Navy triples paid maternity leave

[turtlegirl]

Has this been discussed yet? I heard the story on NPR this morning.

money.cnn.com/2015/07/02/pf/navy-paid-maternity-leave/

Navy and Marine women now get 18 weeks of paid maternity leave to be taken anytime during the first year.

[turtlegirl]

It's effective immediately and retroactively can be taken by any women who gave birth in 2015.

[dcn]

I think it is amazing and hope the other branches follow suit!

[noodleoo]

That's awesome!

[simpsongal]

Pipe dreamin' that the Federal Government will follow suit.

[AmyRI]

It's awesome. I selfishly wish they cared about their civilian workforce even half as much as they care about enlisted women, but I realize they have far less flexibility than I do. Great news.

[turtlegirl]

Yeah - the NPR radio piece mention that it will probably only effect about 5,000 women. But that overall it will hopefully just set a higher standard for other branches of the military, federal government and maybe even American business' to follow suit.

[mlt]

It's a good start. Time for the federal government and the other branches to follow suit.

[azurely]

That's great news. I hope other branches and businesses do the same.

[simpsongal]

Jul 8, 2015 13:26:41 GMT -5 AmyRI said:

It's awesome. I selfishly wish they cared about their civilian workforce even half as much as they care about enlisted women, but I realize they have far less flexibility than I do. Great news.

It's probably stupid but I was just thinking today what a significant benefit paid maternity leave would be for me.  I hoard my sick and annual leave - if I got paid maternity that's worth like $30K in salary.  I realize that argument may be used by opponents to say it's too expensive.  But I think the argument can just as easily be flipped on its head to say I'm $30K in the hole (and $60K after our next). Eta, on second thought I'm not "in the hole." I just want to take vacations like my childless coworkers