subject: California Maternity Leave Benefits are the Most European [print this page] California Maternity Leave Benefits are the Most European
The European Union is debating passage of a bill that would create uniform paid maternity leave benefits across all countries in the union. The bill provides for twenty weeks of maternity leave at full pay, plus two weeks of full pay for fathers. California is the only state in the U.S. that even comes close to offering similar protections.
Paid maternity leave in many European countries is set up as a specific policy: the programs directly address maternity issues in terms of pay replacement, length of paid leave, and even throws in paid parental leave as well. In the U.S. five states have mandated short term disability that just so happens to cover normal pregnancy in addition to covering accidents and illnesses. And of those five California comes the closest to the European model with the richest set of paid benefits, and job protected leave.
Five States with Paid Leave
The five states with inadvertent paid maternity leave are California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Each of these states has mandatory short term disability for people who work in the state for private employers. The programs are intended to help workers who become disabled temporarily due to an accident or illness. Normal labor and delivery is considered a covered illness and creates maternity pay for women giving birth. Also any time missed due to complications may also be covered.
But even in these states the coverage is lacking. Some states limit the income replacement to six months, while another cap benefits at $170 per week. That is 17% income replacement for a woman earning $52,000 per year - not an outrageous salary.
California on the other hand provides short term disability benefits that extend for up to twelve months, whereas the other four states stop at six. This becomes a critical differentiator when mom needs to miss significant time from work very early in her pregnancy. A six month benefit period does not cover the entire length of her pregnancy. Throw in several more weeks for maternity leave and these benefits could run out very quickly.
California also has the highest weekly benefit cap at $967 per week.
Extra Job Protected Leave
Many U.S. workers have unpaid job protected leave courtesy of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This law provides up to twelve weeks of job protected leave for a workers own disability, or to take care of a sick family member. Caring for an infant at home qualifies. But twelve weeks of job protected leave just is not enough when mom encounters pregnancy complications not to mention the federal law provides unpaid leave.
California provides extra measures that address time missed prior to delivery for complications. The California Pregnancy Disability Leave Act provides up to four months of job protected leave. In addition, the California disability insurance will replace up to 55% of mom's income.
California Paid Leave
Another area of exposure occurs after delivery. If mom misses work prior to delivery, she may use up much of her FMLA time and have none left for taking recovering from delivery, taking care of her infant, and bonding with her baby. The California Family Leave Act provides for additional job protected leave to care for her infant, and bond with her baby. Also, the California Paid Family Leave provides an additional six weeks of paid leave to bond with baby.
