In a big win for University of Wisconsin System employees, The Board of Regents will be reviewing changes to their parental leave policy to include six weeks of paid parental leave for qualifying employees starting July 1, according to the Cap Times.
Current policy does not provide paid parental or maternity leave, according to the UW System Website. In the event of childbirth or adoption, the employee must use their paid sick, vacation or personal holiday days or request unpaid leave, according to the Wisconsin Family And Medical Leave Act.
This news has been met with mixed reactions from labor unions, professor emeritus at UW and treasurer of the Wisconsin University Union Lydia Zepeda said. Though the policy change is a victory for employees, the proposal does not go far enough, Zepeda said.
“It’s as though you’re basically saying drop the baby and keep on working,” Zepeda said. “We’re happy that there is some paid leave, but clearly it’s not enough.”
Likewise, the Teaching Assistants’ Association, a union representing graduate student workers at UW–Madison, has advocated for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for UW employees, according to the TAA website.
Childbirth can have severe financial and physical consequences that parents, especially birth mothers, need more than six weeks to prepare for and recover from, Zepeda said.
“One thing about the paid parental leave here is you have to ask permission to start your leave if you want to start it before the child is actually born,” Zepeda said. “They basically erased the fact that pregnancy and childbirth are actual physical things that happen and require recovery.”
Opponents of paid parental leave argue paid leave programs place an undue financial burden on the employer, according to a publication from Stanford Institute For Economic Policy Research.
But, the program, with an estimated cost of $458,500.72, is supported by UW–Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, who has pointed out the cost is little in comparison with the university’s other spending, according to the Cap Times.
Though this policy chiefly affects UW System employees, it is essential students cultivate compassion toward working parents, even if they do not have children themselves, Zepeda said.
“Nobody should ever want other people to not have the time that they need to help their loved ones, to help their family, to raise their family and no one should ever be as stressed out as people are in America trying to balance family with work and [their] financial situation,” Zepeda said.
The Board of Regents’ Business and Finance Committee is set to meet Thursday to discuss the new paid parental leave policy ahead of its execution in July.
