Paid Worker Role and Health 469SIDEBAR 12.3:Family-Supportive Work Environment
Because there is the potential for both role overload and role conflict when the paid work role
is combined with family roles, many employers have taken action to support families. There are
ways that employment can provide resources to cope with family issues. First, employers can
provide child care support, in terms of on-site day care or monetary subsidies. Second, employ-
ers can provide flexible work hours.
A third policy that employers can institute is family leave. Most developed countries pro-
vide some kind of leave for parents with children and hold their job until they return. Mothers
and fathers receive paid entitlement to parental leave in 66 countries (O’Brien, Brandth, &
Kvande, 2007). The most extensive leave policies are found in the Nordic countries. Iceland has
a nine-month leave: three months maternity, three months paternity, and three months to be
shared, with up to 80% of salary paid (O’Brien et al., 2007). In Sweden, national paternity leave
has been in existence since 1974 (Klinth, 2008). In 1992, corporations in Sweden were required
to file an “action plan for equality” in which they outlined their policy to recruit, retain, and pro-
mote women. Although paternity leave facilitates this, few corporations have any kind of formal
programs. Today in Sweden, both parents are provided with a total of 16 months leave, 13 for
which they receive 80% of their salary and 3 for which they receive a fixed amount. They can take
this leave at any time until the child reaches 8 years old. Mothers and fathers can distribute the
leave between themselves in any way that they wish. Typically, mothers take the first part of the
leave and fathers take the second part.
In the United States, there is no national paternity leave policy; in fact, there is no national
paid leave. However, in 1993, President Clinton signed into law the Family and Medical Leave
Act (FMLA). The FMLA allows employees to take a 12-week unpaid leave of absence from em-
ployment to care for a child or an ill relative without fear of losing their jobs. In 2002, California
became the first state to provide paid family leave, with six weeks of leave at 55% of one’s salary
(O’Brien et al., 2007). Although there is no national policy for paid paternity leave, many fathers
do take time off from paid work when they have children. In a nationally representative sample
of 10,000 fathers, 89% took some time off (Nepomnyaschy & Waldfogel, 2007). However, a ma-
jority do not take off much time—64% took off one week or less.
Fathers are five times more likely to take parental leave if their employers offer it (Tanaka &
Waldfogel, 2007). A major difference between the policies in the United States and other coun-
tries, such as Sweden, is that the leave is unpaid in the United States but paid in other countries.
In the United States, men typically use their vacation days or personal days for child care. Be-
cause state and federal legislation in the United States has increased opportunities for parental
leave, more women and men have taken advantage of it (Han, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2009). Even
in Sweden, 90% of fathers take` paternity leave but they only use 20% of the days to which they
are entitled (Haas & Hwang, 2008; Klinth, 2008). This means that there are other reasons why
men in the United States and men elsewhere do not take paternity leave.
One obstacle is the connection of work to the male gender role. Some men believe that
employers and coworkers have a negative attitude toward paternity leave and that taking leave
would be viewed as unmasculine and as lacking a commitment to work. Although organizations
provide for paternity leave to avoid sex discrimination charges, they do not necessarily encour-
age men to take advantage of it. In fact, after the FMLA became law in 1993, two lawsuits were
filed by fathers who said they were discriminated against when they tried to take a family leave
to care for a newborn. In 1999, Kevin Knussman, a former Maryland state trooper, was awardedM12_HELG0185_04_SE_C12.indd 469 6/21/11 9:16 AM