COVID PARENTING BENEFITS RECEDE — IS IT POWER OR GREED?

Image: Al Bundy/Played by Ed O’Neill — Married With Children

“Wall Street Journal reports that “Companies Are Cutting Back on Maternity and Paternity Leave. Many employers dial down how much paid time off they give new moms and dads.”

It’s an intriguing social phenomenon. Much of the brouhaha over WFH revolved more around power and control than profitability, as corporate productivity or profitability were stable. But what about employee benefits?

“Benefit” vs. “Necessity” is traditionally defined under an American cultural norm of an employer market and employers’ rights to provide the benefits they see fit. It would seem audacious for employers to call workplace restrooms an employee benefit. But where is the line between what is a necessity vs. a benefit, and who draws it?

The positioning of that line of demarcation is largely under employer control where the law doesn’t dictate it. Employers have an “anti-trust violation” level of market power over what constitutes a benefit vs. necessity. It may be, though, that is simply because it remains unchallenged. Individual workers who feel forced to choose between an employer and childcare necessities are most likely those whom Dr. Chow suggests, women. This is a significant part of the interplay between social norms around protest, roles in the family institution, and pay equity at work, a tripartite…