Does the FMLA really cover a new parent needs?

Моя экзаменационная работа по письменному английскому. Эта тема меня глубоко волнует. Получила А+. Только б это что-то могло изменить.

As the mother of two little children, I had to go through a lot of maternity issues while having both of them in the USA. The biggest issue is the situation with maternity leave. Only one current law has been passed to protect working parents from losing their jobs due to the birth of a child – the FMLA (The Family and Medical Leave Act).  Dr. Dagher in her research gives a complete definition of the FMLA:

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on February 5, 1993, and has been in effect for most employees since August 5, 1993 (Wisensale 2003). Under this act, the employee is provided a maximum of twelve weeks unpaid, job-protected leave per year for giving birth; taking care of a newborn, a newly adopted child, or a foster child; or attending to an immediate family member with a serious health condition or the employee’s own serious health condition.

From this description we can see that the maximum possible maternity leave guaranteed by the government is twelve unpaid weeks. This situation is not ideal when compared to the rest of the world. Elaine Eisenman in her op-ed for CNN says: “This country and Papua New Guinea are the only two countries in the world without paid maternity leave”. Only two countries in the whole world do not have paid maternity leave by law, and one of them is the US. I would like to look deeply into the needs of new parents and examine a few problems that are not covered by the FMLA.

 Every woman needs recovery time after giving birth. It is tremendous work to create a new life, to raise a human being inside you.  Just the delivery process itself, for the first child birth, varies on average from ten to forty eight hours of constant pain and incredible effort. Here we also need to remember the mental stress, if suddenly something goes wrong with the baby or mother. Dr. Dagher in her studies shows: “A study of 436 white, married, first-time mothers… found… that taking more than twenty-four weeks of leave after childbirth, in comparison with nine weeks of leave or less, was associated with better mental health at nine and twelve weeks postpartum”. From here we can make a conclusion that the twelve weeks provided by the FMLA are not enough to recover physically and mentally after giving birth. Some people may say that even six weeks enough to stay home, but it is rather an exception than reality. The majority of new mothers have instincts to spend every possible minute with their beloved baby.

Another question that must be asked: does the FMLA provide enough time for new parents to be able to establish a connection with their baby? Allyson Downey in her book “Here Is The Plan” says: ”Just when you’re starting to feel like you’re getting the hand of this whole baby thing, and maybe even starting to figure out the “the taking care of you” thing, it’s time to go back to work”. That is a brief explanation of a huge problem. You are just starting to get to know a new person in the household, just starting to understand what is going on, how to do laundry, make meals, how to understand the baby’s needs, changing diapers, how to take a shower. And at this point a woman has to go back to work and make a new plan for everything in her just a little stabilized life.

Does FMLA leave cover a baby’s needs, such as an establishing breastfeeding? Breastfeeding is a special topic we need to talk about here. It takes at least two months to establish a normal breastfeeding schedule with no pain from various complications, without a crying, incorrectly latching baby, and without engorgements that come with a fever and incapacity to take care of the family. A new mother also has to start thinking about milk pumping supplies. The baby has to eat something while her mother is at work, and if mother doesn’t pump ahead, the baby has nothing to eat. On their first pumping attempts, most women are incapable of producing enough milk for their baby. On top of that, to start pumping during the period between 6 -10 weeks after giving birth may result in overproduction or engorgement problems. Some people may say that formula is an option. Yes, it is an option, but every mother wants the best for her baby, and research indicates that breast milk is the best option. According to Webmd website (a team of over 100 nationwide doctors and health experts): “Breast milk provides the ideal nutrition for infants. It has a nearly perfect mix of vitamins, protein, and fat…Breast milk contains antibodies that help your baby fight off viruses and bacteria. Breastfeeding lowers your baby's risk of having asthma or allergies.” From here, it is obvious that the best nutrition the baby can get is from breast milk. Every mother should choose this path if she doesn’t have any medical limitations to feed her baby. In addition, formula is ridiculously expensive, especially if the baby is allergic to general formula (unfortunately a lot of babies are allergic to artificial formula).

Pumping at work is a challenge. Women have to take three breaks, 20-30 minutes each, every 2-3 hours at the beginning. If the FMLA would be extended up to six months, there would be no need to pump that much. At the age of six months the baby is getting introduced to the solid food, and the milk demand decreases drastically. If the FMLA would be extended up to twelve months, there would be no need to pump at work at all. I explored a few offered schedules for pumping women, and all of them seemed really tight, with no time left for a husband, which can wreck the whole family.

One more interesting question is the chance of a mother coming back to the same employer. Dr. Dagher in her research mentioned: “Working mothers who gave birth after the passage of the FMLA returned to work more quickly and were more likely to go back to the same employer than those who delivered in the pre-FMLA period.“ From this point of view it is a good law that helps both the new parents and the employer. It was the first written law that guaranteed a work spot after up to twelve weeks of parental absence; it also guarantees to the employer that all investments in the employee will not be lost.

Last, but not least the financial point should be explored. I think that the new parents should not need to choose between paying a household bill or staying few more weeks with their baby. Dr. Elaine Eisenman in her op-ed says: “New parents must choose between paying the bills and staying home long enough to recuperate from childbirth and bond with their infant during those critical early months.” Some parents have a huge pressure when the topic of financial responsibility arises. They have to think about household bills, about the new upcoming “baby” expenses: formula (if breastfeeding didn’t work for any reason), the increase of health insurance, an ability to cover labor (hospital stay expenses) and billions of other new parenting items. And daycare. Most of daycares or babysitters are expensive. Some of them require a deposit ahead to be sure that this particular baby will start at the agreed date. Unpaid FMLA leave doesn’t cover any of these expenses. 

Summarizing everything above, I can say that FMLA leave doesn’t cover new parents needs in many aspects. The current law must be revised. Parents need to have more choices available. If they want to work that’s fine, but if they want to stay with their baby, trying to build a special connection, it should be fine as well. As we know from Dr. Dagher’s research, twelve weeks are not enough for that.  I strongly believe that maternity/paternity leave should last at least six months of paid leave (partially paid by the government and partially by employer) with a possible extension up to twelve months, being paid a smaller amount of money by the government only. Even if a new parent chooses the twelve months option, the employer should keep a position available for this person for the period of absence. I do not see a need to stay at home for the period longer that one year. This is a perfect time frame to be able to start a new family life, finish or organize breastfeeding without pumping at work, to get to know a new little person and cover baby’s needs, and to establish the new rules and responsibilities in the household (which come by default with a new baby). If we try to think about the funding question: where to find the money to pay for the twelve months of maternity leave? Just as an example, we can look at military expenses. Military authorities spend a lot of money for things they do not really need. For example, tank production; according to GlobalSecurity.org  (the leading source of background information and developing news stories in the fields of defense, space, intelligence, WMD, and homeland security): “The cost of a new M1A2 tank is approximately $4.3 million”. And we keep producing more and more of them. Couldn’t that money be better spent for families to be healthy and together?

Both of my precious boys - Charlie (3 years and 9 months) and Dylan (1 year and 5 months)

Work cited

Eisenman, E. Paid parental leave is right, for families and firms. CNN. August 10, 2015. Web. 26 Jul 2016.

Dagher, R.K., McGovern, P.M., Dowd, B.E. Maternity Leave Duration and Postpartum Mental and Physical Health: Implications for Leave Policies Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, Vol. 39, No. 2, April 2014

Downey, A. Here is the plan, Seal Press, 2016. Print.

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/nursing-basics Web. 15 Jul. 2016

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/lima.htm Web. 28 Jul. 2016