I am on parental leave. It is pretty awesome to have the opportunity to spend nine months with my twin girls. I never have to worry about getting up for work. I don't even need to shower. Sometimes I do, just for fun.
While I am grateful for our government giving me the opportunity to take a nine month "vacation" I have two serious issues with the system.
Issue number one: Why do I, as a man only get to take nine months off of work, while my wife, were she not a freeloading student, can take a full year off with the girls? Why must life be so hard for the educated, employed straight white males in this world of ours? What are those extra three months for? Could it be recovery time? As if it wasn't hard on me being in the delivery room. I needed some recovery time after that. I guess life just isn't fair.
Issue number two: There is no difference in the amount of time you can take off if you have more than one child. I phoned EI and asked if I got any benefit for having twins. They laughed at me. I wasn't trying to be funny. Imagine if Octo- Mom actually had a job. She would only get one year of maternity leave. That is nuts. We only have two babies and I could really use two years off of work.
What if I just hid the birth certificate? And then applied for a second 9 months right after the first one ended? I could never get away with it these days. Too many electronic trails I guess. The 60's would have been easy. But not today.
If a woman has a baby, then takes her year, and immediately starts trying to get pregnant, then has another baby within the next year, does she get to take another year of maternity? Does that seem fair to you? If you are still reading this now, you are probably insane, and have no concept of what fair is.
Or you are another enraged Dad. Who's with me? Do you think we could sue the government and get our three months?
Well, I live in the US. We are the only developed country with no mandated paid maternity leave. I'm a mother, and I had to quit my job after having my first baby because I had no leave.
ReplyDeleteMothers are covered by FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act), which basically protects their job for 12 weeks. So, a mother who works full time for a large enough company can take 12 weeks off, unpaid, and her job will be held.
Fathers are not covered by FMLA. So, in the US, fathers get no leave. We also have no mandated sick time in our country. My husband's company gives their employees sick time, but men are not allowed to use it for paternity leave.
Thankfully, my husband's company chooses to offer fathers 2 weeks paid paternity leave if they've worked for the company for at least two years. My husband has worked for his company for nearly three years, so he will get two weeks paid leave. He has also saved all of his vacation (two weeks a year) for when our baby arrives, so he is very fortunate (in our country) to have four weeks off. He is not allowed to take any unpaid leave because he is NOT protected by FMLA.
Everyone in our country who we talk to is jealous that my husband gets four weeks off for when the baby arrives. A lot of people's husbands only get the day of delivery off, and then they're back to work. Some people's husbands are able to save most of their annual vacation time, and so they are able to get up to two weeks off. My husband's company's policy of offering 2 weeks paid paternity leave is basically unheard of.
Anyway, I think your country's system is amazing. It allows for family bonding, and it allows children to be raised by their parents instead of in a day care. That has to be so beneficial for them, and the future of your country. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth; enjoy your nine months with your family.
Oops, I wanted to correct one thing about my post that doesn't make sense. Women are only protected by FMLA if they've worked for their employer full-time for a full year. I wasn't protected by FMLA because I'd only worked for my company for 10 months when my son was born.
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