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268356 tn?1236002604

Maternity Leave in US versus other countries

Okay, I live in the US and I am so jealous of the maternity benefits that others are receiving in other countries. Canada, Australia, etc, etc. We are supposed to be a world leader but are severely lacking when it comes to this. Don't get me wrong, we are covered by the family leave act, but only if our company is required to offer it. And well, frankly, there are loop holes. It is sad that our system forces women to choose between being able to pay for their bills and staying home for the first few months. Do you other USers realize that we are only 1 of 5 countries that do not offer some sort of paid maternity leave as a guarantee? Among the 168 countries that do offer paid maternity leave, 98 offer 14 or more weeks of paid leave. The five countries that offer no paid maternity leave: Lesotha, Liberia, Swaiziland, Papua New Guinea, and the US. What is worse is that 73 countries offer paid breastfeeding breaks. In the US, we have no breastfeeding rights on paper. I know with all the other issues right now that this one seems to be low on the totem pole, but it is still important afterall.

So, here is my question and my challenge.

What can we do to change our countries thinking? The most common problem that is brought up, is who is going to pay for the maternity leave? How much should it be and how long? Some companies offer short term disability that has paid maternity benefits that replace up to 80% of your income. Other companies require you to use your sick and annual leave in order to get paid (such as mine), which doesn't seem fair, because once baby is here and in day care you then have to go with unpaid days off when baby gets sick.

So, what is your proposed solution and how do you think we should go about getting it implemented? State, Government, or both? Be as specific as possible in your answer.
24 Responses
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377012 tn?1283965435
i worked for a railroad company...(CSX) and we were a union company but i only had 4 weeks paid maternity leave plus 2 weeks paid vacation and 6 sick days that i had to take....unfortunately the company i worked for went under 4 months after i gave birth!!!
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Avatar universal
I agree that something needs to change.  In many countries, even the men get a paid paternity leave.  I was in Europe last summer, and saw so many women out and about with their babies, and my friend explained to me that women get 1 year, fully paid, and men get 1 month fully paid.  The US is way behind in this.

FMLA is required at my company, but many women can't afford to take 12 weeks, unpaid off.  Many families, mine included, require the man and woman to work.

And Ashie's comments about other countries not having women high up.  That just isn't true.  There are other countries run by women.
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304970 tn?1331425994
That is how they do ity in NY as well.. It's much better than nothing!
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568659 tn?1256139982
I am a waitress, so the only insurance I get is Medicaid. Which means that I get NO maternity leave, I will have to collect unemployment when I have the baby. I am going to keep my eyes open for a job with beni's but who is going to hire a pregnant woman, especially in this economy.
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Avatar universal
In the State of California, we have what is called "State Disability Insurance" (SDI) and everyone has a deduction of approx 0.8% come out of their checks each payday.  If you are ever "disabled", which includes maternity leave, you can receive disability checks.  For maternity, you are paid for 4 weeks before your due date and then six weeks after your due date (8 weeks for C-section).  For other disabilities, as long as your doctor says you cannot work, you can collect your weekly payment.  There is a calculation, based on your salary, but it tops out at $917 week.  .   Some companies will even pay you the differential between what SDI pays and your regular paycheck (my company does this).

Perhaps getting each state to do this same deduction would be a start.
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Avatar universal
Hello, I am from South Africa and I must say that we are one of the few countries that have a compensation for maternity, however it all depends on the company you work for.  My previous company gave full paid maternity leave if you were permanent for more than a year.  This company that I am in now, gives only 15% paid maternity leave if you have been permanent for more than 2 years. Less then 2 years is 4 months unpaid leave.  The good things is that we can claim from Unemployment, we might not get our full salary but we get a portion from the government.  

Our company also offers a contractual agreement that stipulates if you would like full paid maternity leave (regardless of the amount of years at the company) then you have to sign a contract stating that you will work for the company for an extra 36 months, and if you leave within in this time you will have to pay them your the money they gave you while on maternity leave in full!

