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On paid maternity leave, U.S. on par with Swaziland. (Barf Alert)
AP/San Jose Mercury News ^ | July 31,2005 | Peter Svensson

Posted on 07/31/2005 2:06:08 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes

Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2005

On paid maternity leave, U.S. on par with Swaziland

FOCUS ON EMPLOYERS HAS BEEN BIG BARRIER

By Peter Svensson

Associated Press

In Santa Fe, N.M., Linda Strauss McIlroy, a first-time mother, is trying to get used to the thought of soon putting her 2-month-old boy in day care so she can get back to work.

``It's hard for me to imagine leaving him,'' she says. ``Just not being with him all day, leaving him with a virtual stranger. And then that's it till, you know, I retire. It's kind of crazy to think about it.''

Across the border in Vancouver, British Columbia, Suzanne Dobson is back at work after 14 months of paid maternity leave.

``It was great,'' she says. ``I was still making pretty good money for being at home.''

Across the ocean, in Sweden, Magnus Larsson is looking forward to splitting 16 months of parental leave at 80 percent pay with his girlfriend. They are expecting their first baby in a week.

With little public debate, the United States has chosen a radically different approach to maternity leave than the rest of the developed world. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries that don't provide paid leave for new mothers nationally, though there are exceptions in some U.S. states.

Australian mothers have it better, however, with one year of job-protected leave. The U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act provides for 12 weeks of job-protected leave, but it only covers those who work for larger companies.

To put it another way, out of 168 nations in a Harvard University study last year, 163 had some form of paid maternity leave, leaving the United States in the company of Lesotho, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland.

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: americahaters; bushhaters; daycare; eurotrash; maternityleave; socialists; workplace
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I really had to have the barf bag handy to make it all the way through this one. What a bunch of backwards meanies we are to not be in step with the world on this subject.
1 posted on 07/31/2005 2:06:11 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes
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To: Past Your Eyes

And yet our per capita income is higher than most other countries they mention, and our birth rate is higher. Hmmmm....


2 posted on 07/31/2005 2:10:42 PM PDT by ellery (The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts. - Edmund Burke)
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: Past Your Eyes

Paid maternity leave is ridiculous. I fully believe mothers should be able to hold their job for a given amount of time (say 2-3 years) should they choose to return, but paid absence? That's just subsidized by all the other employees.


4 posted on 07/31/2005 2:12:02 PM PDT by zendari
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To: ellery

The reporter didn't bother to ask the "Dr. Phil" question: "So, France, how's that birthrate thing working out for you?"


5 posted on 07/31/2005 2:15:02 PM PDT by Past Your Eyes (Suffering fools reluctantly since 1947.)
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To: zendari
Illegal aliens are coming in droves for their kids to have American citizenship, just start paying them and see what happens
6 posted on 07/31/2005 2:16:01 PM PDT by DAC22
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To: DAC22

Should have said: PREGNANT Illegal Aliens


7 posted on 07/31/2005 2:17:12 PM PDT by DAC22
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To: Past Your Eyes
The French birthrate has risen sharply over the past few years because of a critical mass of unassimilated Muslim immigrants overly prone to material support for terrorist organizations. Muslim men often force unwilling women in these French Arab ghettos into unwanted marriages (often polygynous) and then pregnancy.
8 posted on 07/31/2005 2:24:22 PM PDT by dufekin (US Senate: the only place where the majority [D] comprises fewer than the minority [R])
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To: Past Your Eyes

Unless your finances are abysmal(no car,no cable,no internet,no fancy sneakers,no big TV,no airconditioning, etc.) you have choices.

Have a baby,ladies,and stop working OR keep working and don't have any babies. Seems simple to me.


9 posted on 07/31/2005 2:24:56 PM PDT by Mears (Keep the government out of my face!)
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To: zendari
That's just subsidized by all the other employees.

Yes, in several ways. Some companies end up paying for the same job twice: they hire temp replacements for workers on maternity leave, who are collecting at least a % of wages, and no doubt full benefits. No raises for the other workers!

Other companies do not hire temp replacements, expecting other workers to pick up the slack for weeks/months. Not good if you work in a department with several maternity leaves happening at the same time or close together.

10 posted on 07/31/2005 2:27:30 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie (L'chaim!)
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To: Past Your Eyes
In other news, we're so far behind Rwanda in slaughtering members of rival tribes, we have a lot of catching up to do...
11 posted on 07/31/2005 2:29:13 PM PDT by Shalom Israel (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.)
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To: Past Your Eyes

Ok. Only if the kid actually survives the trip into life, without getting it's skull crushed and shop-vac(ed), we now must provide Mumsy and Dadsy 80% of their pay, to .......babysit.

Just like the military, the Left only cares about you if you happen to survive, despite their constant attacks on your very existence.


12 posted on 07/31/2005 2:45:58 PM PDT by digger48
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To: Past Your Eyes

So, I must have missed the part that said "Do not have children until you and your husband can afford for you to take time off." Putting a 2-month old in day care seems like abuse - if you don't want to take care of the child, why have it?


13 posted on 07/31/2005 2:59:54 PM PDT by bt_dooftlook (Democrats - the "No Child/Left/Behind" Party)
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To: Past Your Eyes
My wife has the AFLACK insurance, believe me it sure paid for itself when she had our two kids. We found out this morning that number 3 is in the oven, lol don't think that I haven't thought about that little duck waddling around saying.. AFLACK!!!!
14 posted on 07/31/2005 3:10:41 PM PDT by Vote 4 Nixon (EAT...FISH...SLEEP...REDUX)
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To: Past Your Eyes

Exactly! Now that would have made a good article: how is it that the US lags greatly in paid family leave, and yet has bigger, richer families?


15 posted on 07/31/2005 3:41:59 PM PDT by ellery (The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts. - Edmund Burke)
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To: Past Your Eyes

There is more to quality of life than maternity leave.


16 posted on 07/31/2005 3:56:57 PM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: bt_dooftlook
So, I must have missed the part that said "Do not have children until you and your husband can afford for you to take time off."

Hmmm. So abortion's okay if you and your husband can't afford to take time off and the birth control didn't work?????

17 posted on 07/31/2005 4:40:31 PM PDT by mumps
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To: Past Your Eyes
My grandfather always said that if he loved Scotland so much, he would have stayed there. The ancestors of most Americans (barring those brought here as slaves) came her becaue they thought American would be a better deal than their own home country. If you think that some country other than America is so great, what's keeping you here?
18 posted on 07/31/2005 5:02:40 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
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To: Past Your Eyes

One of the (many) problems with Canadian maternity leave is that it doesn't pay at 100%. It's all nice and good that they get it, but it pays tops 80% and goes down from there. Now, if I could really afford a 20% paycut, would I need to work in the first place?? (BTW, I am not endorsing the paid leave even if it was 100%, just pointing out a flaw in their "perfect" system.) I'd rather use my 100% paid disability, supplement it with some vacation time and then go back to work after a couple of months. I don't ever want to leave my kids, but it's a reality. (My husband is at home during the day, so they are not getting shipped to daycare.)


19 posted on 07/31/2005 5:41:52 PM PDT by conservative cat
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To: Past Your Eyes
Linda Strauss McIlroy, a first-time mother, is trying to get used to the thought of soon putting her 2-month-old boy in day care so she can get back to work.

What's wrong with her?

20 posted on 07/31/2005 5:43:45 PM PDT by Jim Noble (Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God)
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