What is Maternity leave ?

California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island now have paid maternity leave laws. California offers new mothers up to six weeks, at 55% of their salary. New Jersey offers six weeks and two-thirds of salary. Rhode Island pays four weeks at 60%.

Unpaid parental or family leave is provided when an employer is required to hold an employee's job while that employee is taking leave. Paid parental or family leave provides paid time off work to care for or make arrangements for the welfare of a child or dependent family member.

The three most common models of funding are social insurance/social security (where employees, employers, or taxpayers in general contribute to a specific public fund), employer liability (where the employer must pay the employee for the length of leave), and mixed policies that combine both social security and employer liability.

Parental leave has been available as a legal right and/or governmental program for many years, in one form or another. In 2014, the International Labour Organization reviewed parental leave policies in 185 countries and territories, and found that all countries except Papua New Guinea have laws mandating some form of parental leave.

Because maternity leave policies are left up to private corporations and not the government, a specific population is benefitting from them, and low-income workers are being left out. When it comes down to it, the ability to adjust to motherhood (or fatherhood) and learn to care for a child is a luxury only some people can afford.

A different study showed that of 186 countries examined, 96% offered some pay to mothers during leave, but only 81 of those countries offered the same for fathers.

The United States, Suriname, Papua New Guinea, and a few island countries in the Pacific Ocean are the only countries in the United Nations that do not require employers to provide paid time off for new parents.

None of the changes companies are making are exactly lush or comforting, or even comparable to other countries' national policies, and only federal and/or state laws for paid maternity leave will help all Americans. But, they are a move in the right direction.

Other research shows that other tech companies have decent maternity leave policies as well. Facebook, for instance, offers equal time off for all parents, and a $4,000 bonus for baby care. Apple offers four weeks off before birth and 16 weeks after, and fathers and adoptive parents can take six weeks off. Yahoo offers 16 weeks of paid time off for mothers, and eight weeks for fathers and parents of adopted children. Instagram and Reddit offer 17 weeks to mothers, and Twitter offers 20, and all offer paid time off to fathers and adoptive parents.