Maternity Leave Policy - Discrimination?

[cbg]

Okay. If I add the words, "who are" in between "attorneys" and "going" will that make you happy?

 

[Taxing Matters]

Maternity leave is kind of a hot button issue.

"Bbbbbbbbut some workers get more wages and better benefits."

That's not going to change. You aren't rejecting the free enterprise system to say 'boy that's not a good look for an employer to have glaringly different benefits policies for the white collar more likely to be male employees and the pink collar more likely to be female employees.'

It's like you people were asleep for the ramifications of metoo.

The #metoo movement is all about sexual harassment in the workplace. Clearly that is an important issue and one long overdue for correction. But don't muddy that issue with pay and benefit issues, which are of quite a different character.

You evidently see it as sexual discrimination to give better benefits for higher level employees based on the assumption that those employees are more likely to be male. But that is not what the sexual discrimination is. If there is sexual discrimination going on there, that discrimination is in not hiring more women for those higher level jobs. That too that is an important issue. That's where the optics are bad — all (or nearly all) the top level people being male — not that higher level employees get better benefits and pay than lower level employees.

The only way I see differing compensation and benefits based on position as bad optics is if you happen to be a socialist and think that everyone ought to be paid exactly the same and get exactly the same benefits regardless of position. And that philosophy has never worked out very well.

 

[cbg]

And seriously, anyone who thinks any male attorneys (or male any other position, for that matter) is going to be taking maternity leave, that someone needs to check into the nearest community college and take a course in basic biology. Gender issue my foot.

 

[xylene]

And seriously, anyone who thinks any male attorneys (or male any other position, for that matter) is going to be taking maternity leave, that someone needs to check into the nearest community college and take a course in basic biology. Gender issue my foot.

Some women are more equal than others.

Got it. Glad you are comfortable with that.

 

[cbg]

I don't have any issue at all with different classes of employee having different benefits. If you do, that's your problem.

 

[Zigner]

This is not a gender issue.

 

[justalayman]

Some women are more equal than others.

Got it. Glad you are comfortable with that.

The women attorneys, if there are any, presumably get the greater benefits the op is complaining about.

And if you will read the entire thread again, you will see this has absolutely nothing to do with gender discrimination. It is the op complaining about different levels of employees recieving different benefits. Here is one post from the op:

I asked a simple question: is it discrimination or not. I didn't come here to be belittled.

How is my pregnancy less important or valued than any other woman's pregnancy? What does pregnancy have anything to do with a role within an organization?

And thank you for the advice. I am working on it but none of that was part of my original question.

Notice the op spoke of her pregnancy compared to other women’s pregnancies.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Some women are more equal than others.

Got it. Glad you are comfortable with that.

I am comfortable with that. Just as I am comfortable with some men being more equal than other men. A woman attorney by virtue of having job skills that are in more demand than a woman who does not possess those skills merits better pay and benefits. That's the incentive to excel and do the work needed to be able to do those more challenging and in demand positions.

Your position seems to be the socialist one that everyone ought to be paid exactly the same and get exactly the same benefits regardless of what work they do. Otherwise you'd be comfortable that some people are "more equal" than others, too. But as I said, that socialist philosophy does not work very well. It goes against human nature.

 

[xylene]

I'm in the Wall Street Journal comments section I guess.

"You're a socialist." You're pathetic.

 

[xylene]

Perhaps I'm an atheist or some otherwise anti-American buzz word du jour.

Strive for more.

 

[cbg]

So...you don't believe people should be rewarded for academic or employment achievements. Everyone, regardless of what their job is, should get exactly the same benefits. Does that count for compensation, too? Do we pay filing clerks the same as attorneys, and surgeons the same as CNA's?

 

[justalayman]

Perhaps I'm an atheist or some otherwise anti-American buzz word du jour.

Strive for more.

Yes, the op should strive for more if she wishes to enjoy the benefits endowed upon those that did strive for, and achieve, more.

Or she can continue to whine that others have better benefits all while refusing to take the step of furthering her education so she can enjoy those same benefits.

 

[Shadowbunny]

So...you don't believe people should be rewarded for academic or employment achievements. Everyone, regardless of what their job is, should get exactly the same benefits. Does that count for compensation, too? Do we pay filing clerks the same as attorneys, and surgeons the same as CNA's?

xylene, I'm curious as to your reaction to cbg's post. You used the laughing emoji -- does that mean you agree with her, disagree, or find the question funny? And I'm genuinely curious -- it seems like such an odd reaction to a reasonable question.

 

[xylene]

So...you don't believe people should be rewarded for academic or employment achievements.

I never said that, not even suggested it. And that's some hyperbolic nonsense btw.

I do know that an employer offering maternity leave benefits needs to offer them equitably, without gross differences in how they are dispensed, because 2nd class motherhood is a sad and pathetic thing to defend.

Pay and compensation are highly regulated in the interest of the public good. That's not socialism. Not even close.
But accusing someone of that is a sad, weak and feeble argument.

 

[cbg]

You believe that maternity benefits should be identical across the job spectrum. Fine. But there is no law to that effect, so your "knowing" it comes down to opinion.