Equity at the Forefront: Our Paid Parental Leave Policy
“Equity means investing in people,” says Stephanie Taylor, COO. “We always say that our values guide us in everything we do - so, naturally, this extends to our internal Human Resource policies and practices. We are building the beloved community, not only through our work, but through the way we do our work. This means creating and leading from a people-centered culture that values employees as humans with full lives outside of work.
Beloved Community has established a precedent for prioritizing self- and community-care by offering unlimited PTO and an annual sabbatical to our team.
When we realized that a number of our employees welcoming children into their family or needing to take extended personal or medical leave were not covered under our current Flexible PTO Policy nor the National FMLA, we developed a specific Family Leave Policy to ensure every employee has the space and time to care for themselves and family members or welcome children and return to work successfully.
Beloved Community’s Paid Family Leave Policy offers all team members up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave at 100% of pay in the twelve-month period following the birth of a child, adoption of a child, or placement of a foster child in their home.
Paid parental leave can be extended by up to an additional five (5) weeks to care for babies born premature and up to an additional two (2) weeks for any other complications related to welcoming a child or children into their family. To support staff during their return to work, Beloved Community’s Family Leave Policy also includes the following benefits:
“The [Family and Medical Leave Act] simply doesn’t cover enough workers: with so many people employed by small businesses, or self-employed, or in non-traditional work arrangements, as much as 40 percent of the U.S. workforce does not qualify for FMLA protections to deal with for parental, family caregiving or medical needs. Even among those who do qualify, many simply cannot afford to take unpaid leave. Among low-wage and hourly workers—precisely the workers who are least likely to be able to afford going without a paycheck for a period of time—the fraction with access to employer-provided paid leave is even smaller.” - The Bipartisan Policy Center
Parental Leave Stipend. Beloved Community will provide a parental leave stipend to staff for family-related expenses such as breast milk shipping reimbursement (like Milkstork) or subscriptions to tele-health and working parent apps that provide information and consultation with experts across a wide range of parenting and medical topics (like Cleo, Maven, and Kunik).
Family Leave Transition Coaching. In partnership with Parentaly, Beloved Community will provide individual and small group coaching sessions for staff transitioning to and from leave, as well as access to pre-leave and return-to-work dashboards. Parentaly provides working parents with the resources and tools needed for parental leave success, including templates and step-by-step guides for coverage planning and re-onboarding.
Childcare Reimbursement. Beloved Community will provide a childcare reimbursement to any staff who serve as guardian or primary caregiver for children when required to travel for work.
We also offer a transition program allowing staff to work 50% of their standard hours for the first four weeks they’re back at work while 100% of their base pay. If a staff member resides in a state with State Paid Family Leave (CA, MA, NJ, NY, CO, CT, DE, MA, MD, OR, RI, WA and DC), Beloved will supplement the difference between the total state benefits received and the staff member’s regular salary to ensure 100% of regular pay is received.
Paid family and medical leave is essential in the fight to reduce poverty and economic insecurity for families who have caregiving responsibilities. As it stands, no U.S. federal law provides a right to paid family or medical leave.
Almost all of the 193 countries in the United Nations offer paid parental leave to its citizens. The United States is one of the six countries without a national paid leave program. The United States is also the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee any paid leave for workers.
In 1993, Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to grant family and temporary medical leave under certain circumstances for eligible employees. The FMLA requires companies with more than 50 employees to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers to bond with a newborn, newly adopted or newly placed child; care for a seriously ill child, spouse or parent; or care for their own serious health condition without fear of losing their jobs. It does not require paid leave.
FACT: More than 80% of workers in the U.S. have no access to paid leave through their employment. 93% of low-income employees (those in the bottom quarter of wage earners) have no access to paid family leave.
According to the most recent research from the National Compensation Survey, 89% of U.S. workers have access to unpaid family leave via the FMLA. However, only 56% of those workers actually qualify for FMLA benefits.
Lack of access to paid leave exacerbates the increasing economic and care challenges that many families face. For many people, unpaid leave is an unaffordable option. This is especially true for low-income workers who often find themselves having to choose between losing wages, taking less leave than they need, or foregoing leave at all - all of which result in dire consequences for the workers and their families. Studies show that adequate paid leave policies not only reduce financial insecurity for families; they can also lead to lower infant mortality rates, healthy childhood development, and improved health rates among care providers.
Paid family and medical leave can provide workers with much-needed economic security and peace of mind during significant life events, such as childbirth or family illness.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has also found that paid leave for parents benefits businesses by significantly reducing job turnover, improving retention and productivity, and boosting labor force participation. To date, nine states have mandated a form of family or paid parental leave. The benefits speak for themselves, so why aren’t more employers implementing paid family and medical leave policies?
