Paid Leave Should Be Mandatory For All Jobs

Paid leave is absolutely a human necessity in the modern corporate world. So why should that same need be denied for those in the restaurant industry? 

Maternity leave grants working mothers the chance to recover after their pregnancy and spend time with their newborn. In addition to bonding with their children and teaching them basic life skills, paid maternity leave correlates with a significant boost in women returning to the workforce within a year. This,  in turn boosts, the American economy, as about 56% of women work in the US.

In addition to expectant mothers, there’s also bereavement. If an employee is granted time off after the loss of a loved one, not only will they have the opportunity to cope with the loss of that person in their lives, but, when they return to work, they are ready to work again.. Not granting bereavement leave could be detrimental to the individual who is grieving and  negatively impact the company’s output as well (for example, if the grieving employee is underperforming). 

Both these issues and more involving paid leave also affects restaurant workers. 

They’re around people day in and day out,preparing food and drinks and  serving  said items in a quick, efficient, and amicable manner. Grieving in the service industry will not only affect one’s tips if they are struggling to remain positive, but will affect the public’s perception of that restaurant as well. After all, who wants to see their waitress cry? 

I vividly remember when my grandmother died. At the time, I  let my job know right away as soon as a date was set for the funeral, which was less than a week after she passed. However, I was still expected to work that night. When I texted my boss to let him know I would be late to my night shift because of the funeral) they said, “Just get here when you can.” 

That night, I trained a new employee on the bar and cried into a handful of margaritas. I went outside, took a 15 minute smoke break after bumming a cigarette from the dishwasher, and accidently split trash when I was trying to lift a heavy bag by myself. My contacts were glued to my tear soaked eyes; I did the restaurant zero favors that night. But hey, I showed up right?

My best friend is currently expecting a beautiful baby boy. She, too, is a bartender and has been serving for a majority of her life. But even though she’s got less than a month before the baby comes,  she’s still working. We catch up and she tells me how tired she is, how much her feet hurt, and how she’s ready to have him already. 

When she called me crying about how she felt bad for calling out, I finally blurted out, “Girl, to hell with it! Take time for you, us friends and family got you!”

But she said no.Her restaurant doesn’t offer a full maternity leave, so she is using a sort of FMLA to get an additional 6 weeks of time with her newborn, despite it being unpaid.

While my friend  doesn’t get a full maternity leave, there is a program that allows her to take that additional time off. In the grand scheme of things, though, she only gets 3 months off work, half of it being unpaid. There is no way this is enough time to recover from childbirth and also attend to crucial parental duties, yet she’s just happy she gets time at all. 

Paid leave should be mandatory for all jobs, regardless of how corporate or how customer facing they are. 

Life gets real for all of us, and, when it does, we need to attend to it immediately.. Every parent should be able to spend time with their children. Every great loss should be mourned and accepted. We should be allowed to propel ourselves forward in such trying times. Programs that accelerate that growth in humanity are imperative to our success in all areas of life; it’s more than just getting a paycheck. 

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash