Heidi Shierholz and Emily Garr
2008-05-14 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

This Mother’s Day, we reflect[ed] on the critical but often overlooked issue of maternity leave. In a selection of 19 countries with comparable per capita income, the United States provides the fewest maternity leave benefits in both length of leave and paid time off. This is considered separate from any disability insurance for which one may qualify.

In fact, the United States falls two weeks short of the International Labor Organization’s basic minimum standard of at least 14 weeks general leave. It is also the only country not to guarantee some amount of leave with income. ...

The United States passed the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993, giving eligible parents 12 weeks unpaid leave to care for a new child. But aside from being unpaid, it is limited to workplaces of more than 50 employees, which excludes more than 41.3 percent of working Americans, or about 48.1 million people. ...

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