In an effort to build loyalty and make the Navy more family-friendly, the service is now granting paid paternity leave to new fathers - with some exceptions.
The provision, part of the 2009 defense authorization act, makes active-duty sailors eligible for 10 days of administrative leave after their wives give birth. Unmarried sailors do not qualify for the benefit.
Previously, sailors had to use personal leave time.
Stephanie Miller, deputy director of the Navy's Task Force Life/Work, said the service pushed for the legislation for multiple reasons. One is parity - Navy women get 42 days of leave after delivering a baby, and adoptive parents are allotted 21 days.
It also recognizes that a growing number of women deliver babies by Caesarean section, which requires more recovery time than a vaginal delivery. "This gives dads an opportunity to share the weight," Miller said.
One of the biggest reasons for the change is to keep the Navy competitive in recruiting and retaining talented people.
"Even though it's a fast-growing benefit, there's not a ton of companies who offer it," Miller said.
The administrative leave won't immediately help expectant fathers who are deployed on ships or serving in war zones. It wasn't designed to get those sailors home for a child's birth, Miller said. But they would be able to use it later, as long as it's taken within a year of their child's birth. Commanding officers must approve the leave.
The provision went into effect in mid-October, so sailors who used personal leave for a child's birth over the past month can get it back.
Lt. Cmdr. Norm Macgregor is already planning his paternity leave. His wife is due Dec. 18.
Macgregor took about six days of personal leave when his son was born in July 2006. He would have taken more but had to return to work to participate in a military exercise.
Macgregor, assigned to Fleet Forces Command at Norfolk Naval Station, has already submitted the required paperwork. His boss - a father of four - joked about the 40 days of leave he would have gotten under the policy.
The new policy eases his worries about having enough time off, he said. "With new babies, you never know if they're going to be sick, or if they'll need more time in the hospital."
Miller said the new policy doesn't have a direct cost, outside of a small reduction in productivity. She said roughly 18,000 babies are born to Navy fathers annually.
"It doesn't cost us to give this leave," she said. "We felt the benefits far outweighed what the opportunity cost was."
The legislation authorizes the secretary of each military branch to implement paternity leave. Miller said she thinks the Navy is the first to do so across the ranks.
Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com
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To you crying cranky old sailors.
Quit crying about new fathers getting paternity leave, just because some were not out hitting ports bedding every !questionable! woman who would give them the time of day, does not mean caring and supportive fathers would not benefit from the additional time needed to help in this particular time. Enjoy you life how it is and put you sniveling jealousy to the side, times have changed and the military is evolving, no matter how or what you want to label it.
10 Days Free Leave
I am a retired Air Force MSgt. Back in the day when a Military members
with a civilian spouse gave birth he could apply for emergency leave up to 30 days, but the leave was deducted from his accrued leave. It was abused. Through the years medical authorities determined birth was not an emergency and this leave reason was removed from the regulations. Now they are reinstating it as a retention incentive but, it will not be deducted from your leave account, Just put the old rule back and at least they will be charged the leave. Watch, this entitlement will be offered to male members who have kids out of wedlock with their girl friend, they finally gave them housing allowance. Maybe we should change the name from Department of Defense to Department of Social Service
STEVEH3
Very well.
Navy turning into the auto Industry
Seems to me like the Navy is turning into the Auto Industry with all those Benifits!!! With the economy like it is ....someone thought this would be a good idea?? Next they will be looking for a bail out. No industry in the world comes close to their benifits. It is the Military not Hollywood! Auto workers join the Navy. Everyone else buy a foreign car, Workers happy with the bucks and benifits, everyone has a cheap good car, Problem solved....
motobecane
For 26 years (14 at sea), I have stood the watch and done everything you've done and then some. And my wife and I had two kids along the way. I also know what your work schedule is like aboard ship and ashore so you can save your argument about your challenges. 30 days leave accrued per year is plenty of time....especially if managed properly.
If the benefits are better
If the benefits are better than your current job quit and join the Navy!
Is the reason for this leave
Is the reason for this leave medical or for bonding? If for bonding, the child feeds and sleeps for the first several weeks......why does dad need to be there? Is it for medical reasons? What will be next, medical leave for a face lift or gastric bypass?
