I'm a male and I work for a company in Pennsylvania who employees over 2000 people. My wife and I are in the process of adopting our second child, my company offers a "Maternity" leave policy which allows "Female" employees paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child. There are no other leave policies (Paternity/Parental) other than FMLA. We adopted our son a couple of years ago and at the time, I challenged the policy being that it offered adoption leave, I felt it should be open to male employees as well as females. The company was resistant to honor it at first but then reconsidered and gave me paid leave.

This time around they are not honoring it. The same policy is in place and worded the same today as it was four years ago. I can understand not giving a male off for the birth(pregnancy) of a child, however, I can't see the reasoning as to why they won't honor the adoption part of the policy. In my opionion, being that adoption is part of their "maternity" policy it opens up to be more like a "parental" policy. Any feedback on this would be appreciated.

Thanks

Stryper

So exactly how does the policy read in regards to adoption? Obviously you would not be physically able to birth/c-section a baby as a male, but what exactly does it say about adoption and paid leave? I would also think that the precedence has been set since they gave it to you a couple of years back.
Do you have to exhast vacation/PTO time while on leave?
Give us the specifics of the policy as written to be able to better help you.

Thank You for the reply. This is how it is stated:

Purpose
"Company" recognizes that female associates may need to take an extended leave for the birth or adoption of a child. To protect our associates from significant financial loss, we have established a maternity leave benefit

and it goes onto say the years of service that is required to be eligible for the benefit(which I do qualify for up to 8 weeks which I took last time). Then it says that FMLA unpaid leave runs concurrently with Maternity leave

Vacation days cease accruing for the duration of this leave.

Thanks again!

Stryper

I am by no means an attorney, just 'plunged head first' into HR policies. I would think that since they specifically stated 'female', they are probably covered in not allowing you (a male) the paid leave. Does it seem like discrimination, yes. Is it discrimination, probably not. Like I said before, you are physically unable to be a 'mom'. While I think it is probably not illegal or discriminatory, do I think it is a bunch of BS? YES!!!! I feel that whether a biological child or adopted child, the mother AND father need time to welcome the child into this world and more specifically 'their' world.
Wait and see if cbg or EllenMD pick up on this thread. They might have a place to point you to that will help bring your employer to your way of thinking......

I tend to agree with the poster. I think that to offer paid leave to adopt a child to a woman but not to a man is blatant gender discrimination. This is not the same as offering disability benefits to a woman who has been off work to give birth vs. unpaid FMLA for her husband; I could justify that. But both male and female are coming from the same place with an adoption - to require one gender to take unpaid leave but to allow the other gender to take paid leave is discriminatory, and I don't see any other way around it.

Note that I don't necessarily think adoption leave need be paid. I would be fine with offering unpaid leave to both; I would be fine with offering paid leave to both. The discrimination is not in paid or unpaid. It is in paid to one and unpaid to the other.

Your employer needs to make up their mind which it is going to be and apply it equally across the board. Right now, if you were to file a complaint with the EEOC because a woman could take paid adoption leave whereas you are required to take unpaid leave for the same purpose, you would win.

I'm so glad cbg corrected me on this one. I was hoping that it could be discrimination. cbg, would it make a difference that the policy is wrote for 'natural' birth and 'adoption' birth in the same policy? Obviously as a male, he is unable to give birth. I know adoption is a whole different ball of wax though. If he did go in a threaten to file an EEOC claim, could the company then just say 'OK, then, no leave for anybody, woman or man.' Would they still have to honor his, since the policy is being changed because of the EEOC threat. Would he just be better off to complain to the EEOC, period?
Just curious.....

There are some states which require that an employer who offers leave for a birth, must offer the same leave for adoption. I don't recall off the top of my head if PA is one of them, but I'll check that when I next get a chance.

Even if such leave is not required by state law, FMLA permits leave for adoption too. So I think it quite unlikely that they'd risk pulling all leaves altogether. However, they would be in compliance with discrimination laws if they made it UNPAID leave for male and female both. Even if they made that change with reference to an EEOC claim.

But any time that a benefit is granted or denied solely on the basis of gender, that's discrimination.

Remember, at the present moment we are talking about adoption ONLY. It really is different if we're talking natural birth. That has gender-related aspects by its very nature (if you'll pardon the expression).

Thanks for the clarification.
I guess I work for one of the last great companies in the USA. We (being male or female) will receive salary continuation (whether salary or hourly) for 12 weeks for the birth or adoption of a child. They also instituted last year that we may claim 2 times in our career a payment of $5K to help with adoption expenses. I think that is pretty generous by any standards.
Good Luck to the OP on his quest for paid time off. But just like cbg said, when he pushes, they would be OK to pull the plug on the whole policy period.

let me clarify quickly.....pulling the policy means the PAID leave. I know that they would still have to honor UNPAID leave via FMLA rules.....

I want to Thank You both very much for your feedback and perspective on this issue. I was in contact with the benefit department of my company a couple of times this week trying to explain to them that in my opinion, the policy clearly discriminates against males who should be eligible for the same "adoption' part of the benefit as females. I did not receive a clear cut answer as to why they are refusing to pay the benefit this time around other than stating that the company has a set amount of dollars to use for benefits and that this particular benefit wasn't on their agenda. If something would change they would let me know.

Stryper99

If it doesn't change, you are free to contact the EEOC and/or your state civil rights commission. I cannot believe they cannot see the difference between providing disability benefits to a woman who has given birth, and providing paid adoption leave to females but not to males. They are ASKING for someone to file a complaint against them.

Agree with Cbg. With adoption there is never a need to be off medically, so in this situation both Mom and Dad are on equal footing. Paying just Mom is completely in violation of the law. I can't imagine what the company is thinking.