Men Need to Make Companies Fear Weak Paid Leave Policies

A dad’s relationship to employment is so fraught that here at Fatherly , we made it the subject of the first chapter in Fatherly’s new book Fatherhood: A Comprehensive Guide to Birth, Budgeting, Finding Flow, and Becoming a Happy Parent (available for pre-order now). It’s clear that the occupational hazard of being a father is established from the get-go. Men simply aren’t offered paternity leave. Fathers are largely reliant on a patchwork of state laws that may or may not allow them paid time at home in the first weeks of their child’s life. Only five states currently mandate paid parental leave. New York State, California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Washington State, and Washington, DC, now have laws in place requiring employers to provide paid leave to employees. Leave amounts run from four to twelve weeks and cover anywhere from 60 to 90 percent of wages, depending on the hours a parent works. Any other leave a parent might receive comes at the discretion of an employer. The best businesses recognize the benefit of allowing family time to establish long-term care patterns and bonding. They’ll offer three months of leave to both parents. The worst companies allow paltry leave or offer it only to mothers. Some men are taking action. Financial giant JP Morgan was stung by such terrible policies back in 2021 . The Fortune 500 company paid out a $5 million settlement after a civil rights lawsuit was brought on behalf of a father denied paternity leave because he was not conside…