maternity leave in the us

just a quick question: is this quote still up-to-date? i cannot imagine, but have no time checking it right away (but i could do so later).

regards
ungua

I belive i heard last night on the radio that it's a standard 14 weeks in america now.

A quick google search of us maternity leave gives me this faq:
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/pre...twork/449.html

Does the (1980:11) in the quote mean it's from 1980?

Maternity leave is generally 6 weeks prior to the expected delivery date and 8 weeks following. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) also permits someone to take up to 12 weeks off (unpaid) to care for a family member, with no threat of having your job eliminated.

I beleive individual states may have slight variances, but the quote that there is "none" is incorrect.

Well, here either the mother or the father can be away from your work after the child is born for 1 year (Monday - Sunday), with 80% of your salary (or even longer, like 1 year and half if you just are away from Monday - Friday, but you will also receive less money). If you are fully employed, you also have guarantee to get your job back after this period.

The child receives a small amount of money every month and has free tooth care (among other things) until 19 years old. If you have more than 2 children, the amount of money you receive per child is slightly increased.

I doubt many other countries can top that... How long we will be able to keep this with the increase of our population, however... is nobody guess...

EDIT: I think you need to have a swedish citizenship for that. I could be wrong though...

MegaManX, where is "here".

Oops, I should update my profile Sweden.

thank you for your reply! 14 weeks is the ilo-recommendation given in 1945, i think (6 weeks before, 8 after birth). i read that there are some variations across states in the us, but it's really interesting to read that americans still lack a national maternity or parental leave benefit. is there any income compensation or job guaranty?
sweden and norway have undoubtedly the best welfare systems in the world (and sweden has the highest tax level, of course). right now i am beginning on my bachelor's degree - i will evaluate the forced-father's-leave in sweden and norway for afterwards discussing how this evaluation fits with german expectations about an introduction of the same policy. germany plans to spend €4 billion more on social benefits related to the birth of a child from 2007, updating the welfare system after a scandinavian pattern.

regards
ungua

They do have it here (in the US). I read somewhere that in some states men get it to an extent too (although I don't believe it is as long as a woman's leave), as they have to take care of the family too.

Originally Posted by Oxagast They do have it here (in the US). I read somewhere that in some states men get it to an extent too (although I don't believe it is as long as a woman's leave), as they have to take care of the family too.

If you really have some good source about that, you may consider updating Wikipedia about that subject, since it stands 0 paid weeks for maternity leave in the US, Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Sweden 480 days (16 months) (80% up to a ceiling the first 390 days, 90 days at flat rate) - shared with father (minimum 60 days)

I could be wrong. If I am, I'm very supprised about it, I would figure people would have been raising hell about it long ago and I would have heard. It really would be pretty stupid if they don't have it here though, I mean... where's the logic in that, women get pregnant, they still need money... mind you, moreso than they did before, but they can't work near the end of their pregnancy, nor immidiatly after, and father's help out as well (good ones anyway). I suppose now when I have a kid if I don't have enough to support myself I'll just rob a US Senator or something.

as stated on one of the sites linked to above (thanks!) and also in the literature: women in the usa get some money through disability insurance. i am not sure how this works exactly, it's peripheral for my work and i did not have the time yet to read through this all too careful...

regards
ungua

Originally Posted by Mega Man X If you really have some good source about that, you may consider updating Wikipedia

What's with that wikipedia list? It shows Canada at;

15 weeks paid maternity benefits
35 weeks paid paternity benefits

Sounds kind of backwards??

Originally Posted by muddywaters What's with that wikipedia list? It shows Canada at; 15 weeks paid maternity benefits 35 weeks paid paternity benefits Sounds kind of backwards??

Not sure, since I didn't make that page. My guess would be that in 2000, parental leave was increased from 10 weeks to 35 weeks divided between the two parents in Canada and nobody has updated that list. Since I can't confirm that, I'm not going to change anything in there either ^_^

The FMLA provides a job guarentee but thats about it. Paid/unpaid depends on the company not the state or national gov. My company for eaxmaple gave me a week of paid peternity leave on top of my 4 weeks of paid vacation (of which I still have 12 days left, too much for me to use).
I'm sure I'll offend many but why should the company or governemnt be reauired to pay for someone to have a child, its the choice of the parents to have the child, that to me discriminates against anyonw who doesn't have a child. Were already forced to watch our tax money get handed out in welfare programs where women sit at home all day long having babies so they can keep getting their check. when I worked the grocery store to pay for my own college there were so many people people who came through my checkout lane buying steaks and candy and crap with my tax $. My wife has a cousin who is legally blind and gets his rent paid for and gets a new PC every two years and sits around playing old 3d shootemup games (if hes blind how can he play those games and why can't he do something usefull). Sure there are a few who do need that $ but id say something like 75% are abusing the system. No one helped pay for my baby, we had to cut back elsewhere and save up to pay those bills.