Deloitte and Zoom Cut Paid Family Leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The U.S. is the only industrialized nation not to have paid family leave as a federal benefit.

This. THe USA makes it so hard to parent compared to other rich countries. But our top 1% controls about 30% of our nation's wealth, so at least we excel in inequality.

[Anonymous]

65 percent of parents feel having one parent home full time with the kids is best.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, young children learn higher levels of self-esteem and self-confidence when they have both parents available to care for them. They also score better on cognitive development tests when one parent is in the home full time for longer periods before returning to the workplace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please stop using term parental leave. It is Maternity leave and in a woke period they gave it to men for no reason .

Which is ripe with fraud. Plus Big 4 has super huge amount of vacation I worked there I had six weeks vacation, plus 10 holidays. Then they added paternity leave which was crazy.

When I left Big 5 I has the max amount of vacation you could accrue. Six weeks was already too much time off to meet charability goals and client needs. Add in Paternity leave I would have lost all my clients in my name. And I had a sales goal.

Stfu grandpa

+1 Feel free to cite the research that shows that parents are using parental leave fraudulently. There's lots of research that shows that paid parental leave provides significant health, economic, and developmental benefits, including reduced infant mortality, increased breastfeeding duration, improved maternal mental health, and higher labor force participation over the long run for women.

I don’t even understand what fraudulent parental leave is. You fake a baby?

No, you have the baby, but then give it up for adoption after the leave is over.

I adopted an infant for the parental leave, but then returned it when the leave was over. The baby wasn't a good fit for our family anyway, so I was glad to get rid of it. I got a dog instead.

You guys crack me up

+1 Did you return the baby at Whole Foods, the Staples dropoff point or UPS?

One of those lazy Susan thingies at the firehouse, where anyone can deposit a baby, no questions asked.

Oh, the take-a-baby leave-a-baby tray!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please stop using term parental leave. It is Maternity leave and in a woke period they gave it to men for no reason .

Which is ripe with fraud. Plus Big 4 has super huge amount of vacation I worked there I had six weeks vacation, plus 10 holidays. Then they added paternity leave which was crazy.

When I left Big 5 I has the max amount of vacation you could accrue. Six weeks was already too much time off to meet charability goals and client needs. Add in Paternity leave I would have lost all my clients in my name. And I had a sales goal.

As long as only women take parental leave, employers will have reasons to discriminate against women in the hiring process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please stop using term parental leave. It is Maternity leave and in a woke period they gave it to men for no reason .

Which is ripe with fraud. Plus Big 4 has super huge amount of vacation I worked there I had six weeks vacation, plus 10 holidays. Then they added paternity leave which was crazy.

When I left Big 5 I has the max amount of vacation you could accrue. Six weeks was already too much time off to meet charability goals and client needs. Add in Paternity leave I would have lost all my clients in my name. And I had a sales goal.

As long as only women take parental leave, employers will have reasons to discriminate against women in the hiring process.

I agree with the poster. Theres medical leave for childbirth and parental leave- these are separate things. If Ted at Accounting gets 12 weeks but Martha in Sales gets 12 weeks but Martha has a csection (which is a surgery) and post partum hemmorhage and post op infection and post partum hypertension they are not the same and should not get the same leave.
There should be medical leave and parental leave. And please do not show ignorance and claim STD covers the former- it does not in all cases as STD is not offered at all employers and pregnancy/childbirth is not a covered condition for all STD policies. When Ted in Accounting has a broken pelvis from BMX adventures, he gets STD and no one holds it against him.
We dont value women and we dont value children. This is our national legacy. Until that changes, none of the corporate stuff matters. I wouldnt be surprised if Trump removes fed paternity leave in the next year or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The U.S. is the only industrialized nation not to have paid family leave as a federal benefit.

This. THe USA makes it so hard to parent compared to other rich countries. But our top 1% controls about 30% of our nation's wealth, so at least we excel in inequality.

Oh please. Americans think other countries have 12w-12m pay at 100% salary. And that's just not the truth.

England:
First 6 weeks: 90% of average weekly earnings
Next 33 weeks: either a fixed statutory amount (£194.32/week for 2026–27) or 90% of earnings, whichever is lower
Final 13 weeks: unpaid

Canada:
Standard leave: up to 12 months total
Paid at about 55% of average earnings
Maximum around $729/week in 2026

France:
In 2026, the maximum maternity payment is about €104/day before deductions.

