When it comes to pro family policies like paid maternity and paternity leave, the U.S. continues to fall further behind while European nations keep on advancing onward.
Euro-Weekly:
ON June 18 the Spanish parliament will rubber-stamp a new law extending paternity leave from the present 13 uninterrupted days to four weeks. This still falls short of leave for new fathers in European Union countries like Sweden, where a man whose partner has given birth is entitled to share the 16 months’ leave available to both parents. Meanwhile, to equality campaigners’ disgust, UK plans to extend fathers’ paid leave from two weeks to six months were temporarily shelved last week after the government decided that the present economic downturn was not a good moment to introduce the new legislation.
And on a related note:
The report, "Contagion Nation: A Comparison of Paid Sick Day Policies in 22 Countries," finds that the U.S. is the only country among 22 countries ranked highly in terms of economic and human development that does not guarantee that workers receive paid sick days or paid sick leave. Under current U.S. labor law, employers are not required to provide short-term paid sick days or longer-term paid sick leave.
Feminist Politics Gender Social Democracy Paid Family Leave News
