AFSCME Information Highway

Source: Heidi Shierholz and Emily Garr, Economic Policy Institute, Snapshot, May 7, 2008

This Mother's Day, we reflect 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 (see chart). 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.

Posted by Info Center at 10:41 AM in Family & Work | Leave Programs | Working Women | Permalink

Source: Tallese D. Johnson, U.S. Census Bureau, P70-113, February 2008

From the press release:
Two-thirds of women who had their first child between 2001 and 2003 worked during their pregnancy compared with just 44 percent who gave birth for the first time between 1961 and 1965, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The report, Maternity Leave and Employment Patterns: 1961-2003, analyzes trends in women's work experience before their first child, identifies their maternity leave arrangements before and after the birth and examines how rapidly they returned to work.

Women are more likely to work while pregnant than they were in the 1960s, and they are working later into their pregnancies. Eighty percent who worked while pregnant from 2001 to 2003 worked one month or less before their child's birth compared with 35 percent who did so in 1961-1965.

Posted by Info Center at 4:54 PM in Leave Programs | Working Women | Permalink

Source: Institute for the Study of Labor

Utilizing data from the June Current Population Survey (CPS) Fertility Supplement merged with data from other months of the CPS, we describe trends in parents' employment and leave-taking after birth of a newborn and analyze the extent to which these behaviors are associated with parental leave policies. The period we examine - 1987 to 2004 - is one in which such policies were expanded at both the state and federal level. We also provide the first comprehensive evidence as to how these expansions are correlated with employment and leave-taking for both mothers and fathers over this period. Our main finding is that leave expansions have increased the amount of time that new mothers and fathers spend on leave, with effects that are small in absolute terms but large relative to the baseline for men and much greater for college-educated women than for their counterparts with less schooling.

Full Paper (PDF; 531 KB)

Posted by Info Center at 11:31 AM in Leave Programs | Permalink

Source: CCH Employee Benefits Management Directions
November 6, 2007

Two-thirds of U.S. workers who call in sick at the last minute do so for reason other than physical illness, according to the findings of the 17th annual CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey. Consistent with survey findings dating back to 2001, personal illness is the most frequent reason given for unscheduled absences with 34 percent of respondents pointing to it as being the cause of employees' last minute "no-shows." However, that leaves 66 percent of all unscheduled absences to be the result of something other than personal illness. According to the 2007 survey, those reasons include family issues (22 percent), personal needs (18 percent), an entitlement mentality (13 percent) and stress and burnout 913 percent). The average absenteeism rate is 2.3 percent in 2007, down slightly from 2.5 percent last year.

Posted by Info Center at 1:54 PM in Leave Programs | Permalink

Source: CCH/Wolters Kluwer

Two-thirds of U.S. workers who call in sick at the last minute do so for reasons other than physical illness, according to the findings of the 17th annual CCH Unscheduled Absence Survey. The 2007 CCH Survey found that while 34 percent of people call in sick to work at the last minute due to "personal illness," 66 percent are taking time off to deal with personal or family issues. "Most people today are juggling the demands of busy personal and professional lives, and are trying to do their very best in both places," said CCH Employment Law Analyst Pamela Wolf, JD. "Organizations need to stop the tug of war with people for their time, and become a partner to employees to help them, and the business overall, be more successful." Employers, however, have failed to make significant headway against the costly absenteeism problem that takes billions of dollars off the bottom line for U.S. businesses. The nation's largest employers estimate that unscheduled absenteeism costs their businesses more than $760,000 per year in direct payroll costs, and even more when lower productivity, lost revenue and the effects of poor morale are considered.

