The Conversation: Paid Leave

"New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy on Thursday calmly deflected talk-radio criticism of his decision to miss the first two games of the season for the birth of his first child."

 

"I got a couple of text messages about it, so I'm not going to sit here and lie and say I didn't hear about it," Murphy said about the on-air criticism from WFAN Radio of his decision. "But that's the awesome part about being blessed, about being a parent, is you get that choice. My wife and I discussed it, and we felt the best thing for our family was for me to try to stay for an extra day -- that being Wednesday -- due to the fact that she can't travel for two weeks."

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"When Army Spec. Ivan Lopez went on the shooting rampage Wednesday at Ft. Hood, Texas, killing three soldiers and injuring 16 others, he had just learned that superiors in Washington had rejected his request to take a temporary leave to deal with family matters related to his mother’s death, a federal law enforcement official said."

"Officials had turned down an earlier leave request and Lopez was attempting to renew it, said the official, speaking anonymously because the investigation is ongoing."

"The rejection, delivered Wednesday, set him off, the official said." (read more)


ADDED: Some foreign visitors have been confused by all the men with babies to be found in public in Sweden. But actually, it's an effect of Sweden's generous paternity leave.