I am going to take unpaid maternity leave in the event that I fall preggors, because I dont' want to be tied down to the company. However I will be able to claim a portion from our Unemployment.
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414635 tn?1272217693
Some posted that they thought a year maternity was excessive. My boss was actually glad when i said i was going to take the whole year instead of just 3 months like i orgianlly planned, it is much easier for her to find someone and train someone when they are guarenteed a whole years worth of work. and actually now i'll be off for 65 weeks with sick leave. Also many of my friends breastfeed for a whole year and its so great getting to see the baby through the milestones, but sometimes it makes it harder to go back to work after being with the baby for a year
Some women can't afford to take the year off we only get paid 55% of our pay, but usually childcare eats that much anyways. Plus it is really hard to find infant care here, a lot of daycares won't take kids till they are at least 16 months, some won't until they are potty trained.
@martikadragoon--it's actuall on;y about 2year wait for knee replacements and we do have private clinics now so if someone desperetely needed or wanted something done theere is always that option (we have long waits for MRI's so if i was ever waiting to find out about cancer or something i would definalty pay for one)

I think this discussion is great and everyone should petetion your governments for more time. I was able to take 15 weeks off after i lost my baby (at 19 weeks). I can't imagine being up to going back to work after just 6 or 12 weeks after delivering a child.

Also maternity leave here is just 15 weeks, it then switches to parental leave which you can choose between the mother or the father taking up to 35 weeks. More and more men are taking the parental leave which is great bonding for the dad and child
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435139 tn?1255460391
This is a great discussion!  Here we are trying to find a solution to something we all agree is a problem!  
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363110 tn?1340920419
I know canada also offers paid maternity leave.... I almost wished I lived there. (except with the health care, instead of waitin 10 yrs for knee replacements and things like that you wait 15 or more!)
We may actually live there eventually because hubby wants to work for Ubisoft or something like that... (game corp. that runs out of canada) I can't exactly remember the name.
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561451 tn?1257476350
Oh I know, I'm just saying though....That maybe men think that because more women lead todays companies that they believe we shouldn't get paid maternity leave.  As in all those government officials up there sitting all pretty LOL

But we do need more women up there!
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461781 tn?1285609481
Ashie-  I didn't mean to sound harsh or anything.  But I meant also that having more government officials that are women, certainly increases the likelyhood that they will make more woman/mother friendly legislation since its in our interest.  A Male dominated government (country also) like ours, pretty much think that unpaid FMLA is enough since its "equal rights" and its not in Men's and Employer's interest.  They are not thinking what is best for families and children.

Oh and right now women don't have equal pay for equal work in the US, even less in other countries....which is sooooo wrong!!!!

The more I think about it, makes me want to start a movement!  Ugh!
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561451 tn?1257476350
I'm not meaning necessarily like high end government jobs, But like lot's of ladies are running magazine companies, or makeup companies, or designing clothes, and then there are the high powered realestate ladies, and high end lawyers etc...  I'm just thinking since it's mostly men out there they believe we may have too many high paid leading ladies?  I don't know if that makes sense.  But I was just thinking.  I don't pay to much attention to that sort of thing in other coutnries, since I don't live there.  Anywho, that's what I was meaning...
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594189 tn?1386916607
I'm not pregnant yet but my job offers aflac. They have a plan that will pay me for giving birth to my child. So right after I deliver I will get money. I believe it is 2K.
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461781 tn?1285609481
Ashie- Some countries in Europe have more women than men in high state official positions in parliament etc. that the US does not have, we have a very low ammount of women in high goverment positions.

LauraB-  I agree, I would totally pay something to cover my dissability.  I actually do, I have short term dissability and I pay something like $12 a month, I think that is reasonable.  HOWEVER, the way our Short Term dissability at work is designed, I would only get 60% of my misserable salary AND it only covers of 6 weeks of post-partum.  I work for benefits, and I'm constantly complaining about our maternity benefits.  Specially since I pay 100% of my short-term dissability premiums, i should be entitled to more than 6 weeks of pay!!!  

