From: orville%weyrich@uunet.uu.net (Orville R. Weyrich)
Subject: Re: Why do Americans get so little vacation time?
Reply-To: uunet.uu.net!weyrich!orville
Organization: Weyrich Computer Consulting
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 92 00:42:14 GMT

In article <ted.718660989@sage0> ted@sage0.gsfc.nasa.gov (Ted Ying) writes:
>orville%weyrich@uunet.uu.net (Orville R. Weyrich) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Oct5.105339.20769@cnplss5.cnps.philips.nl> arjay@cnplss5.cnps.philips.nl (R.J. Kimmel) writes:
>
>>>Family/Maternity Leave that is of obvious use to a women should also be
>>>given to a man who may also, though not quite so obviously, need it as well.
>
>>If the need isn't so obvious, then probably the need isn't as strong. There
>>are actually TWO kinds of needs being discussed here:
>
>>	1) physical needs
>>	2) psychological needs
>
>>In the area of physical needs, women clearly have significantly greater needs
>>than men. Believe me, I was able to work right up to the evening of my child's
>>delivery, and show up at work the next day as well. My wife had a SIGNIFICANTLY
>>harder time of it. I strongly suspect that the experience of my family unit
>>is fairly typical.
>
>	This is all well and fine.  And who did you have around the house	
>	to assist your wife during recovery and take care of the child
>	during that time?

In my case, my mother was present for a while. But I have always [before, 
during, and after delivery] taken the lead in certain household chores
like the laundry. And believe me, I have changed more than a few diapers.
But my wife has a comparative advantage in the area of nursing that I can't
overcome.]

>
>	I agree that we really need to think much more about the
>	consequences of family leave before instituting it, but this is
>	just avoiding the issue.  It is all well and fine that you could
>	work right up to the evening of your child's delivery, but there
>	are some men around who need to take time off to care for a wife
>	after a delivery and to care for a child while the wife is
>	recovering.  Childbirth is very strenuous on the woman and it isn't
>	too easy to recover from such if you have an infant requiring
>	attention every two hours.
>
>>In the area of psychological needs, there is no reason to expect any difference
>>between men and women. But psychology is a pretty wishy-washy subject with lots
>>of different theories that can be used to prove just about any point you might
>>choose. And anyway, we can't afford it given our present budget and trade
>>deficits, without eliminating something else. Exactly what other employer-
>>provided fringe-benefit or government-provided social program do you think is
>>less important than paid "psychological" leave?
>
>	But as another poster corrected me about...what does this have to
>	do with *unpaid* family leave?  Remember that the bill that was
>	veto'ed was for unpaid family leave for mother or father of a
>	newborn.
>
>	I think we still have to consider the issue of what impact this
>	will have on our smaller companies where each staff member is
>	much more critical to the business, but I don't think that the
>	above arguments hold very strong against the proposed unpaid
>	family leave.

Actually, you have just mentioned [and dismissed] my primary concern -- the
cost of replacing a permanent employee by a temporary and ALSO being required
to re-integrate the employee returning from leave. In a fast-moving job
situation, it is a double-whammy. In other cases, the experience of the
returning employee is more valuable than the continuity.

So to summarize:

	1) If continuity is more valuable to the employer in a certain
	   situation, then forcing the employer to preserve and restore the
	   employee's job doubles the burden of the initial loss. In such a 
	   situation, as long as this country has a trade deficit I cannot
	   support legislation that does this.

	2) If experience is more valuable to the employer than continuity,
	   then the employer will want to hold the job open for the employee
	   and no legislation is necessary.


orville

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Orville R. Weyrich, Jr.                        Weyrich Computer Consulting
Certified Data Processor                     POB 5782, Scottsdale, AZ 85261
Certified Systems Professional                   Voice: (602) 391-0821
Certified Computer Programmer            Internet: orville%weyrich@uunet.uu.net
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Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc,fl.jobs,misc.consumers