Reply to How do you feel about those who take a paid maternity leave then quit?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think this causes some anger because of the way the US system is set up. I've previously worked for multiple companies in Canada (12-18mon mat leave), when someone goes on mat leave they generally hire a contract for the same amt of time. There are no hard feelings because someone else has to cover and do 2x work. The person who just got a new job/promotion/stretch assignment is thrilled! If the person decides not to return to work, that job is basically theirs on a permanent basis. 
I don't fault anyone for taking their full, entitled leave, and using that time to decide what they want to do going forward. Maybe thats being a SAHP, maybe it's a different job. Either way, it really doesnt affect me. [/quote]

+1, plus in Canada maternity leave is paid for by the Employment Insurance program, from the government, not by your employer. EI is a system everyone pays into and it's not just for parental leave. So it's more obvious that it's a social benefit designed to help families deal with both childcare and the adjustment to a new baby by ensure that parents can stay home with the baby for the first year if they want (not everyone does want to, by the way).

This is also how it is in most other countries with parental leave (which is most countries), it's just that in the US we've created a system where the leave is federally mandated but not federally funded. So some companies offer it as a benefit (similar to health insurance, another program that is publicly funded in sane countries). Plus of course the leave is shorter. So it's this weird hybrid system where really no one's needs are met -- many workers have no paid leave at all, the ones that do may not have enough leave to ensure quality care for the first year (a major reason many moms leave their jobs after maternity leave is cost/availability of childcare -- they stay home because they can't find care or what they can find in budget is awful), companies and employees have to scramble to cover for the duration of the leave, and the length of the leave makes it unlikely that contract workers will be hired to fill in. It's a bad system, but the idea that it's on pregnant women to "fix" it by repaying maternity leave if they decide to leave their jobs is nuts.[/quote]

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