Paternity Leave
There's a few people who have posted about this costing the taxpayer more money, and the military already gets 30 days paid leave, etc... How about you come stand the watch, do the jobs, and deal with the challenges the military deals with. This will free me up to sit at home and make posts about the military eating up my tax dollar, while you are working to ensure my freedom to do so.
It's absolutely stunning to
It's absolutely stunning to me to read how negative some people are. Sure, Sailors get 30 days of paid leave each year...but, given the extremely long periods they spend away from their families and the difficulty they have reconnecting with their children...I think this is a justifable and compassionate leave to provide new dads.
Here we go again. More
Here we go again. More people whining about leave and how much they earn. Funny, my husband rarely got to take leave more then 3-4 days at a time and it had to go through many avenues before it's even approved. When he retired, he had a ton of paid leave on the books.... gee, if he got to actually take it all, it wouldn't accumulate. Just because the military earns the leave doesn't mean they ever see it. The only reason it paid off for us was it helped during his lay-off time while waiting to start a new position. Even at my job in Corp. America, if I get 30 days of paid leave a year, I cannot take more than 2 weeks off without some kind of crazy approval. You people kill me. Dads deserve to be home with their mates and bond with their new baby. Unmarried Dads rarely have to be the one at home with the baby on their own so it makes perfect sense this is a benefit to unmarried women only. It's more for MEDICAL reasons since they just HAD the baby. I hope this makes sense without sounding like I am partial to one vs. the other.
New Navy
It's a nice perk for the troops. However, many senior enlisted and officers will not have the luxury of taking it when onboard ship and you always having critical inspections and readying for sea. It's nice to talk about warm fuzzies like this, but in reality everyone has a job to do and paternity (PA Leave) leave is not affordable in today's manpower climate.
Confused about this discrimination idea
I'm confused about this single sailor discrimination issue. I sailor names his dependents on his page 2. There's no requirement for a spouse to be listed. There are plenty of single sailors with dependents currently serving. So where is the discrimination?
Great Step!
Wow! This is a very exciting change. Clearly, the Navy wants to be competitive in retaining good people. It's also encouraging the Navy recognizes the importance of strong families in maintaing morale.
Navy Babies
With all those boys and girls living together on the Love Boats of the US Navy there obviously is a need for paternity and maternity leave. Perhaps nurseries on board the ships and married cabins to encourage sailors to get married. Same sex cabins too, of course, to be equitable.
Navy paternity leave.
Yet another example of Americans wanting something for nothing, costing the taxpayers more money. Military members already get 30 days leave per year earned at a rate of 2 1/2 days per month. If a sailor starts saving leave when learning of wife's pregnancy, he will have 22 1/2 days of leave to take when the baby is born. But no, lets just encourage more births, and overburden the taxpayer just a little more.
Paternity Leave for Sailors
What the general public probably doesn't know and what the Sailors who are posting here won't offer up is that in addition to 12 federal holidays worth of time off each year, Sailors can earn up to 30 days of paid leave a year and can carry as much as 60 days of leave on the books. More if they've been deployed. So, giving new Dads another 10 days of paid leave seems excessive. I would suggest the guys plan better and use some of their regular leave to cover the 10 days.
30 days already
Sailors already get 30 days of paid leave per year which is generous compared to any other industry. Their leave should come from that allotment. That policy is fair to everyone and has worked for many years without problems.
Indeed...
"The administrative leave won't immediately help expectant fathers who are deployed on ships or serving in war zones. It wasn't designed to get those sailors home for a child's birth, Miller said. But they would be able to use it later, as long as it's taken within a year of their child's birth."
I trust there is a provision in place for new fathers to take advantage of this benefit should they be kept from taking leave for whatever mission-readiness reason after the year has expired?
I think this is a positive step in the right direction. As for not allowing unwed fathers to use this benefit, well, maybe they should have been using a condom. Why commit to making a baby if you can't first commit to marriage (not talking about shot-gun weddings, either...). Perhaps the Navy suspects it to be an abusive trend like sailors marrying foreigners for greencard purposes?
"Is it not unlawful gender
"Is it not unlawful gender discrimination to grant maternity leave yet withhold paternity leave?"
No. Because the leave granted to mothers after giving birth is now considered to be medically based, just like recovering after surgery.
I'll believe it when i see it for myself..
.. because it looks like lip service to me. Typical Navy trying to look good when the problem is within, and rotting it out from within.