Sunday, March 16, 2008

Paid Maternity Leave: What’s It Worth to You?

Last week, the New Jersey State Senate approved legislation that would grant employees paid maternity or dependent-care leave, making New Jersey one of only three states in the U.S. to pay workers who need time off to care for a new child or a sick relative. The other two are California and Washington.

Check out the rest of Lyla Alphonse's article, but read at your own risk. You may be ready to pack your bags and move out of the country when you are done...how about Canada or France or just about any country as long as it's not the U.S.

2 comments:

Bridget said...

Isn't that crazy!?!
In NY, our plan (which was the NYS disability insurance) gave us 50% up to $170 a week... yeah, that was no where near 50% of my take home pay... for 6 wks-8 wks or whenever your md signed you off as good to got back to work. I don't know how anyone lives on that a week anywhere, much less in NYS. Not fun with a grad student hubby. But at least it was something.
In IL (I work part time), I wasn't eligible for FMLA. Luckily the clinic has a personal leave that they allowed me to take for 12 wk (unpaid, but I don't work enough for paid leave).

Adrienne said...

I can't believe we are so behind. I qualified for FMLA and got 12 weeks too, but I was taken out of work 2 weeks before I had him so that cut into my time. I only got paid b/c I had built up PTO time so I had a little paycheck.