Pros And Cons Of Paid Leave

Canada passed a new law on minimum wage and paid leave for workers in 2017 (The Ministry of Labour). According to The Ministry of Labour, the minimum wage has risen to $14 from $11.40, increasing the number of days for emergency leave, prohibiting doctor’s sick leave, and allowing employees to take leave when there is a threat, such as an employee or a child's sexual assault. Some people think many small and medium companies will drop in profit to expand paid leave and they are worried about economic stagnation, so expanded paid leave is an issue in Canada. Some people said paid leave will have negative economic effects. This is because paid leave can reduce the quality of the enterprise due to the increase in costs for the companies and a

Certainly, some people think that paid leave can be disadvantageous to women and businesses. According to Calder, Policy Analyst at Cato Institute, women's pregnancy can lead to increased health care costs and loss of workforce. Employers can reduce the employment of women and disadvantages women's promotion and training, because companies consider the cost of pregnant woman. Nevertheless, paid leave helps maintain jobs for women after they give birth to a child. Economists said that paid leave helps increase the chances of a woman returning to work after childbirth, work more hours later, and receive more wages. Paid leave also may not be beneficial to the business, but neither does it do any damage. In addition, Ruth Milkman, a sociologist at the Graduate Center, City University of New York said that “For workers who use these programs, they are extremely beneficial, And the business lobby’s predictions about how these programs are really a big burden on employers are not accurate” (qtd. in Miller). Paid leave protects the mental health of women after childbirth. According to studies, women who receive paid parental leave are less likely to suffer from depression. If they receive the longer paid parental leave, they can be eighteen percent less likely to get depression thirty years later in life. (qtd. in Wallace and Christensen). In other words, Paid leave makes it possible for women to maintain their social position and

Some employers believed that the provision of paid sick leave should raise the price of the company's product and services or reduce the employee's working hours and benefits. An Institute for Women’s Policy Research study said that in San Francisco, thirty percent of low-paid workers were fired or given shortened hours due to paid sick leave, however, paid leave which is paid sick time helps to maintain the health of workers. One study said that when many workers become infected with the flu, they may have difficulty with their job duties. However, the rate of flu infection in businesses that provide paid sick leave has been reduced (qtd. in Michel). Paid sick leave can increase profitability by preventing disease spreading to company. If companies that do not arrange paid sick leave are informed about the problem of an infectious disease, the company will suffer great losses. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), forty nine percent of food workers had diarrhea or vomiting, but they came to work to receive wages. If the client is infected with the disease through workers who have disease, the company will suffer a great loss (qtd. in Michel). In other words, the loss to the enterprise due to the spread of the disease or infection of the client because the employee does not provide paid sick leave may be greater than the loss for the paid sick leave, so worker health reduces losses due to