Increase Paid Pregnancy And Parental Leave To Six Months.

 

Parents forming bonds with their children is an essential part to the beginning of a child’s life, and many parents are

unable to do this because their jobs don’t provide much or any parental leave. By extending paid parental leave to six

months, parents will have the job security they need in order to spend time with their family and establish a strong

familial foundation for the new child.

 

Many people want to have and do have children, but parents are often put in an unhappy situation when they are forced to

put their newborns in daycare after a very little or even nonexistent amount of time off. The United States is the only

high-income country without a national policy mandating paid leave for parents, and the state of Minnesota only has

three months of paid leave mandated for parents. According to an article by BBC, only 21% of US workers receive paid

family leave from their employers. However, parental leave is essential for both parents and the child. Mothers need to

rest both physically and mentally from the stress of pregnancy and birth on their bodies, and children need to be able

to bond with their parents. According to a study conducted by NYU Steinhardt Assistant Professor Natalie Brito featuring

a diverse sample of NYC families, three-month old infants with increased activity of higher-frequency brain waves were

7.39 times more likely to have mothers with paid leave. The first few months of an infant’s life are some of the most

important, and the brain is very susceptible to negative experiences like stress from parents. Some stress is normal for

parents as they adjust to their new life with a child, but high stress levels from balancing working and caring for an

infant can actually make a parent less likely to notice an infant’s cues for when they need care. Mothers who are able

to take paid maternity leave are less likely to be re-hospitalized from complications, less likely to have postpartum

depression, and more likely to breastfeed their infant. Infants of mothers who took paid leave are also less likely to

be re-hospitalized, more likely to attend their baby check-ups and receive vaccinations, as well as being more likely to

have better language and socioemotional skills as toddlers.

 

Parent shall be defined as the caregiver and legal guardian of a child.

Parental leave shall be defined as time taken off work by a parent to take care of a new baby, whether the child is

biological, fostered, or adopted.

Maternity leave shall be defined as a period of time taken off work by a mother before and after the birth of a child.

Paid leave shall be defined as a type of employment benefit that allows an employee to take time off work while still

receiving an amount of their salary, either full or partial.

Premium rate shall be defined as a regular payment made to an insurance company to keep the insurance plan active.

 

A premium rate of 1.76% will be collected from each employee wage by the state from employers. Since the six month leave

will be double the three month leave, the 0.88% premium rate from the three month policy is doubled to account for the

doubled time. Premium rates are split between the employer and the employee to equal 1.76% of the employees income, but

employees will not pay more than half of the rate, or 0.88%. Premium rates may fluctuate depending on the year, but they

will not exceed 2%.

 

Companies and employers who do not comply with this law will be subject to a revenue tax, starting at 10% of revenue and

increasing by 5% for each additional month of noncompliance.

 

Funding from premium rates will go into effect on 1/1/2029. The six month leave policy will go into effect on 1/1/2030

to make sure that enough funding is accrued before people begin taking leave.