July 11, 2006
The Workplace Flexibility 2010 News Roundup is a compilation of the latest news articles, reports and other materials related to workplace flexibility. The News Roundup appears twice-weekly. If you have questions about any of the items, please contact Jennifer Hedrick at jlh62@law.georgetown.edu.
Articles
Commentary: Where the Women Are
"While the number of women in law schools now roughly equals the number of men, the same, unfortunately does not hold true when it comes to women partners in law firms. The National Association for Law Placement reports that about 17 percent of partners at major law firms are women, up from 13 percent 10 years ago. While that's progress, the numbers are not increasing as quickly as most of us would like.”
Pregnant Women and Moms Find Workplace Bias Still a Fact of Life
"Kathryn Sheehan started her family when she was a customer service representative for New Jersey Bell in the 1970s. At the time, the company required pregnant workers to go on maternity leave well before their due dates, with no credit toward their pensions for the time off. ‘It was just the policy. Back in those days, you did what they told you to do,’ said Sheehan, who took mandated leaves when she was pregnant with her two sons. Now 55, the Hamilton Township resident will share in a $49 million class-action settlement won last month from Verizon Communications Inc. She is one of more than 12,000 who participated in the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission case.” Mentions Joan Williams.
Flexibility Needed in Modern Workplace
"As work hours stretch and employees bring work home, work during vacation and relinquish vacation time, Americans are paying the price in more health problems, more depression and less family time. The work-life mismatch hurts businesses, too, experts say.” Mentions Ellen Galinsky, Barbara Schneider and Phyllis Moen.
New Rulings Clarify Job Protections of Children with Disabilities
"Employees who care for children and other family members with disabilities face acute work-family hassles. Until recently, little attention was paid by courts and enforcement agencies. But amid an increase in lawsuits and questions from the public, new, in-depth guidance on caregivers' rights is emerging on several fronts, from court rulings to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission advisories.”
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Executive Moms Always Work Balancing Act
"There's no such thing as perfect timing when it comes to the non-stop juggling act that is a high-level career and motherhood, an act women in increasing numbers face as they move up the ranks in corporate America and beyond. Whether they come to it early or late in their careers, out of the blue or through a carefully choreographed life plan, executive women balancing dual responsibilities quickly learn that doing both well requires skills that weren't on the syllabus when they were at school.” Mentions Ellen Galinsky.
Giving Day-Care Cash to Stay-at-Home Parents Sounds Like Politics to Some Canadians
"Canada's new Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has ventured into territory where few men dare to tread: the mommy wars. Mr. Harper's first budget included a new policy that takes effect this month and has become a lightning rod in the debate between stay-at-home moms and their working peers.”
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Carers Win Most Far Reaching Right So Far
"Work and Families Bill receives Royal Assent on 21 June 2006. A major step forward for carers, business and the economy reached the statute books yesterday as carers won the right to request flexible working. Carers UK, the leading carers’ charity, is hailing the new legislation as a triumph. It has campaigned long and hard for the new right - the most far reaching that carers have gained so far, affecting more than any other to date. The groundbreaking Work and Families Act 2006 will come into effect in April 2007 and will enable carers to better juggle work with their caring role.”
Employers' Cost for Elder Caregiving is on the Rise
"U.S. employers are paying an increasingly steep price in lost productivity for workers who take time off from their jobs to care for elderly family members. Working caregivers cost businesses as much as $34 billion a year, or an average $2,110 each for the estimated 15.9 million caregivers working full time, according to research to be released today by the nonprofit National Alliance for Caregiving and MetLife Inc. Employers' annual cost is about 16% higher, or $4 billion more a year, when compared with the results of a similar study in 1997.”
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Rice Gets a Scolding
"Angered by Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice's demand last month that a dozen women working part-time in her office either come back full-time or quit, the New York Women's Bar Association has launched a statewide campaign aimed at pressuring law offices to be more family-friendly. Rice's policy has been denounced by some as unfair and insensitive to working mothers. But Rice has said that at a time when her office is understaffed, the move is necessary to prosecute crime aggressively.”
Please see the first link below to access this story. The remaining links reflect some of the back and forth of this story, including an article by Rice and a New York Times editorial.
Reports
Litigating the Maternal Wall: U .S. Lawsuits Charging Discrimination Against Workers With Family Responsibilities
"This report examines the growing trend in lawsuits filed by workers alleging they were discriminated against because of their family caregiving responsibilities. The number of such cases has grown from a total of eight in the 1970s, when the first case was heard in U.S. courts, to 358 in the first half of the 2000s.”