No offense but I don't only want to make £194.32 a week or even €104 a day (which is €728 a week). That's not maternity leave in my mind. I wanted 12 weeks paid at my salary, which is 150k or about $575 a work day. Americans could just take a year off from working and still come out ahead with more salary over the course of a few years. Americans just feel poor because we got used to a very high standard of living: constant AC/Heat, using dryers for our clothes, 2 late model cars per house, driving everywhere, large homes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The U.S. is the only industrialized nation not to have paid family leave as a federal benefit.

This. THe USA makes it so hard to parent compared to other rich countries. But our top 1% controls about 30% of our nation's wealth, so at least we excel in inequality.

Oh please. Americans think other countries have 12w-12m pay at 100% salary. And that's just not the truth.

England:
First 6 weeks: 90% of average weekly earnings
Next 33 weeks: either a fixed statutory amount (£194.32/week for 2026–27) or 90% of earnings, whichever is lower
Final 13 weeks: unpaid

Canada:
Standard leave: up to 12 months total
Paid at about 55% of average earnings
Maximum around $729/week in 2026

France:
In 2026, the maximum maternity payment is about €104/day before deductions.

No offense but I don't only want to make £194.32 a week or even €104 a day (which is €728 a week). That's not maternity leave in my mind. I wanted 12 weeks paid at my salary, which is 150k or about $575 a work day. Americans could just take a year off from working and still come out ahead with more salary over the course of a few years. Americans just feel poor because we got used to a very high standard of living: constant AC/Heat, using dryers for our clothes, 2 late model cars per house, driving everywhere, large homes.

This is crazy. When I had my kids I had 12 weeks unpaid. The only lucky break I got was FMLA protecting me from being fired while gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The U.S. is the only industrialized nation not to have paid family leave as a federal benefit.

This. THe USA makes it so hard to parent compared to other rich countries. But our top 1% controls about 30% of our nation's wealth, so at least we excel in inequality.

Oh please. Americans think other countries have 12w-12m pay at 100% salary. And that's just not the truth.

England:
First 6 weeks: 90% of average weekly earnings
Next 33 weeks: either a fixed statutory amount (£194.32/week for 2026–27) or 90% of earnings, whichever is lower
Final 13 weeks: unpaid

Canada:
Standard leave: up to 12 months total
Paid at about 55% of average earnings
Maximum around $729/week in 2026

France:
In 2026, the maximum maternity payment is about €104/day before deductions.

No offense but I don't only want to make £194.32 a week or even €104 a day (which is €728 a week). That's not maternity leave in my mind. I wanted 12 weeks paid at my salary, which is 150k or about $575 a work day. Americans could just take a year off from working and still come out ahead with more salary over the course of a few years. Americans just feel poor because we got used to a very high standard of living: constant AC/Heat, using dryers for our clothes, 2 late model cars per house, driving everywhere, large homes.

This is crazy. When I had my kids I had 12 weeks unpaid. The only lucky break I got was FMLA protecting me from being fired while gone.

There is hard data about how much rich European countries contribute for childcare. It's orders of magnitude higher than in the US.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/upshot/child-care-biden.html
How Other Nations Pay for Child Care. The U.S. Is an Outlier.
Rich countries contribute an average of $14,000 per year for a toddler’s care, compared with $500 in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please stop using term parental leave. It is Maternity leave and in a woke period they gave it to men for no reason .

Which is ripe with fraud. Plus Big 4 has super huge amount of vacation I worked there I had six weeks vacation, plus 10 holidays. Then they added paternity leave which was crazy.

When I left Big 5 I has the max amount of vacation you could accrue. Six weeks was already too much time off to meet charability goals and client needs. Add in Paternity leave I would have lost all my clients in my name. And I had a sales goal.

Stfu grandpa

+1 Feel free to cite the research that shows that parents are using parental leave fraudulently. There's lots of research that shows that paid parental leave provides significant health, economic, and developmental benefits, including reduced infant mortality, increased breastfeeding duration, improved maternal mental health, and higher labor force participation over the long run for women.

I don’t even understand what fraudulent parental leave is. You fake a baby?

No, you have the baby, but then give it up for adoption after the leave is over.

I adopted an infant for the parental leave, but then returned it when the leave was over. The baby wasn't a good fit for our family anyway, so I was glad to get rid of it. I got a dog instead.

You guys crack me up

+1 Did you return the baby at Whole Foods, the Staples dropoff point or UPS?

One of those lazy Susan thingies at the firehouse, where anyone can deposit a baby, no questions asked.

Oh, the take-a-baby leave-a-baby tray!

We put our baby in the Little Free Library/Orphanage on the corner when we were done with paternity leave. Sometimes I check to see if there is a baby in there I am interested in, but so far, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please stop using term parental leave. It is Maternity leave and in a woke period they gave it to men for no reason .

