Quote:
Originally Posted by Quindin  Chronic Crissy
Do you happen to be somewhere in Scandinavia?
The maternity/paternity laws there are soooo wonderful!
In the country we used to live in, women got fully paid leave bginning on week 36 of pregnancy and lasting until the baby was 6mo, and then they could also take off until 12 mos for slightly less pay. Mom and dad can split the leave equally, which ensures that men and women are really equal in the eyes of employers!
And then there is the 35 week parental leave which can be taken anytime before the kid is 5 I believe all together or spread (for about 40% of the pay)
I wish other countries in the world understood what huge benefits they woukd have for society if they supported patents of little ones more . It is not charity - it is investing in strong family foundation, happy kids and of course, happy employees! So much talk about "family values" in the US, and yet people are left having to take days from sick leave in order to be with their baby, or maybe not even being able to be there at all  |
Actually I'm Canadian! So we get free healthcare as well and no hospital or midwife bills, now we just need to get us doulas recognized, lol. The maternity leave is provided to mothers, and is about 9 months, it is ment for the mother to have time to fully heal during the stressful transistion into parenthood. However we also have a daycare shortage here right now for toddlers and up, very few daycares even take infants between 6-12months, and almost none take 6 months or younger.
The parental leave can be split between the two parents or taken completely by one or the other and is 35 weeks, but really works out to 37 because the first 2 weeks are unpaid. what they do is take the money they would have paid you and recycle it back into the system to pay the deductable for the claim, so you don't ever pay a penny. I feel they should be placed at the last two weeks, but that's just me. But you can only take this begining in your childs first year or when you have a new child move into the familyadopted or not.
Then we have compassionate care leave, which I believe is another 9 months, and is used when you are needed to care for someone in your family who is ill or medically in need of the assistance. This is flexible however and you can get extensions but it's not indefinate.
So say both me and DH have our 900 hours of employment with any number of employers, over the last 2 years(which he does but I don't having not really ever worked). I would be able to apply for the 35 weeks of mat leave and take it at 36 weeks, which would end when the baby was about 8 months old.
Now say when I gave birth there was a terrible complication which caused our baby to be hospitalized for 4 months, and require care for and additional 4 months at home. Now also say that I had a complicated c-section and myself was in need of help for 2 months post partum.
It doesn't make sense to place my compassion leave in the middle of my mat leave even though can. It just confuses the system and even though they back pay you eventually it really isn't worth the hassle.
But DH is able to take the compassion leave for those 2 months I am ill, then start the additional 6 months left of the childs needed care, giving him till the child is 8 months.
But when that 8 months rolls around we can apply for our paternal leave since it is within the first year. To me it would just be logical for us to split the mat leave and that would maen and additional 4.5 months each to spend at home. Giving us both a complete year nearly fully paid(but we can work up to %40 of our normal hours which would actually get us very far ahead in our bills).
And then if your job doesn't want you back you get to begin a full unemployment claim until you find a suitable job(Hate to say it we are booming here), which is about 8-9 months.
Crazy huh?
I hate to say it but we pay alot less of our earnings towards taxes than Americans when you look at it, and get so many services.
I envy you Chronic Chrissy!
WOW. Where do you live? I am moving there!
Follow Mothering