It used to be incredibly rare for a company to offer paternity leave (at least here in the US) but some of our employees have expressed interest in it. Does anyone have experience with paternity leave, either as an employee or employer?
Does your company offer paternity leave?
Answers
I think it's an essential benefit. The policy at my company is 2 weeks leave for fathers. It can be taken right away or at a later time, but should be taken all at once. I had a son a year ago and took that time off right after his birth. I was still available to help and did finish up a few urgent projects from home, but I spent 95% of that time helping to get my family settled. It was especially important for my wife in that time to get some help because we do not have family in the area.
Federal Law - Family and Medical Leave Act (1993) permits an employee to take leave.
COVERED EMPLOYERS
The FMLA only applies to employers that meet certain criteria. A covered employer is a:
• Private-sector employer, with 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or
preceding calendar year, including a joint employer or successor in interest to a covered
employer;
• Public agency, including a local, state, or Federal government agency, regardless of the number
of employees it employs; or
• Public or private elementary or secondary school, regardless of the number of employees it
empl
See http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/
As long as your employer meets the requirements under FMLA as Wayne started outlining above, they have to give you paternity leave under Federal law. This can also be given in the case of an adoption.
Allowing paternity leave doesn't mean a male will not be ridiculed by others in the office for taking it. The only experience I have with it is that a coworker took paternity leave, hence me knowing how others in the office may handle it.
Agree with Chris and Wayne; FMLA covers that regardless of the employer says (as long as they meet the criteria).
Another option is to have PTO (Paid time off); ours states it's for any reason you need you can use your PTO. It's basically sick, vacation and personal time all rolled into one.
I've seen more employers offering at least 2 weeks paid paternity leave to provide some pay during FMLA. We recently increased it to 6 weeks paid leave to try to reach parity with maternity leave, but we are a small non-profit and mostly women anyway, therefore we have yet to have anyone take advantage of it!
Providing the bare minimum unpaid leave required by law isn't a benefit.
1
I've offered it in companies that are NOT required by law to provide this leave.
In this case, it would be a benefit.
FMLA is required if you are a covered company, yes, but it's not required to be paid leave. Typically when you're talking about maternity or paternity leave, you referring to a paid leave (or at least a portion is paid). We just increased our paternity leave from 1 week to 3 weeks that can be taken in chunks within a year. We've definitely seen fathers take advantage of this time, whether at the time of birth or more likely when the mom returns to work to allow for a smoother adjustment (or at other times as needed). Paternity leave benefits the entire family, not just the father, so I think it's a great benefit to offer.
1
You are correct Carrie.
And to amplify my previous posting, the leave we offered at a Non-covered company was indeed PAID.
That makes it quite a nice benefit.
It's also state law in CA. Although, as others have stated, not on the companies direct dime.
http://www.edd.ca.gov/Disability/Paid_Family_Leave.htm
I once had an employee mention that he planned to avail himself of all available leave when his child was born only to have my boss tell me that if the employee didn't change his attitude and show up for work, he was fired and so was I.
It was one of those awkward situations where the boss is out of line, but determined to use you to see it through or get rid of you.
Luckily for me, at the last minute the employee decided he could not financially take the hit, he only took a couple of days vacation instead. I didn't have to go to the mat over it with the boss.
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Human Capital