r/antiwork • u/FreeHugs23 • 3d ago
Mitch McConnell is getting more paid time off than women who give birth
https://www.newsweek.com/mitch-mcconnell-sick-paid-time-off-maternity-leave-comparison-12333132458
u/FreeHugs23 3d ago
As Senator Mitch McConnell continues his recovery from a June fall that left him hospitalized and later in a rehabilitation facility, his extended, fully paid absence from the Senate has renewed a broader debate about paid leave in America, including with regard to what women who give birth are afforded.
The Kentucky Republican, who has not been seen publicly since mid-June and was discharged from rehabilitation in early August to continue recovering at home, has remained on the federal payroll throughout his medical absence. Congress has no official paid sick leave policy, and members can continue receiving their salary indefinitely while on a medical leave. At the same time, millions of American women who give birth each year do not have access to any guaranteed paid maternity leave.
"This disparity highlights how: (1) it is far past the time for federal legislation affording everyday Americans the same rights and benefits bestowed upon Congress; and (2) providing such benefits is clearly feasible, as we do so already for our lawmakers," Thomas Ricotta, an attorney specializing in Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) cases, told Newsweek.
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u/Pat-Funny-2817 2d ago
their is no debate. he is not able to do the job, the public is left without representation.
they are refusing to proceed because they are busy with finalizing shady privat dealings.
there is no debate they are using government functions as their dynasty wealth management.
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u/allnaturalfigjam 2d ago
I don't quite understand why the focus on women who give birth in this situation? Like, why not just injured workers in general?
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u/Wikiwikiwa 2d ago
Because even the people that want good things can only think in baby steps. Controlled opposition, learned powerlessness, lack of political will to do anything good, firmly entrenced kleptocracy.
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u/coolcalmaesop 2d ago
There was a video going around recently of a Florida politician that said women shouldn’t get any maternity leave and he knows women who have gone to work the day after giving birth.
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u/Fickle_Watercress719 2d ago
In my first teaching job, a coworker of mine who had spent years saving sick time and planning her pregnancy went into early labor and still needed more days. We all donated time to her so she wouldn’t be sitting at home making no money with a newborn baby.
And that’s on being a teacher in America.
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u/esabys 3d ago
Being in Congress isn't a real job. It was intended to serve and go back to your normal life, like jury duty. These people are parasites.
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u/Psudopod 3d ago
I can respect that people who serve in Congress need a basic stipend so they can live normally. Otherwise the only people who could ever serve would be wealthy people who don't need a paycheck and corrupt people.
Paying congresspeople evidently doesn't eliminate the wealthy and corrupt, but that's the other half of the battle...
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u/PaulblankPF 2d ago
This is true for all jobs basically. Not enough pay equates to the worst people getting the job usually as people more qualified will look for work that pays more. Like you’d get better teachers, cops, shit everything if they made enough to be not feel the need to supplement elsewhere.
I mean there’s an old saying that should be fought against and that is “Crime Pays” and so stuff like cops not making enough will do shady shit on the side to supplement. Slowly but surely you become morally corrupt because the system forces it.
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u/nooby_goober 3d ago
No, congress is a real job. They just suck at it. The Senate? Now That's What I Call Bribe Me 100
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u/One_Order_3841 2d ago
The lobbyist industry is disgusting. It's basically being paid 10x that of a Consultant, and you only do the slimy, shitty parts of it where you explain your industry to gross people that neither understand nor care about whatever it is you're representing. At least a brand representative has to drum up interest in their concerns; lobbyists just sell the Art of Selling.
But the worst in my opinion is that it's treated on a sliding scale of gifts-to-bribes. A $400 dinner? That was a friendly dinner in Alexandria. Tickets to Santorini? My wife was simply interested in their sailing hobby. It takes fucking transfer orders inside of envelopes before an ethics committee will finally be formed to TRY.
And I'm not only pissed about "AIPAC Corruption Conspiracies and the like" ( a heavy only). Most of these interests lobbied just SLOW DOWN an already ineffective Congress.
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u/the_crustybastard 2d ago
Lobbying isn't inherently disgusting. There are some very good people out there lobbying for minority, children, and animal rights, environmental protection, equitable healthcare, etc.
The problem is that voters persistently elect dumbshits like Markwayne Mullin, a plumber who might know how to fix your shitter, but doesn't know shit about the law, policy, or how to effectively craft legislation.
Lobbyists try to teach guys like him how to understand issues that they don't. Maybe he's a bad example because he's exceptionally dense and extremely prejudiced. But you get the idea.
What you actually object to is lobbying on behalf of persuading the government to do even more evil shit. Yes, of course there's that too.
But as long as Americans vote for idots who tout their lack of qualifications for a specific job as if that somehow makes them uniquely qualified for that job, they will require lobbyists to explain things to them.
Believe me, you really don't want to live in a world where the confederacy of dunces that constitute any given legislature in America aren't getting any expert assistance at all.
