Is Parental Leave Costly for Firms and Coworkers?

Abstract

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Mandated Sick Pay: Coverage, Utilization, and Crowding-In

“…In related work about paid leave, Waldfogel (1999) shows that FMLA increased coverage rates and leave usage, in particular usage of parental leave. Note, however, that paid sick leave differs from parental leave in both aim and scope (Rossin-Slater et al, 2013;Lalive et al, 2014;Baum and Ruhm, 2016;Brenøe et al, 2020). Whereas sick leave coverage is an insurance against wage losses due to sickness, parental leave is typically mandated with the objective of balancing employees' family and work responsibilities and addressing gender inequality in the workplace.…”

Competition and Career Advancement: The Hidden Costs of Paid Leave

“…For male (female) co-workers who are non-fathers (non-mothers), there is hardly any impact (columns (3) and (4)). Although the variation we exploit here comes from a male employee's paternity leave, the lack of significant general spillover effects echoes the findings of Gallen (2018) and Brenøe et al (2020) who examine maternity leave's spillover effects on coworkers using different reforms in Denmark.…”

The Impact of Paid Family Leave on Employers: Evidence from New York

“…Lastly, four recent studies using administrative data from Europe have analyzed the impacts of employee leave-taking on outcomes among employers. Brenøe et al (2020) use Danish data, and find no impacts of a female employee taking parental leave on firm output, profitability, or survival. By contrast, Gallen (2019) indicates that a Danish reform that expanded fully-compensated parental leave by 22 weeks did have a negative effect on firm survival and the retention of mothers.…”