185 Countries Guarantee Paid Family Leave; The 3 that don’t: Papua New Guinea, Oman and U.S.

Discussion in 'Politics Discussion' started by ash2014uk, Jun 28, 2014.

  1. ash2014uk

    ash2014uk Well-Known Member

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    Just crazy to think America are behind on this!

    Article:

    It is a very small, and arguably unpopular club to which the United States belongs: Nations that do not provide workers with paid time off to start a family.
    Of the 188 countries in the world, only three have no paid family leave—Papua New Guinea, Omanand the U.S., according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The other 185 governments have adopted laws authorizing mothers, and in 78 cases even fathers, to take time off and still receive paychecks while caring for newborns or other relatives.
    The ILO has three main standards for family leave. It should be at least 14 weeks, pay should be at least two-thirds of regular earnings and the funding should come from social insurance or public funds, rather than from employers’ pockets.
    Current federal law (the 1993 Federal Medical Leave Act) gives Americans the right to take family leave as long as the company for which they work has at least 50 employees. But nothing in the statute requires employees to be paid during the leave. Only three states (California, New Jersey and Rhode Island) require paid leave, which is financed through payroll taxes.
    Democrats in Congress are trying to expand federal law with legislation (the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act), which would provide new parents and caretakers with up to 12 paid weeks off each year. The bill has stalled in the House, where Republicans oppose the idea, claiming it will hurt small business.
    A poll conducted for the National Partnership for Women and Families two years ago revealed that 86% of Americans support paid family leave, including 73% of Republicans.
     
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  2. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    If a company wants to offer paid leave, that should be their choice. It should not be a federal government mandate.
     
  3. ash2014uk

    ash2014uk Well-Known Member

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    I dont really agree with this just due to the fact that the UK system seems to work perfectly and helps a lot of women cope with being a parent and having to leave the job for a while.
    I just dont see why USA should be so far behind on affairs like this to be honest.
     
  4. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    The UK and most of the rest of Europe are not the examples the US should follow socially / economically IMO. If we had wanted to be like the UK, we would have never left there hundreds of years ago. :D
     
  5. Determined2014

    Determined2014 Guest

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    Honestly speaking, when it comes to employee benefits should depend upon an individual company,so the paid family leave should be upon the company to offer it .
     
  6. May102014

    May102014 Well-Known Member

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    No it's not. America is about working employees to an early grave. The thought of a paid leave to some people is equivalent to a handout so to speak. Anything that involves an ordinary person who is not apart of the upper class, taking time off for maturity leave is pretty much a freeloader. And don't let the person be a minority. As one poster stated above, it is up to the company to offer paid leave. Not all companies refuse paid leave. It is the company's individual policy and one we have to respect.
     
  7. Sam Tarly

    Sam Tarly Member

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    It doesn't make sense that a developed country that claims to champion the worker's rights doesn't make it mandatory for companies to give its employees paid leave to start a family. The posters above have said that it should depend on the company, and while that is okay, think about it this way, a lot of minimum wage workers won't get that, there is no way employers like McDonald's are going to give their fry cook paid leave to start a family, and this attitude towards people and starting families can have a negative impact on our society in the long run.
     
  8. healthandfitness

    healthandfitness Well-Known Member

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    Capitalists prefer as little gov't involvement in business affairs as possible. This type of decision being made and imposed on companies is just the type of thing that caused big corps to flee from the US in the past. While something like this seems innocent enough on the surface, where does the gov't involvement stop?
     
  9. Muthoni

    Muthoni Guest

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    I would like to work in a country that offers paid family leave. The best that I have heard about in my region is paternity leave. Most fathers can get very stressed staying home with a newborn; besides they cannot go on vacation before the baby’s navel has healed.
     
  10. ormaybeso

    ormaybeso Well-Known Member

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    Well Americans have never been into that sort of thing, I mean look at the debate over free health care, which is working just fine in the great white north mind you. This would be a good thing for America to set up, but they're going to have to tread through the mud to get there.
     

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