Parental leave elusive for many U.S. workers

(AP) -- Limited laws and company policies often make unpaid maternity or paternity leave impossible for many working-class families, according to experts.

"You really have to be a middle-class professional to be able to take unpaid leave," said Ann Bookman, executive director of the MIT Workplace Center.

Under federal law new parents -- both moms and dads -- get 12 weeks of unpaid time off.

But the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act does not apply to about 40 percent of nongovernment employees, according to a 2000 Department of Labor study. An organization must have at least 50 employees and workers have to have worked at least one year and 1,250 hours to qualify.

For many small-business employees, part-time workers or new hires, tough luck. Those not covered by the FMLA must depend on company policies, which vary widely. Some states also have leave laws that require smaller companies to provide unpaid leave, such as Maine and Minnesota.

A government report from 1996 found that only 32.3 percent of workplaces not covered by FMLA offered up to 12 weeks of leave to parents of newborns. A further difficulty is that family leave is often granted on an informal, case-by-case basis in companies too small to be affected by FMLA.

"Look at your employer's policies," said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. "Look at what's happened with your co-workers. Sometimes that can help you negotiate something that would be advantageous for yourself."

Even at companies that do offer leave to new parents, fathers get less. Women can take advantage of disability leave due to pregnancy and labor, which men cannot claim.

"It is likely that when women give birth, they get some time off that men wouldn't necessarily be entitled to," said Ness.

Cultural norms play a part as well. Men often do not take advantage of the leave available to them.

"There's this idea that it's the icing on the cake when men do childcare," said Bookman. "The practice in a lot of companies is for a male worker's commitment to the job and the company to be questioned (if he takes time off), whereas for women it's like 'Of course she's going to take maternity leave."'

In a March 2008 Congressional report on paid family leave at Fortune 100 companies, 75 percent of the firms that responded offered mothers paid birth/family leave, but only one-third offered it to fathers.

Time off for both parents was usually "cobbled together from various programs," such as accumulated vacation and sick days, said the report.

Only about 8 percent of U.S. private-sector employers offer paid parental leave, said Ness.

Employees are always entitled to the most generous combination of leave, whether the federal government's FMLA, corporate policy or state unpaid leave laws -- but paid leave is usually subbed in for, not added to the unpaid weeks of leave guaranteed by FMLA. That decision is at an employer's discretion.

At least 11 states have unpaid-leave laws of their own, according to the Department of Labor's Web site.

California and Washington are the only states with paid-leave laws on the books.

In California, which offers the more generous program, fathers who pay a small weekly sum from payroll deductions are entitled to six weeks off, available throughout one year, to care for a new baby (or sick family member).

Mothers who pay in get 12 weeks -- up to six weeks of pregnancy disability after delivery, plus six weeks to "bond with a new child."

Compensation is usually about 55 percent of weekly salary, with a maximum of $917 a week.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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