I think that a full year is excessive for ANY employer, BUT 12 weeks is not enough time for bonding and providing the best support for your newborn.  Especially when you breastfeed and you are supossed to BF until the baby is 1 year old!
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268356 tn?1236002604
I was thinking that requiring employers to offer short term disability plans to employees would be one solution. A short term disability plan would allow for a percentage of income to be covered for however long the norm is (I think 6 months). Most employers think that offering sick days and vacation days is enough, but I must say it isn't. An example, other than just maternity leave that this would help is when a family member is gravely sick. There is a gal that works in my same department, whose husband has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She took of 5 weeks so that she could be with her husband as he recieved chemo. They will be taking a few weeks off from the chemo and then going through another round shortly. Well, unfortunately, since hubby can't work right now as sick as he is, she may not even be able to be around during the next round of chemo because they have to be able to keep a roof over their heads. Mandatory short term disability would allow for the supplement of both of their incomes for a while and for the most part cover her during the intermittent time she needs to take off from work.

I don't think it is the governments responsiblity to take on the full cost of any type of paid leave plan, it would be nice if it was a small amount that came out of our paychecks like social security that would allow us to recoup a portion of our income for let's say 8-12 weeks. I would be willing to pay the extra for something like that. And since it comes out of everyone's paycheck who recieves a W2, it could be extended for men as well so that Dad can take off some time after baby is born to help Mom get around or better yet have the ability to take off for the labor without fear of not having time off to attend.

I am with you about the year, I'm not sure that a year is feasible, but the 12 weeks already offered is we just need some better perks along with it. Even my DH, who is self-employed, said that something like social security for paid time off for FMLA events would be acceptable to him. Or if there was a government subsidized short term disability plan for employers to offer to employees, that would be acceptable too.

Any other thoughts or ideas?
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561451 tn?1257476350
I just thought of something, I wonder if the other countries, don't have high ranking women, as to why they offer such benefits.  I mean, here in the US you'll find many high ranking women today, Women are stronger then they were say uh 50 yor so years ago, and I wonder if they feel that there are such women here that they don't need to offer such things...

Of course I don't help that statistic much lol...  I have a freaking doctorate in Engineering, With degree's in Accounting and Business Management.  I had high expectations for my self being a bit younger, but I also graduated from college and high school early.  I do also get paid more then most men around here, but that's because I do such a great job at what I do.  So who knows.  Just some random thought...


I think if a business really wanted to do well, they would offer 10 to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave and even give you the option when you start to have it that way, and deduct a certain percentage from your pay checks to help pay for such a thing.  In my opinion that wouldn't be that bad.  And then the company could offer to pay a small percentage as well, just to show how much they sort of care about their employee's.  

Yes it may not add up to what you fully get paid when your actually working, but it would be some sort of money coming in!  And then if for some reason you ever quit or get fired they would have to pay you your money that they've been taking out!  Does that make sense?  

But, I did read something about a month ago, for atleast Washington state that  come January 1, there would be paid leave for the husband/Dad to stay home when the baby is born, and requiring that women have paid maternity leave!  I think it's a bill or something their working on!  I believe it would be 10 weeks for the women and 4 weeks for the men.  

I really hope they can figure something out!  If the government really wants to complain about all these people being on the state medical, or state assistance, they should really get their butts in gear and get working on something!!  (not saying it's a bad thing if you are on these things, I just hear a lot of people complain about having to pay for others)  I personally don't care for paying for it, because EVERYONE deserve medical coverage!!!  And now adays food assistance!  
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304970 tn?1331425994
I get 12 weeks (unpaid) FMLA. I can use all my vacation and sick time which is a total of 4 work weeks.. Big freaking deal. I hate this....I have huge issues with it.. But I have no easy fix...

I am not sure what to propose to rectify this problem. I had never thought about it until it "happened" to me. It does seem unfair, however I don't know that it is anyone's responsibility but mine that I fell pregnant and I don't feel that it is the government's job to take care of me for extended periods of time.. I think that if more positions were unionized (such as Ashie's)... Union dues are a great way to supplement extended leaves. I also think that all employers, nationwide, should be forced to deduct and participate in a short-term disability and advocate for their employees. It would be deducted from our paychecks, but honestly, most women at some point go on maternity leave just like everyone (hopefully) will collect social security someday. I mean I feel I should have to contribute, but I feel it should be business owners and employers responsibility to see that proper amounts are dedcuted to cover such leave. At least a % of your income while you are out. I honestly don't know how other countries keep businesses thriving if they have people out for a year!? I saw a post where Canadian residents get like a year. That seems excessive to me. If I were business owner, I would be livid if I had an employee come to me and expect me to be excited that they just told me they would be out a year and I have to guarantee their position? Just seems like that wouldn't work either. I dont have a solution, but I think petitions are great.. I would just have to come up with something I was comfortable signing that works for employers (business owners, employers) and Mom's (me & you)!
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187316 tn?1386356682
No in this months babytalk they had an article talking about how we are one of the only countries not to have paid maternity leave and what to do about it. I thought you read it because you summarized beautifully! :)

