Dear ‘Your Elected Official’s Name (at the Federal, State, Local, etc. level)’,
Note: you can use “https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials” to find the names and addresses of elected officials across Federal, State, and Local levels of government. Please send this letter to any or all of them, it can be mailed or emailed or both.
I am a constituent of ‘Your Federal State, State District, or Locality’, and as a voter I am concerned with Parental Leave policies in the United States. I am in favor of you taking steps towards expanding protected Parental Leave.
Concerns include:
- The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 not covering enough. This 1993 law only requires 12 weeks of unpaid leave for mothers, among a few other items. This is a paltry protection that doesn’t go far enough to offer the coverage that new parents deserve.
- The World Health Organization recommends a 16 week minimum for parental leave. The US is one of the only developed nations to NOT offer 16 weeks leave and have it be paid. This needs to be rectified.
- The FMLA has certain restrictions that don’t cover certain types of workers, such as Temporary workers and Transgender people. This is discriminatory and the amount of restrictions placed on qualifications for parental leave seem arbitrary at best.
- While some states are passing increased Parental Leave protections, others aren’t. This limits growth and mobility across state lines, especially as abortion and other family health laws are so different across the country.
Suggestions for improving Parental Leave protections are as follows:
- Increasing the federal/state minimums to at least 16 weeks. Longer parental leave has been linked to positive health outcomes for both children and parents, as well as increased career performance.
- Requiring Parental Leave to be paid, whether in full or partial during the leave. Pay during leave is essential for parents to be able to focus on their new children rather than their financial situation. This seems to also disproportionately affect poorer people, and restricts having children to those who don’t have to work, which is an increasingly smaller portion of Americans.
- Reduce the requirements for being able to qualify for Parental Leave. The current restrictions on qualification for leave aren’t inclusive and need to be removed. The current laws communicate that the people who don’t qualify for leave shouldn’t be having children, which is counter to the freedoms we are afforded as Americans.
Parental Leave in the US is an area that is far behind in comparison to other developed nations, and something needs to be done to protect new parents. Longer parental leave has been linked to increased child health and better development, reduction in parental health issues, and reduced ‘motherhood penalty’ in mothers taking time out of their careers to raise children. Thank you, and I look forward to action being taken on expanding protected Parental Leave.
Best,
‘Your Name’