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THE UNITED STATES AS AN ANOMALY IN MATERNITY LEAVE POLICY
One would be hard-pressed to identify even a few ways in which the United States, global superpower and home to the world's largest economy, can be appropriately equated to Papua New Guinea, the small island nation in the southwestern Pacific whose emerging market economy currently ranks 135th in the world. In one area, however, the United States is more like Papua New Guinea than like any other nation in the world. That area is federal policy regarding maternity leave, or the temporary period of absence granted to a female employee before and after the birth (or adoption) of a child. Indeed, of 185 countries and territories, the United States, Papua New Guinea, and Suriname are the only three that have no legal provisions to provide cash benefits to women during maternity leave. Until recently, this group included the Sultanate of Oman, but paid maternity leave was declared a statutory right there in 2011.
Woefully Inadequate Maternity Leave Policy in the United States
In the United States, maternity leave at the federal level is still primarily governed by a 1993 law known as the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The Act was signed into law by the Clinton administration after parental rights activists spent nearly a decade advocating for improved access to job-protected leave. Under the FMLA, eligible employees are entitled to take twelve workweeks of leave in a one-year period for approved family or medical reasons, essentially any that would prevent an employee from carrying out the basic functions of his or her job. This includes the birth or adoption of a child, but also a variety of other burdens unrelated to maternity leave concerns, such as the serious injury or illness of an immediate family member. Notably, the FMLA does not require employers to provide pay of any kind during periods of job-protected leave. Of course, employers are free to offer paid leave as a sort of fringe benefit if they so choose, though recent estimates suggest that only about one in ten American workers is covered by such voluntary payments.
To be sure, the FMLA was an important milestone toward improving the ability of new parents to care for a newborn...