For the longest time, many employers differentiated between “maternity” leave and “paternity” leave in their policy manuals.
A typical maternity leave would offer six to 12 weeks of salary replacement for new mothers, while offering only one to two weeks of salary replacement for new fathers. Over time, society began catching up with reality, and now most employers acknowledge that traditional definitions of gender and family no longer apply. As a result, antiquated policies have been modified to offer paid “parental” leave to new parents.
