Etsy Announces Awesome Extended Paid Leave For Parents

Etsy has long been the go-to source for handmade goodies like adorable jewelry and crocheted stuffed animals. Now, it’s also rising up to be a role model of workplace parental leave.

The online company just announced that any employee is eligible for 26 weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. That’s six whole months of paid leave!

Etsy is the most recent tech company to jump onto the gender-non-specific, extra-long paid parental leave bandwagon. Netflix, Facebook, and Spotify have all blazed this trail as well. So far, it does not seem to be bankrupting them as doom and gloom paid leave naysayers often predict.

If you aren’t lucky enough to work for a company that offers Etsy-like leave, you’re one of millions of Americans who are only eligible for up to 12 weeks of leave after the birth of a baby.

...If you’re a full-time worker. And have been at your employer long enough to qualify. And your employer is a large enough company to be required to offer the leave.

So maybe you’re entitled to no leave at all. Sorry!

With the paltry 12-week leave policy (which comes with no guarantee of any kind of pay) for only some workers, the US remains the only country in the developed world not to offer paid leave to workers who add children to their family.

Ideally, more companies will follow the lead of tech-sector giants like Etsy. Even better, the government would create a paid leave program for everyone — not just those with certain jobs.