Paternity Leave For Men

By The Twirlit Team on November 25th, 2008

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Paternity leave is like maternity leave—except for fathers. It is time that a father takes off from work when their child is born, or when they adopt a child. Unlike the UK, there is no federal provision for paternity leave. Some considerate companies offer paid time off for dads ranging from a few days to a few weeks. While there is no nationally instituted paternity leave in the United States, California became the first state to ensure paid family leave in the US as of 2004. If you work in California, you may be able to take up to 6 weeks off with partial pay. Other states have begun to introduce paternity leave bills, but if there is no state-regulated paternity leave in your state then you must either take vacation time, sick days, or negotiate a leave of absence with your employer.
Most employers are reluctant to offer paid leaves of absence, but are often willing to offer unpaid leaves of absence. Increasingly, new fathers are opting for unpaid family leave to spend more time with their new babies or adopted children. If you work for a small business, and report directly to the owner, obviously you can negotiate directly with him or her to obtain your leave of absence. If you work for a larger company, the place to start is not with your boss, but rather with the company’s human resources department. Many companies are subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and will therefore allow up to twelve weeks of unpaid family leave after the birth or adoption of a child—for both women and men. After your twelve weeks, they must give you your job, or a similar job within the company. You will retain your salary, benefits, working conditions and seniority.

How, then, do you know if you’re eligible for leave under the FMLA? There are a number of conditions you must meet. For example, if you work for the state government, a local government, or the United States federal government, or any company that has fifty or more employees within a 75-mile radius of your workplace, then you will likely qualify. You will have to have worked there for at least 12 months, averaging a minimum of 25 hours a week for fifty weeks before you are eligible.

There are, however, some circumstances wherein your lawyer can deny you leave. For example, if you’re in the top ten percent salary-wise in your company, and they can show that your absence will economically damage the organization, then your employer isn’t required to allow you to return. Also, if both you and your partner work for the same company then the two of you are entitled to twelve weeks between you only, not twelve weeks each. If you are for some reason not eligible under federal regulations, you should check to make sure that your state doesn’t have some provision to allow you paternity leave.