FAMILY LEAVE POLICY
Many propose you are in charge of your own body, until you want to keep your baby. Then it is everyone else’s problem. However, if you choose to become pregnant, that is not everyone else’s problem to solve. Congratulations! As in centuries past it is part of human generations, and in my era there were supposed to be family and friends who assisted. If you lived close (its a good idea really) your cousins, uncles and aunts could lend a hand and provide low cost baby sitting. Why would you start a family away from your family? Poor planning or necessity? My mom stopped working until the youngest was old enough to fend for himself. My wife and I took it seriously and I became the sole breadwinner. She returned to the job market after the kids were grown. We made a logical choice. It meant we couldn’t afford a new car or live in a gated community.
Should your employer allow you to take more than a few weeks off? Sure.
Should your employer continue your health insurance policy? Maybe.
But if your employer is going to pay your salary for several months without the benefit of your business-related production there may be consequences. For one, your single co-worker won’t be getting that salary increase. That means he won’t have the finances to pay for the wedding he is eager to plan with his S.O. It means that your other co-worker won’t get the pay raise she needs to buy that house she and her family desperately need. In other words, the money for your time away comes out of someone else’s pocket. Do you think it is fair that you can decide that for them? Meanwhile, your employer is losing money she needs to hire additional staff to expand the business. Your decision locks a bunch of doors others may need open.
I can see a way out of this.
Let’s say you want to spend 3 months at home with your newborn. The company gives you two weeks with base pay. They also set up a fund you can contribute to FROM your pay before your family leave. For every $9 you put in they will throw in an extra $1. Others can contribute gifts, too. The government could consider that money as “tax free” so that your budget goes further. You are only allowed to withdraw your base salary per week off. Your decision (to become pregnant); your money tax free set up beforehand in a special fund. Neither your co-workers, nor your employer are “damaged” significantly by your decision.
It is more “fair” for everyone.
There are those who don’t agree with me (no one has to agree with me but should explain why paying others is a good idea in general). For example, Elissa Strauss, in Greater Good Magazine. She says: “Of all the policy changes that could help parents and caregivers, none is as morally intuitive, politically feasible, structurally possible, and economically smart as a paid family leave.”
Like any “pay-money-to-others” program ever devised, this SEEMS like a good idea until one begins running the numbers. These programs always seem to work real well when the finances are hidden. But the moment the costs become known it is painfully obvious that these types of programs do NOT work very well at all.
For example, government decided to pay people (tax benefit) to buy e-cars, then tauted how “efficient” those cars were. Without the subsidies those cars are not very “efficient” after all. Sans subsidies the buyer would NEVER recoup the cost of purchase over a gas car. Who is paying for the buyer’s “efficiency?” YOU, even though you didn’t buy the car. AND, it works “so well” when only 7% of Americans buy e-cars because the cost can be hidden in vast budgets; but what would happen if 70% of Americans bought e-cars? Suddenly, the government could not “afford” to do it.
Another example, same thing, if you buy solar panels for your home the government will subsidize that. Hundreds of thousands did. The cost of the government subsidies was hidden in the balloon-type budget. However, if 70% of Americans did it the government could not afford to continue the program.
Clearly, if people pay into a program, like they do for Social Security, then they should reap the benefits of their investment (it is not an investment in the traditional sense, but you understand the point). Where the SSA got into trouble was when legislators decided to “expand” it to cover things they didn’t fund (like dependents, spousal benefits, and disability … all “worthy” expansions, but unfunded). As a result, the system is incapable of fulfilling its primary mission … to supply secure retirement income for workers.
See! This kind of “pay-money-to-others” program is GREAT when it can be hidden in some indecipherable government budget, but once the true cost is known because many more are taking advantage of it, it becomes clear that it is not-great! Suddenly, it is a burden on society.
Here’s the question one needs to ask any time someone comes up with a “pay-money-to-others” program: “Who is going to pay for this?” The answer is not pleasant: “YOU ARE.”
What is the moral value of stealing from YOU to pay others? May I mention that you can’t do that in real life. Robin Hood is a story, not a policy.
Your body, your choice. Your choice, your money. Don’t expect others to pay for your choices in life. You want a bottle of wine or a packet of M&Ms? Well, maybe there’s a government program that will pay for it? Hopefully not!
Of course, there is always the “but what if…” What if the husband filed for divorce? What if the pregnancy was caused by rape? What if… What if… What if… The “what iffers” forget one solid fact: I didn’t cause that woman’s pregnancy. Whoever DID should pay.
Pregnancy should be planned. Every time a couple has intimate relations they are “planning” a potential pregnancy. (See! I know how babies happen!) Before doing that behavior they should put a $20 bill in a “kiddy fund”, eh? That makes sense. That’s a “pay as you go” plan.
Copyright 2025 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
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