Happy (belated) Mother's Day, 'Merica—now get back to work!
On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver pointed out how preposterous it is that here in the United States we're all about celebrating moms on this special day, yet we're one of only two countries in the world (the other being Papau New Guinea) that don't mandate paid maternity leave for new mothers.
Here in America, federal law grants workers 12 weeks of unpaid leave—but not every female worker can get that. Only women who have been employed full-time for more than 1 year at a company with at least 50 employees is entitled to get this unpaid leave. "What that means is that 40 percent of workers are not covered under the federal law," Oliver noted. "So if a worker with no paid leave goes into labor at work, she better hope it's on her lunch hour and that her co-workers don't mind if the break room gets a bit messy."
The Last Week Tonight host pointed out that many women have to get "creative" in taking time off immediately after giving birth—often using up vacation and sick days and charging expenses they're unable to cover to credit cards they'll struggle to pay off. "This is not how it's supposed to work," Oliver said. "Mothers shouldn't have to stitch time together to recover from childbirth."
He went on to point out the hypocrisy of lawmakers in Minnesota who, despite voting against the Women's Security Act (which sought to protect new mothers' rights in the workplace), they posted their own Mother's Day tributes and videos Sunday. "It is interesting that Rep. Dan Hall's mother taught him that there's two sides to every story, because you might like to know that he and every other lawmaker you just saw, voted against that bill," Oliver said.
"And you can't have it both ways," he went on. "You can't go on and on about how much you love mothers and then fail to support legislation that makes life easier for them...In fact, until we, as a country, do something to address this, this should be the only message that we're allowed to send on Mother's Day."
In a spoof mocking this country's lack of paid parental leave (for new moms and dads), America Ferrera played a flustered new mom forced back into the labor force far before she was ready. Last Week Tonight's parody was really summed up by a booming voiceover, proclaiming, "You deserve the very best moms. You're just not going to get it."