Readying company leave policies for 2018

We all have our little holiday rituals. Some of us bake cookies to share over holiday meals. Others spend an inordinate amount of time wrapping presents so that they look just so, while still others put real time into thinking about the New Year’s resolutions that they will make and break.

At the company where you work, it is likely that people in the HR department are going through an annual end-of-the-year ritual, too. They’re readying updates to the employee handbook and company policy that will position the firm for 2018. One update a human resources publication urges employers to make is to end discrimination based on gender in family leave.

Two recently filed lawsuits should give employers pause, says the founder and CEO of LeaveLogic, a leave management company. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a suit against a company that provides less paid leave for new fathers to bond with their babies than new moms are to receive.

Earlier this year, the ACLU sued JPMorgan Chase & Co. over its parental leave policy that only considers mothers to be primary caregivers.

The LeaveLogic CEO says, “The best in class advice that employers are receiving today is that you do not have a different policy [for men and women] for bonding.” Of course, birth mothers can and should receive recovery time for labor and birth, but bonding time should be equal for moms and dads, she says.

If you have questions about the Family Medical Leave Act or a Milwaukee company’s discriminatory leave policy, contact an attorney experienced in employment law litigation.

Archives

FindLaw Network