U.S. workers need paid parental leave

I should be joyously anticipating time with my miracle baby. Instead, I’m picking up shifts at a second job.

My first and only child is twelve years old. Our dream of having a second child seemed out of reach. But then, in what seemed like a miracle, I became pregnant. 

Our baby is due very soon and we’re out of our minds with happiness. But now comes the fine print — something all too familiar for new parents in the United States. 

When I became pregnant this time around, I’d just gotten a new job. The benefits plan clearly states that my employer will pay 60 percent of my salary for short-term disability leave up to eleven weeks. I planned to take this leave once I gave birth. But human resources claimed I wasn’t eligible because I hadn’t been at the company for a year. 

That’s not what it says in the policy, which I have read many times. 

More smoke and mirrors followed. I was told there was some other policy for parental leave, though I wasn’t presented with it. The company insisted on a “date certain” for the start of my leave, but it’s a pregnancy — unless it’s a scheduled C-section, there is no “date certain.”

I was finally told my employer will not be paying me at all while I’m out, but I’ll be able to use short-term disability benefits for six weeks. They cheerfully added that if I need a C-section, I’ll be eligible for another two weeks with 60 percent of my pay. Invasive surgery has never seemed so appealing!

With the imminent birth of our daughter, I am now left with unforeseen anxiety and uncertainty about how, if, and for how long I’ll be able to spend with my newborn. 

Because we don’t have a federal policy for paid parental leave in this country — for either birth, adoption, or foster care — millions of parents experience similar anxiety. 

In this, the United States is a global outlier, according to a 2022 report by Business.org. For example, Mexico and eight European countries offer at least three months of parental leave at 100 percent of one’s salary. Greece offers forty-three weeks of maternity leave at over 60 percent pay or a full-rate equivalent of twelve weeks. Slovakia offers similar benefits.

Indeed, all democracies with market-based economies, except the United States, mandate at least six weeks of maternity leave, usually for full-time workers. On average, mothers in these countries receive around eighteen weeks of leave, regardless of pay level. 

When considering full-pay equivalents, the average leave is about fourteen weeks, with an average pay rate of about 80 percent. Only four countries provide less than 50 percent: Canada (at nearly 50 percent), Australia (42 percent), the United Kingdom (30 percent) and the United States (zero percent).

Our country is failing families when it comes to allowing parents to care for and bond with their new children. We further fail families by not making the Child Tax Credit fully refundable so all children who need it can benefit from it. And we fail them again when we refuse to invest fully in school meal and nutrition programs, rental assistance, and affordable housing stock.

We hear an awful lot from conservative politicians about the moral imperative of having children, yet virtually nothing about investing in these kids or their families once they’re born. 

I should be preparing for my baby’s birth joyously, anticipating precious months with my child free from the financial stresses of short-term leave. Instead, I’m anxious, frightened, and picking up more shifts at my second job as a server to afford our health insurance and basic needs.

It’s time for the U.S. to join the rest of the world’s democracies and invest in families by recognizing parental leave as a federally mandated human right.

This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine.