Daily Kos: Few states offer new parents the job protections they need

A new report by the National Partnership for Women & Families (PDF) lays out just how lacking American policies for working parents are. Nationally, we have a pregnancy discrimination law that does not require employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant women, limited family and medical leave that doesn't apply to all workers, and, since the Affordable Care Act, rights for some nursing mothers to have breaks to pump at work. Some states have laws giving parents further rights, but, as the map above shows, not enough.

Just two states, California and Connecticut, get a grade of A-. California earned its grade by passing paid family and medical leave, job-protected family and medical leave, job-protected medical leave for pregnancy disability, flexible use of leave time, and nursing mothers' rights. Basically, what that means is if you're disabled by pregnancy or want or need to stay home with a new baby or to care for a sick family member, your boss can't fire you for it; you can have six weeks of leave with partial wage replacement funded through employee payroll contributions; you can use your leave time to care for a sick child; and you get someplace other than a bathroom stall to pump during the time you're nursing. That's the best set of policies in the nation. Next-best Connecticut has job-protected family and medical leave and leave for pregnancy disability, flexible use of sick leave, and nursing mothers' rights, in addition to job-protected paid sick leave.

California and Connecticut are miles better than the 18 states that offer no protections beyond federal law. But by contrast, 178 countries guarantee paid leave for new mothers and 54 guarantee paid leave for new fathers.

Originally posted to Daily Kos Labor on Tue May 15, 2012 at 03:07 PM PDT.

Also republished by In Support of Labor and Unions.

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