Posted by Info Center at 2:46 PM in Leave Programs | Permalink

Source: Vicky Lovell, Elizabeth O'Neill, and Skylar Olsen, Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR), Fact Sheet, IWPR #A131 August 2007

From the press release:
WASHINGTON - A new fact sheet released by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) reports that nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of the best employers for working mothers provide four or fewer weeks of paid maternity leave, and half (52 percent) provide six weeks or less. Nearly half of the best companies fail to provide any paid leave for paternity or adoption. While more than one-quarter of the best companies (28 percent) provide nine or more weeks of paid maternity leave, many of the winners' paid parental leave policies fall far short of families' needs. IWPR's analysis is based on data provided by Working Mother Media, publisher of Working Mother, regarding the 2006 list of Working Mother 100 Best Companies.

Posted by Info Center at 4:45 PM in Leave Programs | Working Women | Permalink

Source: MultiState Working Families Consortium, September 2007

"Family Values at Work" documents the consequences on workers, families, businesses and the nation when family values end at the workplace door. The document details the wrenching stories of workers suffering from the lack of family-friendly work rules, summarizes key research, and lays out a policy agenda modest compared to that of other advanced nations yet urgently needed by U.S. workers and their families. These policies include a minimum number of paid sick days for routine illnesses as well as a family leave insurance fund to provide income during longer-term leaves for a new baby or serious health condition.

Posted by Info Center at 3:51 PM in Family & Work | Leave Programs | Permalink

Source: Jill L. Jenkins, Employment Policies Institute, May 2007

Paid sick leave is rapidly becoming the next big legislative trend. The first paid sick leave mandate was implemented in San Francisco in February 2001, but already many other cities and states have followed suit with proposals of their own. And there are currently two proposals at the national level. While the details vary, these proposals all typically allow employees to take paid sick leave for their own illness or to provide care for a sick child, spouse, or other relative (and, in the case of San Francisco, domestic partner, or “designated person”). The amount of leave typically averages about 7 days a year.

Because this is a relatively new policy, there is little research examining its effects. Proponents focus on two key arguments: one moral and one social. The moral argument is that low-wage entry-level employees should be able to take sick days without worrying about losing income—“no one should have to go to work sick for fear of losing their job or being unable to pay their bills.” The social argument is that a sick leave policy benefits society as well—“we, as a society, do not want the people serving our food or taking care of our children coming to work sick and potentially passing their illness along.” Each of these arguments packs a punch and neither is, strictly speaking, wrong, but neither tells the whole story either.

Posted by Info Center at 5:23 PM in Benefits | Leave Programs | Permalink

Source: Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Inc. (ACORN), March 1, 2007

ACORN’s Healthy Workers, Healthy Families Campaign calls on businesses to provide workers with a fair number of paid sick days a year. We also call on Congress and state legislatures to pass laws guaranteeing that all workers have paid sick days.

Nearly half of American private-sector workers have no guaranteed paid sick days – yet everyone gets sick and everyone needs time to get well. Workers also have families and responsibilities to care for sick children and other relatives who need them.

ACORN called 50 of the largest food service and retail companies operating in America and asked if they provided their hourly workers with paid sick days. Despite the close contact with the public that characterizes jobs in these industries, a near-majority of the companies for which we gathered information were clear that they did not offer paid sick days to hourly employees.

Posted by Info Center at 2:14 PM in Benefits | Health Care | Leave Programs | Permalink

Source: Robin J. Samuel and Laura M. Wilson, Employee Benefit Plan Review, May 2007

It is a familiar problem. You hear a sneeze in the next cubicle, and you know it is only a matter of time before cold germs reach you and others working nearby. The cycle continues endlessly, as employees who come down with common colds or mild illnesses elect to work rather than stay home, and thereby continue the spread of illness through the workplace. A new buzzword has been coined to describe this phenomenon: Presenteeism. According to Wordspy.com, “presenteeism” is defined as “the feeling that one must show up for work even if one is too sick, stressed, or distracted to be productive.” Recent studies indicate that presenteeism is a growing problem for U.S. employers, prompting human resources professionals to ask whether the hidden costs of the phenomenon must be addressed.

Posted by Info Center at 10:11 AM in Leave Programs | Permalink