If your curious to see it I posted it like a week ago in my journal.
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456991 tn?1239307232
I get 3 months paid leave plus I'll have my vacation or some sick time if I want extra time, and I work for Bank of America so I'm not complaining too bad LOL... plus we get childcare reimbursement and all that who who!! LOL
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268356 tn?1236002604
Yes, I do read babytalk, but I don't recall an article about paid maternity leave.

Just to let you guys know. I love my job. I love where I work and I love what I do. I work for the state of TN at a higher education institution and it astounds me that we do not offer anything more than the FMLA. There is no paid maternity benefits unless you use up your sick time and annual leave and there is no childcare benefits either like at other corporations. I know that my work is appreciated, but I feel like my rights as a woman are not. We should offer short term disability that covers maternity leave and there should be more flexibilty for working mothers who need to take time off for doctor appointments well and sick as well as child care costs or even a little time out of the day to pump for breastfeeding. The main reason for working for the state is the benefits that are not offered by other organizations. I do not get paid as much as I could by working for the state versus private sector. I'm a systems analyst that makes about 25,000$ less a year working for the state than at any other organization. That is a big difference. Am I saying that it would be better for me to go to work for another organization, maybe not. Like I said, I love my job and I love the people I work with and the general culture of where I work. Those are important too. I just feel like there should be a little more.
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461781 tn?1285609481
FMLA is required if your company has over 50 employees.  However, paid leave is NOT mandatory and your job is only protected for 12 misserable weeks.

With so many women in this country that would support such a meassure, I don't understand why women have not made movements, protests, etc to get something done.  This government ***** for women, I mean its not even a law that women get paid the same as men for the same work!

About breastfeeding, I find it ridiculous that women rather bottle feed than breast feed.  Breast milk is the best thing you can give to your child, there are so many health issues that you can prevent on your child by breastfeeing.  AND its cheap!

I think that we should write a petition and pass it around for women to give to other women to get enough signatures so we can get better rights.
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187316 tn?1386356682
Did you read babytalk magazine?
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561451 tn?1257476350
Ooops forgot to add, that my union offers it, because we all have union dues each month we have to pay, so technically i'm paying for my own rights through my company, atleast a part of it!
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561451 tn?1257476350
Hmmm, well I am actually work for a company here in the US that offers 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, and I am on paid leave right now that isn't my sick days or vacation!  But that is a hugh government company that serves this country a lot!!!  Along with other countries!  I also get my pumping breaks paid.....

I know it's unfair, but it's my union that gave me these rights!

Also, I do think there is something that this country should do!  But I bet they ( most companies) feel that at this very moment nothing would pass, because that would put more moms who are willing to work still, and less jobs!  And let's face it, we're kind of getting swirled around a toilet right now ready to go down the hole!  

A lot of companies wont do paid breaks for pumping though, because for some stupid reason there are a lot of people in this country that feel breastfeeding is inappropriate.(sp?)  People have cows when a women is on the front of a magazine breastfeeding!  So what I don't get is, how can all these people be find with the porn industry and think boobs are so fabulous yet, they think breastfeeding is wrong?  When was formula invented?  Because everyone used to breastfeed!  It's natural and a way of life and people need to get over it!  

I think what you need to do, is have people from every state, write to their legislature, and include a petition from tons of people who support the idea, give a random number of say 5000 or more signatures, and send it in!  The more people who support it, the better legislature would listen!  That's how I see it.  The only way to get things to change is to start and make a different yourself!!!  

=)
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