Bush Says New Moms and Their Babies Cost Too Much
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GoogleWhen it was time to travel to China to bring home our little PunditBaby, I was working at a large government agency in a pretty senior position.
I assumed that I would be able to take paid maternity leave, though I figured I'd have to jump through a few hoops since my adoption "pregnancy" was not in utero. Too bad someone wasn't trying to sell me the Brooklyn Bridge or some miracle cure-all at the time, 'cause they probably could have fooled me on that, too.
See, federal employees don't get paid maternity leave. If you're having a baby, or adopting, and you want paid time off, you've got to use accumulated vacation/sick/comp time. Otherwise, you're on your own.
When I realized all that, my jaw just about hit the top of my big government-issue desk. What happened to all that family-friendly speak?? It seemed safe to assume that if you were working for Uncle Sam that paid pregnancy leave was in the package-- after all, most professionals who work for the government take a huge hit in income, but do it for the trade-off of more reasonable working hours and, usually, a nicer benefits package.
Nest time, I'll pay more attention to the fine print.
Congress is mulling over a little something called the Parental Paid Leave Act, that would give federal employees a whopping four whole weeks off with pay for maternity leave. It passed the House of Representatives and is idling as it waits to head on over to the Senate.
There seems to be some support for the bill, but President Bush (haven't we kicked him off this throne yet??) says he won't sign the bill into law because it's a "costly, unnecessary, new paid leave entitlement."
Sure there's a cost to the bill, but without it there's a different kind of cost -- employees who leave or don't come back because of the current draconian family policies. Sure, there's the Family and Medical Leave Act, but that doesn't apply to federal workers and it's unpaid leave anyway.
What's even worse about Bush's position is that he, as the father of daughters, is telling all the rest of the fathers in the country that their daughters who work for him don't deserve a few weeks off with their new babies where they don't have to worry about how they're going to pay for the Pampers.
Which is more important and which really costs the taxpayers more money??
Photo by PunditMom
The Biggest issues we face
The problem with this country is that government officials care more about the economy-their own economy than our families or our people in general. The people aren't the issue to them. As long as they aren't overthrown, they are going to focus on meaningless issues that they think are important to them, not us. If our government cared about us; the people, instead of just trying to shut us up enough to pursue their selfish goals, we wouldn't have as many problems. Guess who the government tends to side with. Whoever brings in the most revenue for them. This is not a cynical comment this is the truth. Not only do we have the government suppressing us as mothers, but we also have the medical industry out for their money, and we have society expecting us to be deadbeats. This is where it ties into the subject of paid maternity leave: We do not have that because we are not a major concern to our government.
Being a state employee is no better
I work for the State of Maryland as a non-exempt employee at at state university which shall remain nameless. I was told by our director of HR when I got pregnant that I can invoke FMLA at any point and that would essentially guarantee that I can't be fired for one year from the beginning of my pregnancy. He cautioned, however, that even though my job was safe while FMLA was in place, the university would still be building a case against me for....ready?....abuse of leave.
His reasoning is that because I'm non-exempt, I'm not allowed to make up any work that wasn't done when I return by working overtime or from home. Therefore, the university has a decision to make. One, if I get the work done (even by illegally working overtime without reporting it), then there must not be enough work for me to do normally if I can be gone all that time and still get the job done. If that's the case, then they need to evaluate whether they need to pile more work on me to get what they're paying for or they need to get rid of my position and split the job between other current employees. Two, if the job isn't getting done, then obviously I'm not the person for that position and they need to find someone who can do the job in the allotted time.
In addition to being pregnant, I have other health problems like migraines and back problems stemming from a car accident in 2005. I don't take excessive time off, but have a doctor's appointment once a month for my back for which I only use 2 or 3 hours of leave and I might have a migraine once every 6 weeks or so that's bad enough that I either call in sick or end up going home early. Thankfully, I have the paid annual and sick leave accrued so I'm not taking unpaid leave, but still - I'm afraid to use it for fear of being labelled a leave-abuser and ultimately being dismissed. And there are several other people, mostly women, in my department and across the university who are in the same boat.
Something definitely needs to change. I work for one of the most liberal states and yet I still have to face this harassment.
Really we think the govenment should enforce paid leave
All i know is, I'm not ready for a baby until i'm ready to support one. And that coincides with the idea that If i want to stay home with my child, i better know where my opriorities stand. Too many families pick a big screen tv first, financed mind you, because they cant acually afford one, before they think about provoding for their children. My mom stayed home and my father footed the money to pay the bills, no were werent rich, infact there was a time when my father made 7/hr to raise 3 kids. He managed because he knew what came first, he kids, it was dinner out on the weekends, pop, or parties for him and my mother, no, we had a home cooked meal everyday, i never went hungry. If you want to live in a socialist country where everything is provided move to europe or canada. this is not the process of the united states. If families make children there priorty first and there is still an issue, then i will be all for this but until then, people need to be responsible for themselves
I agree with everything above....except.....
I too am a Federal Gov't employee and think we should recieve at least a few weeks paid maternity leave (especially since we cannot claim state disability as fed workers). Many of us save our sick and vacation leave like misers and never really get a break or real vacation until we spend years saving up after illness or childbirth! And who can afford to take UNPAID leave under the FMLA these days???????? However, I would like to point out that no matter how unhappy the country is with President Bush, this is hardly his fault. No former President or Congress, Dem or Repub, has ever made it a priority to get a new Paid Family Leave Act or program passed either - this is an atrocity that has been a problem since our government's inception. It's time to stop blaming particular parties or individuals though and just get programs such as these passed once and for all!!
Federal Employee........ FMLA
Yes, Federal Employees are covered under the Family Medical Leave Act. However, this guarantees you the "right" to take leave for the birth/adoption/serious illness of an immediate family member (spouse, child, etc). You can invoke this right for your sick leave (which is paid) but once your paid leave that is accumulated runs out, you must take unpaid leave or advanced leave... FMLA just guarantees that your supervisor cannot disprove your leave request.
It would be extremely beneficial for working Moms and Dads if the Federal Government allowed employees to put a portion of their paycheck aside (like others do with disability insurance) and allow that to pay for paid parental leave.
You should get unpaid leave.
You should get unpaid leave. Personally, I'd like to see a system where everyone has the opportunity to get paid leave regardless of children or not.
You assumed you'd get paid
You assumed you'd get paid maternity leave? Welcome to motherhood in America. Unless you work for a company that is working very, very hard to be hip and family-friendly, you're in luck if you can get the first 6 weeks of FMLA paid for by disability insurance. In fact that six-weeks-of-disability thing is why many infant day cares start accepting babies at six weeks old.
Miss Dorkness is right, FMLA just holds your job.
FMLA...
As I understand it, FMLA only guarantees that your position is held for the time you are off, it doesn't guarantee pay during that time period.
So, many Moms will return to work before that time runs out, because they have to work to pay their bills.
Actually, federal employees
Actually, federal employees are covered by the Family Medical Leave Act.
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