach to maternity leave than the rest of the developed world. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries that don't provide paid leave for new mothers nationally, though there are exceptions in some U.S. states. To put it another way, out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States one of those that does not. There have been several attempts at introducing paid maternity leave in the United States. The Clinton administration wanted to allow states to use unemployment funds for maternity leaves, but it was not able to pass through the Bush administration after disapproval from business groups who were concerned with increased contribution to state unemployment funds.…
Late Term Abortions: The Reasons Why Not To Outlaw The Government should not have anything to do with late term abortions. The ongoing debate whether they should or should not outlaw late term abortion is a discussion that cannot seem to find the correct solution for the problem. Late term abortions are is some way quite different than regular abortions for many of the late term abortions are mercy killings.…
The United States is one of only three countries remaining that do not guarantee paid maternity leave to mothers. This becomes a problem not only for new mothers, but also creates a potentially stressful environment for both the newborn and the family. Unsubstantial and unpaid parental leave in the United States contributes to the gender pay gap, is damaging to new mothers, and contributes to the drop in birth rates amongst women in high paid positions.…
Today, American women are more educated and empowered than ever before. Women comprise forty-seven percent of the workforce in the United States of America (Livingston). They have been transitioning into the labor force not only to further their careers but also to support their families. In “forty percent of American families, a woman is the sole or primary breadwinner” (Livingston). Women play an essential role in the economy and in their families. Despite that, the United States is the only high income country without paid maternity leave (Messer). Maternity leave is the vital time a mother takes off of work to take care of herself and her newborn after childbirth. However, eighty-eight percent of women in America do not have access to paid maternity leave (Shortall). American women are forced to put their careers and financial stability at risk simply because they want to have children.…
It may seem like a long shot but paid parental leave is also needed to help create equality, especially in the work place. New parents need time off after their child arrives (newborn or newly adopted), but they also need money to be able to take care of their children. If parents get paid while off for parental leave, then they won't need to worry about needing to afford things for their new child because they will have the money they need. According to Business insider.com, less "new moms" were leaving "Google" when they "increased paid maternity leave form 12... to 18 weeks" (Gillett). If companies expand the amount of paid leave that new moms get, they will be less likely to leave their job and more likely to be able to pay for their child's (children's) well-being. It is also shown that parents of newborn children spend over $190 a month on essentials for one child's everyday living (Gillett). Mother's need jobs, but is it worth it if they can't stay home for a few months to make sure their newborn is okay before they leave them with someone else? Women need to be able to stay home for the time they need without having to worry about money issues. Newborns cost money to take care of and companies that hire women should see that. Women the companies hire may have children in the future and may need time off. During that new mother's time off, she should be able…