<<To clarify the "poor planning" part, first of all, it doesn't matter how
long in advance the department knows, if they do not have enough resources
to cover the position of someone on maternity leave they simply cannot do
it.>>
Additionally, it is often easier said than done to replace someone in
either very a specific position or in a geographic/facility location that
does not automatically draw a large number of applicants - irrespective of
the reason for the leave. The "concern" over pregnancy, rightly or wrongly,
generally seems to arise as this form of leave is more "planned" than the
unavoidable aspects of unplanned leave for health reasons.
As Bill notes, this inability of a department to respond in the best manner
possible (when faced with many limitations) creates a very poor dynamic.
Mark Felton
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William Silvert
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ORG> To
Sent by: [email protected]
"Ecological cc
Society of
America: grants, Subject
jobs, news" Re: gender issues in ecology
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]
V.UMD.EDU>
11/02/2006 12:20
PM
Please respond to
William Silvert
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ORG>
To clarify the "poor planning" part, first of all, it doesn't matter how
long in advance the department knows, if they do not have enough resources
to cover the position of someone on maternity leave they simply cannot do
it. Planning is no substitute for a decent budget. My point was that for an
institute to tell its department to provide maternity leave (or any other
benefit) without providing financial support for it puts a lot of pressure
on the departments involved to try to get around the issue, and this can
lead to sex descrimination. If we want to get rid of discriminatory
practices, we have to get rid of the incentive to discriminate.
As for having "4-6 months to plan ahead", that is not always available.
While I think that any responsible employee would provide the information
as
soon as pregnancy has been determined, this does not always happen. Even
after a woman begins to show, it is pretty delicate to have to ask whether
she is pregnant or just putting on weight. In any case, if the pregnancy is
likely to create hardship for the department, the pressure to conceal a
pregnancy exists. That is another reason why the institute, not the
individual department, should shoulder the financial (and personnel) burden
of maternity leave.
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bilodeau, Rebecca -- MFG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 5:40 PM
Subject: Re: gender issues in ecology
> The issue of someone "suddenly leaving on maternity leave" is a
> non-issue in most cases. Generally the University/company has at least
> 4-6 months to plan ahead. What about staff who suddenly leave on any
> medical leave due to stroke, heart attack, family medical emergencies?
> Everyone has seen examples of that in both men and women. That can
> happen to any person, regardless of gender or age, and is a more
> expensive issue because it is unplanned. In the examples Bill provided,
> it sounded like very poor planning on the department/lab's behalf.
