If Facebook had announced a generous new paternity leave policy this week, it would have gotten some publicity and helped expectant fathers who work for the social media giant. But it would not have mattered as much as CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement that he was taking two months off to be with his newborn daughter.
That's because policies are just paperwork if they aren't backed up by company values. And nothing shows a company's values more than the actions of its leadership.
As an attorney who works in employment law and a father of four children, I have seen first-hand how paternity leave policies can be undermined by supervisors who don't value fatherhood.
The law is clear: Many new fathers have a right to unpaid leave. The Family Medical Leave Act requires that employers with 50 or more employees provide parents of newborns and adopted children time off to care and bond with those children. Some state laws provide more generous protections, while many big employers go further and offer paid leave as well.
In addition, federal law also protects men from being discriminated against for being fathers. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the nation's primary anti-discrimination law, makes it unlawful for employers to penalize employees based on stereotypes. That means a supervisor who decided that a new father who took paternity leave was no longer "management material" could be in trouble. In fact the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) issued guidance in June 2015, re-enforcing the fact that the Commission will pursue cases against employers that discriminate based on gender stereotypes about parenthood. The Commission also, for the first time, took the position that is it unlawful for a company to offer women more leave than men to bond with a new child.
But the law can only go so far. Legal protection mostly matters after discrimination has occurred, as cases work their way through the court system. In the short term, your job and even your career can still be derailed.
Research suggests that cultural notions about work and parenthood hurt both fathers and mothers. Studies suggest that women with resumes indicating they have children (e.g., "PTA President") are less likely to get the job. Men with the same lines on their resumes are more likely to get hired but are perceived as less committed to the job if they request childcare leave. In short: Men can be fathers, just not involved ones.
Josh Levs, a reporter at CNN, lived this. After the birth of his third child, the company refused to give him the same amount of leave offered to women, he filed a claim with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The case has since been resolved after CNN changed its policy to allow men and women equal time off to bond with their newborn. Mr. Levs went on to write a book, "All In," detailing the challenges fathers face in the workplace and steps our country can take to address them.
Federal court dockets in every jurisdiction see lawsuits detailing companies that interfered with or retaliated against an employee for trying to take family leave or fired them based on stereotyped beliefs that a new father requesting time off is no longer a "company man." The same federal dockets included employees who lose these cases because they can be difficult to prove. (Though, as attorney who fights these cases, I'd like to point out that they can be won.)
And for each lawsuit pursued there are ten other employees who did not know that his or her rights had been violated - or believed that trying to address the wrongdoing would be futile.
Though research suggests that men also experience discrimination when they ask for time off, our practice sees few men seeking to remedy caregiver discrimination. One possibility for this is that men fear they will be even further ostracized for choosing to pursue these claims.
How much better is a workplace that not only complies with the law, but embraces its spirit? Mark Zuckerberg has done just that, sending a signal to every Facebook employee that the company values families and the demands on new parents including dads. Even better, he has given the lie to the broader societal notion that strong men committed to their job must always put work before family.
Tom Spiggle is author of "You're Pregnant? You're Fired: Protecting Mothers, Fathers, and Other Caregivers in the Workplace." He is founder of the Spiggle Law Firm based in Arlington, Va., where he focuses on workplace law specializing in helping clients facing pregnancy discrimination or other family-care issues, such as caring for a sick child or elderly parent. To learn more, visit: www.yourepregnantyourefired.com.