Which is ripe with fraud. Plus Big 4 has super huge amount of vacation I worked there I had six weeks vacation, plus 10 holidays. Then they added paternity leave which was crazy.

When I left Big 5 I has the max amount of vacation you could accrue. Six weeks was already too much time off to meet charability goals and client needs. Add in Paternity leave I would have lost all my clients in my name. And I had a sales goal.

Stfu grandpa

+1 Feel free to cite the research that shows that parents are using parental leave fraudulently. There's lots of research that shows that paid parental leave provides significant health, economic, and developmental benefits, including reduced infant mortality, increased breastfeeding duration, improved maternal mental health, and higher labor force participation over the long run for women.

Corporations don't care. They follow the current administration and will do what they think is best to help themselves. If Project 2025 called for stoning women, they'd be all in.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about the labor market. The market for job seekers is bad, so employers don’t have to compete with these types of benefits to get employees. It’s why leave needs to be government-mandated.

THIS. This is the most important takeaway here. Big companies know there’s a recession coming so they won’t need great benefits to attract employees anymore.

Yah, maybe. But bad press is also a thing and this isn't a good look for these two companies. I love how Gen Z will turn down jobs on principle.

[Anonymous]

Even with the cuts, it’s still as generous, if not more generous, than what I have at my private sector job.

How many days of annual leave does everyone get in the private sector? For Deloitte, it looks like even the reduced amount of PTO is better than my PTO now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder why they wouldn’t just shorten it rather than eliminate it

They did not eliminate it—if you read the article Zoom shortened paid leave from 22 to 18 weeks and Deloitte if I recall, shifted it from 16 to 8 (or 12 to 6) and you can have the remainder of the original amount via disability. I believe disability pays at 65%?

I do feel for affected employees but would guess that the modified policies are still better than the vast majority of corporations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please stop using term parental leave. It is Maternity leave and in a woke period they gave it to men for no reason .

Which is ripe with fraud. Plus Big 4 has super huge amount of vacation I worked there I had six weeks vacation, plus 10 holidays. Then they added paternity leave which was crazy.

When I left Big 5 I has the max amount of vacation you could accrue. Six weeks was already too much time off to meet charability goals and client needs. Add in Paternity leave I would have lost all my clients in my name. And I had a sales goal.

Stfu grandpa

+1 Feel free to cite the research that shows that parents are using parental leave fraudulently. There's lots of research that shows that paid parental leave provides significant health, economic, and developmental benefits, including reduced infant mortality, increased breastfeeding duration, improved maternal mental health, and higher labor force participation over the long run for women.

Corporations don't care. They follow the current administration and will do what they think is best to help themselves. If Project 2025 called for stoning women, they'd be all in.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about the labor market. The market for job seekers is bad, so employers don’t have to compete with these types of benefits to get employees. It’s why leave needs to be government-mandated.

THIS. This is the most important takeaway here. Big companies know there’s a recession coming so they won’t need great benefits to attract employees anymore.

Yah, maybe. But bad press is also a thing and this isn't a good look for these two companies. I love how Gen Z will turn down jobs on principle.

Is that why their unemployment rate is so high? Cutting of the nose to spite the face?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even with the cuts, it’s still as generous, if not more generous, than what I have at my private sector job.

How many days of annual leave does everyone get in the private sector? For Deloitte, it looks like even the reduced amount of PTO is better than my PTO now.

Kind of, kind of not. For people who are billable, PTO isn't necessarily the binding constraint, the binding constraint is that you have a utilization target to meet for hours billed. The PTO you have on paper, you may not actually be able to take and still meet that target. If you do take all of that PTO, you can both miss out on compensation in the form of a bonus, but you can also get laid off because they basically have a stack ranking system due to how they do performance evals + layoffs. There have been multiple lawsuits regarding maternity leave specifically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even with the cuts, it’s still as generous, if not more generous, than what I have at my private sector job.

How many days of annual leave does everyone get in the private sector? For Deloitte, it looks like even the reduced amount of PTO is better than my PTO now.

Kind of, kind of not. For people who are billable, PTO isn't necessarily the binding constraint, the binding constraint is that you have a utilization target to meet for hours billed. The PTO you have on paper, you may not actually be able to take and still meet that target. If you do take all of that PTO, you can both miss out on compensation in the form of a bonus, but you can also get laid off because they basically have a stack ranking system due to how they do performance evals + layoffs. There have been multiple lawsuits regarding maternity leave specifically.

I’m in biglaw and have “unlimited PTO” lol.