US Is Only Industrialized Nation Without Paid Maternity Leave
US Is Only Industrialized Nation Without Paid Maternity Leave
Wednesday, May 6, 2015 at 6:15PM by AuthorLouis Milman
(NEW YORK) -- In time for Mother's Day, advocates for paid family leave are reminding people that the U.S. is only one of three countries in the world that don't offer paid maternity leave. The other two countries are Papua New Guinea and Suriname.
A Better Balance, a New York-based national legal advocacy group that promotes workplace fairness for families, released a report Wednesday titled "Investing in Our Families: The Case for Paid Family Leave in New York and the Nation."
"For workers without paid family leave, taking time off to care for a new baby or a seriously ill loved one can have devastating long-term financial consequences, ranging from racking up credit card debt to raiding savings to bankruptcy," Dina Bakst, co-founder and co-president of A Better Balance, told ABC News. "Paid family leave would provide a critical safety net for these working families in their times of need.”
The United Nations' International Labour Organization said last year that out of the 185 countries and territories with available data, all but three provide cash benefits to women during maternity leave. Oman, Papua New Guinea and the United States provide some form of maternity leave but have no overall law for cash benefits. Since then, Oman established paid maternity leave, the World Bank reports, while the World Policy Forum reports that Suriname, which did not have data available for the U.N. report, does not. The World Policy Forum also notes five small Pacific Island states don't offer paid maternity leave: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Tonga.
More:
http://abcnewsradioonline.com/health-news/us-is-only-industrialized-nation-without-paid-maternity-leav.html
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