A Need and an Opportunity
By Juliet Sorensen
Juliet Sorensen, execuitve director of Injustice Watch, with her daughter, Sophia.
Fifteen years ago, I went back to work after the birth of my first daughter. I felt like I was in mourning as I dropped her off at daycare, pumped milk, and clung to her at night. She was so completely dependent on me – how could I abandon her?
To be clear, by the standards of the American workplace in 2005, I had it better than many. After she was born, I took six weeks of sick leave, followed by two weeks of vacation. I was able to afford an additional four weeks of leave without pay.
My employer offered no paid maternity leave.
Today, I am the executive director of a nonprofit investigative journalism organization. When I arrived at Injustice Watch a year ago, the organization had no parental leave policy whatsoever. Since its founding five years ago, the organization’s staff has grown and now consists mostly of young people, with life changes and choices ahead of them.
I saw a need, and also an opportunity. Injustice Watch has implemented a parental leave policy that puts families first. Full-time employees are entitled to 12 weeks of paid family leave – not sick leave or vacation – after the birth or adoption of a child. Employees may also take up to 12 weeks of flexible family leave, which may be leave without pay, accrued vacation, part-time work, or remote work.
So I urge you to benchmark not the industry standard as it is, but as you would like it to be. If you consider your own experience, think not, “My employer’s policies were bearable," but “How could they have been better?”
Last week, I learned of the first Injustice Watch employee to take advantage of the policy – a new father. I couldn’t be happier.
““So I urge you to benchmark not the industry standard as it is, but as you would like it to be”— @JulietSorensen1, Executive Director @Injusticewatch and Clinical Professor @NorthwesternLaw. #PowerToChangeStories”
Juliet Sorensen is Executive Director, Injustice Watch; Clinical Professor, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. @JulietSorensen1 www.injusticewatch.org