this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
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The United States is one of seven countries globally that does not have any guaranteed form of paid leave, the petition states.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 month ago (1 children)

To which they all replied…. “Heh. That’s cute.”

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I may be uneducated because I've never taken advantage of it, but isn't FMLA a form of this? I had coworkers disappear for 3 - 6 months for roughly 2/3 their pay and they don't get fired because of FMLA.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

FMLA has no pay guarantee. You can't lose your job due to a qualified event (for now, just wait until the supreme Court gets its hands on it, I guess)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Idk, seems to me that the continuation of pay was your company being nice:

The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave.

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

While FMLA can be used in the case of a pregnancy you have to meet the following conditions first:

In order to be eligible to take leave under the FMLA, an employee must (1) work for a covered employer, (2) work 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of leave, (3) work at a location where 50 or more employees work at that location or within 75 miles of it, and (4) have worked for the employer for 12 months.

So basically if you work for a smaller company, or just started, you can't use it.

Also note the per location employee rule. You could have a large nationwide business that purposely keeps the regional employment low in order to circumvent FMLA payouts

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Not really, where I am full-time employees are legally entitled to a minimum 28 paid days off per year (including public holidays at employer's discretion) and that's still low compared to some of the better European countries. My understanding is that the US does not require any paid time off and this petition is to fix that.

3-6 months maternity leave at 66% pay isn't necessarily great either, here we have 52 weeks maternity leave starting at 90% pay for 6 weeks then the lower of 90% pay or a fixed weekly amount for another 33 weeks. Returning to work in the first 6 months entitles you to the same job, in the second 6 months an equivalent job (equal pay, location, etc). There's also 1-2 weeks paternity leave for other involved adults (eg father or partner) and the option to share up to 50 weeks of the maternity leave entitlement with them. And those are just legal minimums, for instance my work offers much better paternity leave than just a couple of weeks.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeaaahhh, good luck with that. With the current state of affairs I wouldn't be surprised if slavery will be back in the US within a decade, and you're talking about paid maternity leave? Where do you think you live?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What do you mean "back"? It never left. The 13th amendment literally allows slavery as punishment for a crime. Did you miss this story? https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2024-07-03/as-temperatures-soar-judge-tells-louisiana-to-help-protect-prisoners-working-in-fields

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Yes I know that and you know that's not what I meant

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

The USA, land of free, home of the brave, #1, namba wan, best of the best, leader of the free world, doesn't have guaranteed paid leave... OK

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago

I'm sure one or two of them will read it and have an "awww, bless your heart" moment. The rest of those shit-cunts would throw it back at their staffers and fire them for letting such a thing reach their eyes.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Don't worry, the industries' lobby groups will see that this petition gets nowhere. Instead of petitioning, you should have bribed enough representatives with trips, campaign contributions, or other gifts, because only that is what ultimately makes the law.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I predict failure but applaud the effort. We need to expose anti-worker Democrats for the corporate cheerleaders they are.