What does this mean? That other employees are going to be expected to give up their own vacation/sick leave to pregnant co-workers? The state is so cheap they aren't willing to give them their own leave? WTAF.
this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2026
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Pretty much. Leave sharing policies are usually set up such that in some sort of extraordinary medical circumstance, employees can transfer paid leave to one another.
The idea is sorta that if a loved one has a major medical emergency and needs a lot of care for 3 months, other employees can transfer paid leave to help cover gaps. This makes sense as a way to cover edge cases in extreme circumstances, but "is having a child" definitely isn't such a case.
I’m so happy to life in a country where all sick days are paid. Seems crazy to have to stress about getting paid when you are sick.
The American economy was birthed from chattel slavery so the idea of workers having rights has always been a challenging conceptualization here.
Many CEOs groan when they have to relinquish beyond the bare minimum to their indentured.. cherished essential worker bangs pot.
The sane way is having regulation that protects your income and job for a few months
Pregnancy is not an edge case, though.
That's what they said...
This makes sense as a way to cover edge cases in extreme circumstances, but “is having a child” definitely isn’t such a case.
What's even more nuts is just a few years ago Arkansas passed a bill making it the second highest starting pay for new teachers.
A lot of places have it set up as "compassion leave". Usually it's done by the employee association and they approve it for personal tragedies. If someone's house burns down, for example.
"Donated sick days"? WTF? Sick days should be a right. Maternity leave should be a right.
FMLA IS a right (albeit crap compared to most of the rest of the civilized world). They just find ways to screw people out of it
FMLA? Some kind of US maternity leave?
the right to take the time off, not the right to be paid for it.
For people outside of the US, FMLA is up to three months of unpaid leave where you get the privilege of getting to keep your job and your benefits (though you continue to pay for them while not being paid) if you have a medical justification to be out of work.
For many American women, this is all they have access to for maternity leave. So they power through those three months (caring for a newborn no less) then have to scrap together the cash to put their 4 month old in day care ($15 to $20k annually) while not getting paid for that quarter of the year.
40% of infants are still breast feeding at 12 months. This means a new mom is often trying to find time at work to pump and is providing pumped milk to the daycare to be given to their child while they're working. Health officials consider only 40% to be less than ideal since breastfeeding has immunological and cognitive benefits for infants and remarkably cognitive benefits even for moms later in life. Many American women stop breast feeding at 6 months (the minimum recommended duration) since pumping at work becomes too cumbersome.
Around 40 to 45% of women in the US don't even qualify for FMLA because your employer needs to be large enough (50+ employees) and you need to have worked for them long enough (usually a year) to qualify.
Blue states fill the gap with their own state run programs (still usually only three months, though you get some pay) but if you're in a red state the choice for many women is 1) have children and enter financial ruin or 2) don't have children.
America lags behind most advanced economies in this regard and there isn't any sign of these circumstances improving.
Back when I was a teacher, we could "donate" a number of sick days to a pool that would help other teachers who ended up with long term health issues. And yes, you are correct.
That's the employer's responsibility, not yours
Manufactured subjectivity for serfs: "Remember: Your children are very sacred to us until they are born into in this world; then they become slave-meat for degenerate billionaires."
Well we also don't get a lot of kids in Denmark, in spite of very generous parental benefits. But regardless, this news story is crazy dystopian.
What are "donated sick days" don't you have maternity leave in the USA?
It's where they make you beg your coworkers for their own sick leave to be transferred to you, or have HR send out an email blast begging employees to donate their own meager PTO to you, instead of the employer granting an appropriate amount of sick or maternity leave to begin with.
That's kinda sick (in the sense of being twisted and cruel)
Americans have maternity leave under the Family Medical Leave Act but it's a paltry 12 weeks and unpaid.
So for many people, including these teachers, they have the choice of paying your bills or taking care of your kid or begging your coworkers to please give up their vacation days so you can continue to live while having a baby
Like every other third world country.
Like you get two hours to recover and they shove you back to work.
“Guarantee access to donated leave bank” fuck you. New mothers need a guaranteed six weeks of recovery time and should be able to tag in with their partner for at least a year. Federally guaranteed.
The early years of human life are absolutely crucial for healthy development.
I think it's fascinating how they keep doing bizarro socialism (your sick days? our sick days), just to avoid making capitalists contribute to society.
Who is expected to donate these sick days? Are any women not done with children ever going to donate days? Because you might need those for your own pregnancies. And once you have kids, you need all of your sick days because your kids can't go to daycare or school when they're sick. If you're done raising kids, you're probably old enough for aging related illnesses, you'll need those days for managing care and prevention (colonoscopy for example). That leaves the younger single folks without children, who inevitably have fewer sick days to start. I never had any sick days when I was teaching part time, and no health insurance either.
You couldn’t make this shit up
Should have posted this in nottheonion honestly.
Land of the free
Home of them vs us
Thanks for nothing, Elliott Prick.
Also, fuck you.
I live in this state.
These same folks can't seem to figure out why we've had an ever worsening teacher shortage for the last couple of decades or so, btw. (Spoiler alert: It may not solely be due to the fact that everyone who can gets the fuck out of here as soon as humanly possible 🤯)
Thanks I hate it
Bill will donate every dollar of his for this. Right? I don't think bill thought this through.
I don't think Elliot Pritt will give a single penny to anyone. Sounds like Pritt is a Prick.
What an uncivilized shithole.
Betting this is only the thin end of the wedge.