NEW YORK, Feb. 1, 2007
U.S. Lags In Family-Friendly Workplaces
Study Shows U.S. Companies Far Behind Other Nations In Maternity Leave, Sick Days
-
Photo
(AP / CBS)
-
Interactive
On The Job
Explore America's labor economy, track recent major layoffs and meet key economic players.
-
Interactive
The Nation We Live In
Who are Americans and what do they do? A comprehensive look at our economic, sociological and racial breakdown.
The new data comes as politicians and lobbyists wrangle over whether to scale back the existing federal law providing unpaid family leaves or to push new legislation allowing paid leaves.
The study, officially being issued Thursday, says workplace policies for families in the United States are weaker than those of all high-income countries and many middle- and low-income countries. Notably, it says the U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.
"More countries are providing the workplace protections that millions of Americans can only dream of," said the study's lead author, Jody Heymann, founder of the Harvard-based Project on Global Working Families and director of McGill's Institute for Health and Social Policy.
Among the study's findings:
According to the study, the U.S. fares comparatively well in some areas — such as guaranteeing significantly higher pay for overtime work and ensuring the right to work for all racial and ethnic groups, regardless of gender, age or disability.
"The U.S. has been a proud leader in adopting laws that provide for equal opportunity in the workplace, but our work/family protections are among the worst," Heymann said. "It's time for a change."
The topic is of keen interest in Washington.
The Labor Department is examining regulations that give workers unpaid leave to deal with family or medical emergencies — a review that supporters of the rules worry might be a prelude to scaling back these protections, as requested by some business groups. Comments to the agency on the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act — which grants eligible workers up to a total of 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year — are due by Feb. 16.
At the same time, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., plans to announce Thursday that he will propose new legislation that would enable workers to take six weeks of paid family leave. Congress also is expected to reconsider the Healthy Families Act, a bill introduced last session that would require employers with at least 15 employees to provide seven paid sick days per year.
On the state level, some New Jersey lawmakers are pushing legislation that would make their state the second, along with California, to provide paid family leave. Under one New Jersey proposal, workers who take leave would be paid through the state's temporary disability insurance fund, augmented by a 0.1 percent charge on workers' weekly wages.
Traditionally, many conservatives have opposed moves for paid family leave, but there are signs of some shifts. A prominent anti-abortion leader, the Rev. Paul Schenck of the National Pro-Life Action Center, recently said he would support paid maternity leave on the premise that it might dissuade some pregnant women from having abortions.
"Across the political spectrum, people are realizing these policies have an enormous impact on working families," Heymann said in a telephone interview. "If you look at the most competitive economies in the world, all the others except the U.S. have these policies in place."
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Video and Galleries from Business
-
Video
Couric's Financial Notebook
-
Video
The Recession's Six Degrees
-
Video
GM To Exit Bankruptcy
Keep in mind that anything the government pays for they regulate. The more the government intervenes in child-raising, the more they will regulate and control your children. The government is more than happy to help you today so they can enslave you tomorrow.
Keep in mind that anything the government pays for they regulate. The more the government intervenes in child-raising, the more they will regulate and control your children. The government is more than happy to help you today so they can enslave you tomorrow.
Posted by random_radar at 11:19 AM : Feb 01, 2007
+ report this comment
Where do you people come up with this ***. A STUDY has just indicated WE are DEAD LAST AGAIN and here's a Con saying that's okay. IF Company's and Industry WON'T do it, WE THE PEOPLE have a RESPONSIBILITY to do it. I'm tired of being DEAD LAST in everything from the standard of Living thru Family. You Fascist have been in charge for some time now an we have done NOTHING but fall behind... in EVERY aspect when it comes to the Guy out here who loves his family MORE than he loves a buck... you know the guy who has carried this nation on their collective backs for over 200 years, I've had ENOUGH!! We've seen our JOBS shipped overseas and our pensions raided and for what? All those Great High Paying Jobs you fascist Promised if we'd trash our unions and allow you to exploit poor third world people... those jobs DO NOT EXIST!! So YEAH We the PEOPLE must NOW step in... To bad for you!!
Sorry if I rambled.....it just makes me so upset to see the American Worker being pushed back into a corner!
Could it be because we are trying to get work done in those workplaces?
The child and elder care industry is booming because there are no more stay home moms to babysit for neighbors, they are all working now. And the moms whose husbands are wealthy enough to allow them to not work certainly do not need the income from babysitting.
As for the comment about CEOs getting paid parental leave if they wanted it, that will never happen since you CANNOT TAKE YOUR FAMILY UP THE CORPORATE LADDER with you. You either stay with your family at the bottom, or you abandon them to chase your career.
Well, no, see. That's a little simplistic. Do you think the US is the only country in which people work?! People in other country's are getting work done, too. They are just not laboring under the delusion that your life outside of work is less important than your life at work.
"Who came up with the ludicrous idea that a company had to raise your family?"
Sigh. I'll speak slowly and use small words. No, that's not what we are saying. I don't want the company to raise my family. I would like the company to make it easier for ME TO DO IT. How about instead of simply thinking they are accountable to shareholders, there is a sacred trust between a company and the people who work for them. IMPROVE THE QUALITY of the workers lives. Everyone benefits.
-
by teeus
February 2, 2007 4:54 PM PST
- Oh, and for all of you saying "well YOU chose to have kids and I didn't blather blather blather" try this: Substitute "care for aging parents" for maternity leave. Maybe that would help you to see over the edge of the foxhole.
-
Reply to this comment
-
See all 16 Comments