Last week the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued guidance for companies on how to protect the rights of caregivers. Caregivers include parents, grandparents and others who have children, as well as those that have personal responsibilities in caring for elderly parents or other relatives. (Check out the guidance at http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/caregiving.html).
This attempt to outline the few legal protections for parents and others in the workplace is a start at supporting families through preventing discrimination against caregivers. However, the U.S. lags far behind the rest of the world in providing such support. For example, the U.S. is one of only five industrialized (out of more than 170) countries that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave; the others are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.
This brings to light an important debate. Should the government legislate parental rights in the worklace? Or should we leave it to businesses to meet the needs of parents because they want to do the right thing, or because they have to do the right thing in order to attract and retain the best workers?
