Major San Antonio Employer Increases Time For Paid Family Leave

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Paid maternity leave is linked to numerous positive health outcomes for parents and baby, breastfeeding is one.

Sadly, in the U.S., only 12% of private sector workers have access to paid family leave through their employers.

The Thing About Paid Family Leave Policies

The thing about paid family leave policies in the U.S., is that the U.S. does not mandate paid family leave. California, New Jersey, Rhode Island and soon New York are the only states to have state-mandated paid leave plans in place.

Among 41 industrialized nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and European Union, the U.S. is the only country not to require paid maternity leave.

The U.S. provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave through the federal Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to care for a newborn, adopted or foster child. However, this only applies to employers with more than 50 employees, thus many women are not eligible. Even if eligible, low-income families cannot afford to take time off without pay. Latina women in particularly are less likely to utilize maternity leave compared with non-Latino white and black women, according to data from the CDC National Survey of Family Growth.

Federal, state, and employer policies mandating paid maternity, paternity, and parental leave can have a huge impact on Latino breastfeeding rates and overall health, particularly in San Antonio, Texas (68% Latino).

For example, in California, where a paid family leave program is currently in place, breastfeeding duration was twice as long among mothers who took paid family leave, according to our research review. Each additional week of paid maternity leave has the potential to increase breastfeeding duration by nearly half a week.

What Are Employers Doing in San Antonio?

Starting in July 2017, USAA Financial Services, the second largest private employer in San Antonio, Texas, with over 17,000 employees, will increase the amount of paid family leave from 8 weeks to 12 weeks when a child joins the family either by birth or adoption.

Rackspace, a managed-cloud provider in San Antonio, employees about 3,000 and also offers up 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, according to an article in the Rivard Report. The author also states that UT Health San Antonio, with 5,400 employees, does not provide paid family leave, and H-E-B and Frost Bank, the largest and third largest private employers in San Antonio with over 20,000 and nearly 4,000, respectively, declined to discuss their paid family leave policies.

In 2016, the Department of Defense increased paid military maternity leave from 6 to 12 weeks, which will have a big impact in Texas, the third highest military population in the nation, and even bigger impact in San Antonio, which is known as “Military City USA” with Lackland Air Force Base and Fort Sam Houston, employing almost 70,000 combined.

What can you do?

Know your state family and medical leave laws.

Know your rights in the workplace when it comes to breastfeeding.

• Nationally, employers are required to provide reasonable break time and a place other than a bathroom, for the employee to express breast milk for one year after the child’s birth.
• Learn more about your state’s breastfeeding laws.
• Texas public employees have the right to express breast milk in the workplace, and Texas employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees because they assert their right to express breast milk.