Discuss bucking a pattern. Over the previous few years, *the* story relating to Biglaw parental leave has been growth. Rising the number of weeks, making the coverage gender neutral, ramp-up intervals with a reduced billing expectation for brand spanking new dad and mom returning to work — only a entire host of how to make being a mum or dad and a Biglaw legal professional on the similar time extra humane. And at a time when work/life stability is fueling lateral strikes, this pattern is mutually helpful — serving to attorneys on the agency by means of the rising pains of recent parenthood and protecting them on the agency to the good thing about Biglaw.
However DLA Piper simply went the wrong way — at this time, they introduced they’re slashing the parental go away supplied by the agency by six weeks. As reported by tipsters:
DLA piper diminished its parental go away coverage for non-birthing dad and mom. Beforehand they supplied 18 weeks to all dad and mom. New coverage supplies 12 weeks of go away for child bonding and 6 extra weeks of quick time period incapacity for attorneys who give start.
Right here’s the agency’s e-mail on the topic.
This fully screws over adoptive dad and mom, foster dad and mom, fathers, and even birthing dad and mom are taking successful. There’s not been a change to quick time period incapacity/medical go away, so although birthing dad and mom can nonetheless get to 18 weeks off by combining go away with short-term incapacity, they’ll not hit the 24-week threshold.
Critically, that is all types of fucked up. Above the Regulation has been tracking parental leave in Biglaw since 2008 — that is the primary time anybody at ATL can keep in mind a agency taking a step backwards and really slicing again on the quantity of go away supplied. What a horrible search for the agency.
Additionally, did DLA Piper be taught completely nothing from the Kyte Child parental leave PR disaster? The once-trendy child model screwed over an worker who was adopting a toddler. Consequently, they’ve confronted huge backlash.
I can also’t assist however word how horrible the efficient date for the brand new coverage is as nicely. Any go away that begins after Could 1 will likely be diminished. Are you able to think about being seven months pregnant, having you and your accomplice’s paternity go away plan all found out, and discovering out now your accomplice has to return to work six weeks sooner than you’d deliberate? When you might have a new child, six weeks would possibly as nicely be a lifetime, and this throws all of these meticulous plans out the window.
No matter financial profit DLA Piper thinks they’re getting from this new coverage, it can’t be definitely worth the unhealthy will they’re sowing amongst their attorneys. That is completely the sort of factor associates go away companies over — as a result of even when they aren’t instantly impacted by the change, it exhibits how little the agency really cares about their non-partner attorneys.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Regulation, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the very best, so please join together with her. Be happy to e-mail her with any ideas, questions, or feedback and observe her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.
