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American Express Will Give All Parents 20 Weeks Of Paid Leave (cnn.com)
Starting in January, the financial services giant will expand its paid parental leave policy for mothers and fathers to 20 weeks at full pay, plus another six to eight weeks for women who give birth and require medical leave. Full-time and part-time employees who have worked at Amex for at least a year are eligible. CNN adds: That's a big shift from the company's current policy of offering six weeks of paid leave for the primary parent plus another six to eight weeks for birth mothers who require medical leave. Secondary caregivers, meanwhile, have gotten just two weeks. Under the new policy, parents will also have access to a 24-hour lactation consultant. And mothers who go on business trips will be able to ship their breast milk home for free.
Unfortunately, population growth isn't happening in the industrialized world, but rather in the developing world. So unless you want to start letting in a lot of immigrants over the coming decades, you're going to have to accept that people in the West need to have children as well.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
this is america, it's going to happen. discrimination against those who don't want or can't have children. the latter being a medical condition that surely someone will consider an ada-covered disability... and they just might find a judge to agree with them.
Read TFA:
And employees who wish to have a child will receive up to $35,000 for adoption or surrogacy for up to two children. Those undergoing infertility treatments, meanwhile, will receive up to a lifetime maximum of $35,000 to help defray costs.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
..you're only now 19 weeks behind Statutory Maternity Pay in the UK.
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
This is such a bizarre and staunchly American attitude. In Canada you automatically get 17 weeks paid leave when having a child. You can also take an unpaid parental leave for up to 35 weeks and your employer cannot penalize you in any way for taking these leaves. The Canadian government is currently look at increasing the paid leave and applying it more equally to men and women in the future as the current system is felt to be inadequate.
Typically when someone goes on parental leave in my workplace a new employee is brought on temporarily under contract to "pick up the slack". If you choose not to have children or are not in a position to have children well then that's just too bad for you. Raising children is a huge commitment, both in time and money and there absolutely should be support from government and business to make major life events like this easier. It also encourages new mothers to do what's best for their health and the baby's by staying home and taking care of the newborn.
As someone from the outside looking in, the American system seems downright barbaric and more companies need to be doing what American Express is.