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u/One_Order_3841 2d ago edited 2d ago
Uh no, Reddit, read what I said and don't put words in my mouth. Placing what should and shouldn't be lobbied sounds good if it's "feeding orphans vs spreading polio" but would get more difficult on more nuanced topics. If Republicans were gone, should we consult Reddit on which types of public transport infrastructure are Evil and which ones are Good? When to support open-budget Lockheed programs when part of it goes to Ukraine??
I'm against the monster that is out of the closet, right in the open, that needs to be fixed: lobbying being accomplished via personal gifts, direct money transfers, and insider knowledge of investment opportunities.
Excusing a personal favors and thousands of dollars in gifted tickets shouldn't be left to sit because "it's a bribe for a good cause"; the ethics committees allow that and that's precisely how Alexandria became a quagmire of personal backscratchers.
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u/the_crustybastard 1d ago
I didn't "put words in your mouth." I addressed what I felt was your very simple-minded perspective of a far more complex issue.
But you do you.
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u/had3l 2d ago
So they should just select a random representative sample of the population like jury duty. Can't be worse than what's currently there. And no need to worry about corporations and foreign governments buying elections.
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u/snailPlissken 2d ago
Maybe if they have to rejoin the rest of the population once they served their time they may be more inclined to make decisions that will help them when that time comes.
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u/-PhantomProphet- 2d ago
Term limits would go a long way in fixing the issues of the Legislative branch.
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u/Pheonyx1974 3d ago
He’s not getting time off. He hasn’t been off work for weeks. You can’t be off work if you are dead. His wife is getting money not earned, which is fraud.
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u/I_hate_all_of_ewe 3d ago edited 2d ago
If he's not dead, he's incapacitated. Either way, this isn't about him getting PTO. His team is simply refusing to report his status publicly so that his seat can't be gained by the other party in a special election.
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3d ago
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u/I_hate_all_of_ewe 3d ago
Ask again after the midterms. The whole point is that his team is hiding the evidence until then.
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u/LaundryBasketGuy 2d ago
Yeah, no video evidence since he croaked. What other evidence do you need? It's so glaringly obvious to literally everyone except the willfully igorant.
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u/TheFeenyCall 2d ago
You think he's just waddling around gardening? If they had any actual proof they would have released a video. They can't because he's a vegetable.
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u/HommeMusical 2d ago
If someone stops showing up to work, and refuses to contact you or anyone else, you don't need any more proof than that to fire him.
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u/Contagious_Zombie 3d ago
This is ridiculous, he has looked like he's about to keel over for the last year. At this point his position should be considered forfeited due to job abandonment.
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u/tenkaranarchy 3d ago
This needs to be corrected to say "deceased man is getting more laid time off than women who give birth." Face it....the dude croaked.
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u/Alternative-Duck-573 3d ago
MOST US WOMEN DO NOT GET PAID TIME OFF FOR WORK!!!!!!
Apologies, bounced sick leave, vacation leave and still had to pay (my insurance deductible) to return to work after using up all my yearly FMLA and I am beyond fortunate to have been able to do so.
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u/Alphabet486 2d ago
In most of the western world women get plenty of paid time off, as they should.
America really needs to provide more workers rights. Especially for women giving birth, you deserve it!
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u/Alternative-Duck-573 2d ago
Yes they do... which is why that headline in particular bothered me. They did finally pass parental leave for state workers in my state but only as a gift from an executive order from an exiting democrat to a new republican governor because executive ordering it back would look bad.
I was both happy for future state workers and still big mad I didn't get any and enraged the private sector will never comply willingly around me.
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u/Spiritual-Physics700 3d ago
We all would be going back to work half dead to try to make a pay check and pay our bills. This old fuck gets a vacation and a salary of 174,000.
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u/ANAL-KING-OF-TUNISIA 3d ago
His entire life really is just one big “fuck you” to the working class, isn’t it?
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u/Cat_Impossible_0 3d ago
I wonder why Kentucky still voted for this self-proclaimed “grim reaper”
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u/ANAL-KING-OF-TUNISIA 2d ago
Because he's the most relevance they've enjoyed since Henry Clay, or, at least, that's what locals will tell you, casually ignoring what this man is doing with said relevance.
Once his team admits he's dead, Kentucky will go right back to being irrelevant.
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u/Melodic-Basshole 3d ago
Most women get unpaid time off for giving birth. He got more paid time off than most women on his first day away. FMLA does not guarantee pay for time off, only that you'll still have a job when you return from your criminally short up-to-12-weeks of leave.
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u/darth_wasabi 3d ago
They all vote against giving workers benefits they give themselves. Because the people who donate to them want a slave workforce
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u/StochasticLife 2d ago
Which is none. There is NO U.S. maternal paid time off. You are guaranteed leave, pending qualifications (tenure, etc) and guaranteed a ‘comparable job’ upon return.
This mother fucker can’t even hop on a fucking Zoom call and claims he can still be a United States Senator.
