Cover story: Family leave is not ‘for women only’

Family leave “is not just a woman’s issue; it’s a parent’s issue,” according to Daniel Gordon, a UUP member and an assistant professor of music at SUNY Plattsburgh.

Gordon put that philosophy into action in 1999 and again in 2000, when he invoked what Plattsburgh Chapter officials have called the most extensive use ever in New York of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

Gordon employed a little-known feature of the act that allowed him to double the usual 12 weeks of leave. He used the time to be home with his wife, Irma, and newborn daughter, Saana. As he planned his initial 12 weeks, Gordon read the act’s language closely and realized he could take a second 12 weeks of parental leave as long it was in a different calendar year and was still within his child’s first year of life.

Gordon notes that his use of the Family and Medical Leave Act would work only for academics who have a winter break between semesters, because their absence wouldn’t be felt during the break. Professionals often work through the break and can’t easily divide two periods of family leave between calendar years.

Gordon’s wife is from Finland, which has a national policy of paid parental leave. Both of Gordon’s leaves were unpaid, but Gordon was willing to make the financial sacrifice. However, he knows that’s not an option for everyone, and his experience highlights the need for paid family leave.

“There is no question in my mind that this was the best thing I could do for the wellbeing of my daughter,” Gordon said.

Gordon returned to SUNY Plattsburgh for the balance of the semester at the completion of each 12-week leave. Because it was too late by then to begin teaching, he worked on a special assignment, surveying public school students for a project in his department.

His daughter is now three years old, and Gordon looks back on that time at home with his family as a precious interlude. He has since joined the union’s Family Leave Committee.

His time off gave him valuable insight into how Americans view parenting. Gordon notes that the United States largely expects new parents to make a choice: their work or their child. Choosing to make the child a priority is seldom easy and almost always costly.

“I’m not a single father, but I took this time off because I think fathers should be with their kids in the first year of life as much as possible,” Gordon said. “I’m proud of it.”

For more information on the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, go to the fact sheet and reference guide on the act published by the U.S. Department of Labor at: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/.

— Darryl McGrath