Editor’s note: This commentary is by Tiffany Pelkey of Fairfax, who works at the University of Vermont. The views are her own.
[I] had my first son nine years ago. I planned on using all of the paid time off I accrued at work (about two weeks) plus another two weeks unpaid after his birth. We were a young couple and no matter how much we saved between the two of us, we couldn’t afford to take any more time than that.
We didn’t expect that our son would be born with a really severe case of meconium aspiration syndrome and would need to stay in the NICU for almost a month. Because of this unexpected emergency, I ended up having to take more unpaid leave than originally planned. This took a tremendous toll on my family financially, and the added stress pushed me into post-partum depression, which I then had to tend to through medication and counseling. This isn’t something we could have expected or planned for and that one unexpected event sent my family into financial and emotional turmoil.
This past April, I gave birth to my second child. My partner and I tried the best we could to save up any extra money, which was not much, so that I could take a few weeks off without the financial stress. However, right before the birth of our child, my partner ended up with a serious, unexpected injury. This resulted in his having to work significantly less, bringing home less money than usual. So, we had to use most of the money we saved for maternity leave to meet our regular day-to-day expenses. Yet again, this isn’t something we could have expected or planned for.
If we had family and medical leave insurance, like many other states in the Northeast and the majority of countries around the world, our family would’ve been better able to manage life post-baby and post-injury. Instead, financial difficulties and stress have taken a toll for the long term. We are still trying to recover financially and emotionally from this time.
These challenging life events don’t just take a toll on families outside of the workplace, but they also spill over into an employee’s ability to focus and perform at work. An employee who is dealing with personal issues — whether it be a newborn, a sick newborn, or a sick or injured family member, etc. — is being stretched too thin in all parts of life and will never be able to perform work duties at full capacity.
Research shows that parents should be able to be home and bond with their newborns for at least 12 weeks. But instead of bonding and recuperating, families instead have to immediately put their newborn into child care and shift back to working full time, or sometimes even drop out of the workforce altogether.
Other states and countries have instituted family and medical leave insurance successfully. Vermont has many successful models to follow. This program is such a small upfront cost for a tremendous, lifelong benefit that will support Vermonters through all stages of life. Vermonters can’t afford to not have this support system. I urge the Legislature to move this forward to strengthen our families, workplaces and economy.