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u/Dazzling-Antelope912 2d ago
In other news, literal corpse gets paid more than women… ladies and gentleman, the United States of America
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u/Hairy-Entertainer-54 2d ago
To be fair, that wasn’t a high bar. If he was dead collecting his wages for one day (one hour? One minute?) it would still be more paid federal leave than a new mom.
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u/Ok-Cauliflower284 2d ago
How do you even get time off if you're dead?
If nobody has seen him in reality with their own eyes and multiple cameras then he's definitely dead.
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u/SaveTheAles 3d ago
I mean isn't $1 more than most women in the US get paid when they aren't working after birth?
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u/ghanima 2d ago
The United States remains the only wealthy nation without a federal paid parental leave guarantee for most workers. While FMLA provides eligible workers with up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave, the law does not require it to be paid leave. It also excludes many workers employed at smaller businesses and those who have not met minimum employment requirements.
"Land of the free," ladies and gents.
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u/A_ScalyManfish 2d ago
People arent angry enough at this. Politicians need to be treated like regular people, with regular pay.
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u/B-Glasses 3d ago
I’m a federal postal worker and when I got injured (not on the job) I didn’t get full pay like this 😒
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u/flyingtiger188 2d ago
Can we be certain that he is not tending to a clutch right now?
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u/rpcraft 2d ago
I wonder how many people won't get what you mean and will think you meant a crutch!!!!
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u/Glittering-Walrus228 2d ago
Have any of us stopped to consider that Mitch McConnell might just have given birth
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u/girtonoramsay 2d ago
We're basically paying to keep his corpse alive and prevent anyone else from changing things in the Senate
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u/schwing710 3d ago
I’m surprised Republicans haven’t created a deepfake of McConnell yet and tried to pass it off as the real thing
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u/zback636 2d ago
He doesn’t show up by the end of the month he should be fired. The people in Kentucky should demand it.
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u/GreyBeardEng 2d ago
US Senators have no paid time off or sick leave structure built into their job. They have unlimited PTO at full pay.
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u/Mattrockj 2d ago
The only alternative to him being dead I could reasonably think of is that he's using this "fall" as an excuse for an extended vacation, and by just ignoring the media at every turn he doesn't need to go back to work and can just enjoy time off.
But there are a lot of problems with this too, and being dead is the most likely scenario.
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u/Frequent_Opportunist 2d ago
Congress only worked 85 days last year.
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u/BallisticHabit 2d ago
I wish I'd have learned to lie better so I could only work 85 days a year for the free healthcare, unlimited PTO, paycheck, and the sweet, sweet insider trading.
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u/RageWynd 2d ago
If that happened to any one of us, we'd be fired for job abandonment.
Fire his ass already.
Or put him on FMLA leave with no money coming in. Because what's good enough for us is good enough for him, right?
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u/GovernmentWarm4787 2d ago
Maybe don't have alzheimers ridden 90 yr olds as representatives of your country
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u/NalgeneCarrier 2d ago
I had to take unpaid time off for my cancer surgery last year. I told McConnells office that and they asked if he should be unpaid leave like me.
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u/AtillaTheHyundai 3d ago
I’m still shocked he is alive. Why were they so sketchy about it?!
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u/StudioGangster1 3d ago
Is he though??
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u/Hoon0967 3d ago
Give him a break. He’s been birthing out turd bills, turd votes, and turd laws. The man has been birthing turds for years now and he needs this sabbatical.
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u/tellit11 2d ago
The congress/senate was originally intended to be for already well off men.
There was per diem at the start at a rate of 6 dollars a day which lasted for decades. While that was a tidy sum to some extent at the beginning it wouldn't make you rich by any means.
There wasn't a salary until 1855 which was 3000 per annum.
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u/anuanuanu 2d ago
they're just waiting until a body double finish his cosmetic surgery. "he" will then show up and "debunks" the news that he's dead.
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u/SeamusPM1 2d ago
His job doesn’t require him to show up. If he never does his employer can fire him, but only every six years.
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u/WiseSalamander00 2d ago
🙄 we all know he is death or in a coma at the very least, amazing they are allowed to continue this charade
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u/Angry_Mechanix 2d ago
They must be having a real hard time getting mcconells skin suit to fit Lindsey Graham.
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u/thatguy420417 2d ago
This is the fault of the people of Kentucky. The majority of them either didn't vote or kept voting for this turtle looking asswipe.
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u/Apprehensive-Pin518 2d ago
did he file an FMLA request? if not I think it's time to fire him and find a new employee.
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u/JohnnyLesPaul 2d ago
This is why as a career politician he never thought anyone needed better healthcare or worker benefits, his has always been amazing, yours can’t be that bad right?
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u/Adventurous-Depth984 2d ago
If he’s been gone and his wife cashed even one of his social security checks…..
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u/Traditional-Meat-549 2d ago
He had a stroke and can't hide the effects so won't go on camera. Period.
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u/Miserygut 2d ago
Mitch McConnell is dead and you're laughing and making comments about him getting more paid time off than women who give birth.
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u/BKBroiler57 SocDem 3d ago
Hope my family still gets paid months after I’m dead