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More firms offering paternity leave

Giving men benefit of fatherhood

By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff, 6/22/03

Globe Staff Photo/Pat Greenhouse John Murphy of Roslindale took paternity leave from his job at MFS Investment Management to care for his son, Jacob, while his wife works.

When John Murphy's wife, Ruth, gave birth to a premature baby boy in September, Murphy received two weeks paid paternity leave from MFS Investment Management, a Boston mutual fund and investment firm.

''I took my leave concurrent with my wife's, but I waited until our son had come home from the neonatal intensive care unit,'' said the 37-year-old Roslindale resident. ''Even though my company paid for two weeks, I took an additional week. . .I wanted to be emotionally involved in my son's life.''

Twenty years ago, dads were little more than an adjunct to the family scene. They disappeared in the morning, worked long hours, paid the bills, and reappeared on weekends. Fearing repercussions at the office, they dared not ask for time off to spend with wives and newborn children. Babies were women's work.

Then, in 1993, Congress enacted the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. It granted US workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the birth or adoption of a child, and prompted some employers to do more. With working women fast approaching 50 percent of the nation's work force, companies began offering paid maternity leave in a push to retain talented women.

Now, a small but growing number of employers are providing paid paternity leave to fathers. KPMG LLP, Merrill Lynch, J. P. Morgan Chase & Co., Eli Lilly, and Booz Allen Hamilton all have instituted paid leave programs for new fathers in recent years.

Currently, about 13 percent of companies with more than 100 employees offer the benefit, up from just a handful 10 years ago, according to the Families and Work Institute in New York. ''We are seeing more young men who are actively parenting,'' said Kathie Lingle, national work-life director for KPMG LLP, an accounting and tax services firm based in Montvale, N.J. ''There has been a general societal shift. They want to be involved.''

She noted that 50 percent of the 700 or more male KPMG LLP employees who become fathers each year are relying on the benefit, a far higher percentage than the 5 percent participation at most big firms. Since 1993, about 35 million workers have been granted leaves under the Families and Medical Leave Act, with men making up 42 percent of that figure, according to the US Labor Department. Specialists are hoping the increased demand will encourage more companies to use paid paternity leave and other perks to attracttalent.

According to Lingle, that's happened at KPMG. ''Our business hinges on a highly trained work force,'' she said. ''We groom our people or they come to us with advanced degrees. You don't turn your back on those kind of people, not even in an economic downturn. The kind of talent we need is still scarce. So, spending money on people has to be a priority.''

Added James Levine, coauthor of ''Working Fathers: New Strategies for Balancing Work and Family,'' ''When companies go to recruit on college campuses, they are making the point that they offer paid leave and that it is not just for women.''

Levine, who conducts seminars on balancing work and family, said men who do not have children are coming to his talks because they want to know how to manage when they do become fathers.

Last April, after the birth of his second son, Evan, David Manion, 39, of Bellingham, received two weeks of paid leave from KPMG LLP. When his oldest child, Paul, was born more than three years ago, Manion, a manager at the company's assurance practice in Boston, took three weeks' vacation. He was working for a different company then, and a paid leave was not an option.

Among companies offering the benefit, New York-based Merrill Lynch is a trailblazer. The company's leave policy, which was established five years ago, offers 13 weeks paid time off to primary caregivers, male or female. Non-primary caregivers receive one week of paid leave, according to spokeswoman Selena Morris. Paid leaves also are available to adoptive parents.

Jim Toes, a 40-year-old managing director on the equity trading desk at Merrill Lynch, took a one-week paid paternity leave in April after the birth of a daughter, his fourth child. ''By the fourth child, the support network drifts off a bit, and having the extra week helps you get things done around the house and care for the three other kids,'' he said. ''My father is now 83. He was not in the delivery room with any of his babies. He was expected to support his family financially. Now, it is more prevalent for men to take an active role. Women expect it.''

Nevertheless, progress remains slow. Fear of reprisal is still a concern for many men. As a result, relatively few ask for paid leave or the federally protected unpaid leave available under the Families and Medical Leave Act. When the Bureau of Labor Statistics looked at who was applying for leave more than two years ago, it found that of the 26 million leaves granted since the law went into effect, only one half of 1 percent were requested by males.

''In some cases,'' said Levine, ''men assume the company will not be responsive, but they haven't talked to anyone. Their fear may be more of a myth than a reality.''

For some, fear may be justified. Houston Oilers' offensive tackle David Williams learned that the hard way after he skipped a football game in 1993 to be present during the birth of his first child. Williams was fined $11,000.

H. Kevin Knussman faced a similar trial. Knussman (pronounced Ka-noose-man) sued the Maryland State Police for denying him three months unpaid leave following the birth of a daughter. He was approved for 10 days off, but needed more time when his wife developed complications stemming from childbirth. In 1999, a jury awarded Knussman $375,000 in damages for mental anguish, marking the first sex discrimination case brought under the Families and Medical Leave Act.

According to his lawyer, people in the workplace told Knussman: ''Unless your wife is dead or in a coma, you could not be the primary provider,'' and ''God made women to have babies, not men. Men can't breast feed.''

Erin Brownfield, a spokeswoman for the Families and Work Institute, said there has been some progress - but no radical shift. Levine, meanwhile, characterizes the slow but increasing availability of paid paternity leave as ''an evolution, not a revolution.''

''When we looked at Working Mother's 100 best companies for women last year, 44 percent of the firms offered paid leave to new fathers,'' said Brownfield. ''But some of it was partial pay. When we looked at the size of the companies, we found that 20 percent were companies with fewer than 250 workers. As companies got bigger, the number offering leaves went down. Smaller employers seemed to be more family-friendly.''

Murphy hasn't had any problems. When he asked for more time off, MFS granted a six-month unpaid leave to allow him to spend additional time with his son, Jacob Conrad Murphy. For the Murphys, it made financial sense for him to stay home after his wife returned to work. It also helped the new father establish an even closer bond with the child.

''When my wife was in the hospital, I stayed and slept there for days,'' said Murphy, who has three more months of leave remaining. ''I wanted to be involved. I did not have that with my father. Being with Jacob has given me an amazing opportunity to bond with him. I cannot imagine not having taken the time.''

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.

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