Dozens of readers wrote to us with their company’s parental leave polices after reading the Your Money column, which discussed how American public and private organizations offer the least generous paid leave policies in the world.

Some readers were stunned that even the largest companies offered so little paid time off, especially during a newborn’s critical early months when nursing can benefit both mother and child. Several Canadian readers, whose a country has a more liberal policy, chimed in with their thoughts and went as far as calling the American way barbaric. Other readers agonized about how to make sure their infants will be cared for when they return to work, while others viewed child care as the individual parent’s problem.

So we’ve decided to begin a progress report that will highlight employers’ paid parental leave policies (similar to the way we keep track of companies that equalize the cost of health insurance for same-sex couples). We started with responses we received from some of the largest companies, which we’ve listed in a chart.

But we’d like to expand the chart over time so that it becomes a repository of sorts, highlighting the most and least generous policies. So please tell us about your own employer’s policy with the form below, or in the comment section.

Here’s a sampling of recent comments from readers:

Christine, from Toronto, wrote:

From where we stand in Canada, the lack of maternity leave makes Americans look like barbarians. Here we pay a small portion of our pay into unemployment insurance and after a child is born the mother can take up to a year off and earn up to 55% of her pay up to a maximum amount of about $1500 the month. The father can take a portion of this leave instead of the mother if necessary. Guess what — people are still having on average of 2 children per family and our economy is not falling apart…

AnnieOmaha, NE, said:

As one can see by many comments here, this country is dysfunctional when it comes to working and having families. Yes, new parents should be given generous family leave packages, their children are someday going to drive our economy, funding Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid (or what ever form of benefits exist). It’s fine if you don’t want to have children, but who do you think will replace retiring people? The sad, bad joke is the notion, put forward by many conservatives, that the USA cares about “family values.”

And Criordan, from Brooklyn, wrote:

The Walt Disney Company: FMLA unpaid leave only. Zero paid leave. Ironic for a company whose main customer base are families with children.

You can submit your employer’s policy here:

Article source: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/continuing-the-conversation-on-paid-parental-leave/?partner=rss&emc=rss