The Federal government passed the Family and Medical Leave Act
(FMLA) in 1993, as a means for employees to balance their work and
family obligations by taking up to 12 months of job-protected, unpaid
leave to care for a new baby (by birth or adoption) or any family
member who is seriously ill.
Although the FMLA applies equally to both men and women, there
is evidence that men are often hesitant to use the family leave
policy for the birth of a child. According to a recent article in
The New York Times, "Most men do not take advantage of this legal
right. Some decline for economic reasons, but for others, it is
fear that keeps them in the workplace -- fear of being ridiculed,
fear of being discriminated against, even fear of losing their jobs
-- some specialists say."
And according to a recent article in Forbes, entitled "Daddy Stress," "At
Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, not one man signed up for parental leave in
1997, despite the fact the company offers a generous 12 weeks of paid
leave for the primary caregiver." So, while the FMLA is certainly a step
in the right direction toward helping workers balance the demands of work
and family, it appears that true societal change will take some time.
A recent poll conducted by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates for
Oxygen/Markle Pulse showed that:
Although 64 percent of men believe it is important for them to take more
than two weeks of paternity leave, in reality they take off less than one
week after the birth of a child;
68 percent of Americans don't know any male colleague or co-worker who has
taken more than 2 weeks off for paternity leave;
76 percent of men agreed, "The main reason men don't take paternity leave
is that they can't afford the loss of income."
However, only 23 percent of the men interviewed agreed that taking
paternity leave "has a negative impact on their careers."
Paternity Leave News from Around the Globe
The issue of paternity leave made national headlines recently when the
world speculated about whether or not British Prime Minister Tony Blair
would take time off to stay home with his newest (fourth) baby. Even
though his wife, Cherie, publicly encouraged her husband to take the
leave, Blair decided to stay on the job, stating, "It's not that kind of
job." Under British law, new fathers can take as much as 13 weeks off
work, unpaid, at any time up to a child's fifth birthday, and return to
the same or equivalent job.
Perhaps affairs of state are not as pressing in Finland, or perhaps
Scandinavians just take a more liberal attitude toward fatherhood:
Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen took six days' paternity leave after
the birth of his first child in the summer of 1998, and recently repeated
the practice after the birth of his second child. According to Finnish
law, Lipponen received a "paternity allowance" instead of his normal
salary during the leave. Finnish fathers are entitled to take up to 18
days off work after a baby is born; women may take up to 105 paid days of
maternity leave (The case is being appealed).
Conclusions
Capturing real statistics about paternity leave -- who's taking it, and
for how long -- is a slippery slope. In order to avoid any perceived
stigma about taking parental leave, as well as to avoid taking any unpaid
time off, many men take "stealth" paternity leave, i.e., they use a
combination of accrued sick time, vacation days and personal days to take
time off after the birth of a child. So even though a Human Resources
department may have no official record of any employee taking paternity
leave, men are finding creative ways to spend a bit of quality time at
home with a new arrival.
Thanks to the FMLA of 1993, most employees now have a framework
in place for parental leave. And, as evidence of enforcement of
the FMLA, in February 1999, a court awarded $375,000 to former Maryland
state trooper Kevin Knussman, in the first sex-discrimination verdict
under the FMLA. Mr. Knussman maintained that he had been discriminated
against when he asked for parental leave.
Shari Lifland is a New York-based writer.
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