As part of our ongoing coverage of paid leave, we’re rounding up the most important news from the week. Here’s what you need to know about paid leave, working parents, and child care in the United States and abroad.
Ex-Amazon employee says she was pushed out after returning from maternity leave and cancer treatment. In an essay on Medium, the company’s former editorial director Julia Cheiffetz described her own Amazon horror story after being diagnosed with cancer six week’s post-childbirth. Her plea to Jeff Bezos: "Reevaluate your parental leave policies."
The latest new perk in the employee-benefits arms race: Management consultants at Accenture will now have the option of working for local clients for their first year as new parents—letting them skip the weekly plane trips away from home.
Life as a working mother is hard—unless you live in Sweden. That’s the conclusion of a new study by a sociologist at U.T. Austin, comparing the experiences of middle-income working mothers in the U.S., Sweden, Italy, and Germany.
Finally, a UPS for breast milk. Milk Stork, a new Palo Alto-based start up, will deliver pre-paid milk shipping supplies for breastfeeding moms on business trips—for the steep price of $99 a day.
This is what progress on paid sick leave looks like. Over the last nine years, 10 million more workers have gained access to paid sick leave, thanks to state and local legislation.
