User talk:Mgrant757/sandbox

Professor Feedback 3/30/2019 You have done an impressive job thus far in working through the various tasks associated with the assignment. My only suggestion is that you review the article chosen by your group and settle (with other group members) on your particular role/responsibilities. Specifically, it will be important for you to have completed some edits or additions to your group article before April 12/13 so that you can receive your peer review feedback. See me on Tuesday in class if you have any questions. Keep up the good work! --Dibsmith (talk) 01:37, 31 March 2019 (UTC)Professor Bensonsmith

FGS Peer Review of Monte’s Maternity Leave Article Edits
FGS Peer Review of Monte’s Maternity Leave Article Edits I will be reviewing Monte’s Federal Legislation section in the Maternity Leave in The United States article. From the changes and commentary Monte left, I can see this section adding a strong and informative component to the Wikipedia article.

Original Paragraph

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (or FMLA), signed into law during President Bill Clinton's first term, mandates a minimum of 12 weeks unpaid leave to mothers for the purpose of attending to a newborn or newly adopted child.[6] However, the act does not attain universal coverage as it includes several limiting stipulations. In order to receive maternity leave, employees must work in a firm of 50 or more employees, maintain employment with the same business for 12 months and have accumulated at least 1,250 working hours over those 12 months. As of 2012, 59% of American employees were eligible under the FMLA.[7] The FMLA is the only law that addresses family leave. Two other Federal laws, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's amendment of the Fair Labor Standards Act, provide some additional protection for parents on the birth of a child.[8]

Monte’s Revision Paragraph

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (or FMLA)[10] includes protections for parents, married spouses, and in loco parentis to go on leave from work after the birth or adoption of a new child. Importantly to note, it does not protect employees from unpaid leave[11]. FMLA was signed into law during President Bill Clinton's first term and was revised on February 23rd, 2015 to include same-sex parents and spouses[12]. It mandates a minimum of 12 weeks of unpaid leave to mothers and fathers for the purpose of attending to a newborn or newly adopted child[13] The act does not attain universal coverage. Only certain families are eligible due to several limiting stipulations. In order to receive maternity leave, employees must[14]: Work in a firm of 50 or more employees Maintain employment with the same business for 12 months Have accumulated at least 1,250 working hours over those 12 months. Spouses must be married As of 2012, 59% of American employees were eligible under the FMLA [15] The FMLA is the only law that addresses family leave. Two other Federal laws, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's amendment of the Fair Labor Standards Act, provide some additional protection for parents on the birth of a child.[8] ''Christina's Suggestions/ Review' After looking at the original paragraph and reading about your changes, I completely agree that The Family and Medical Leave Act should be defined within the first sentence, and you did a good job at being concise yet informative with its definition. It’s also super important to keep the information up to date, and I think it was very effective that you included the information of how FMLA was revised right after the information of how it was signed into law. In your commentary about clarifying that FMLA doesn’t protect against unpaid leave, I think you should add information of how it’s a state or company negotiation in the paragraph. When adding information about eligibility, I think it was smart to do it in list form so that it is clear and doesn’t get lost in wordiness. Definitely expand on the eligibility section since you said it is unfinished, and maybe include what covers an employer too because they have eligibility criteria as well. I think that adding some information/stats about probability of attaining FMLA would be useful to show readers how low it is because it isn’t obvious from the other information given. Information about how other countries handle maternity/family leave can also be useful, but I would keep it brief since this article is about how it is handled in the U.S. specifically, and there is already a Foreign Comparison section that can expand on these ideas more. Adding info about FMLA in relation to foster care, trans folks, and temp workers is something really important and you should find sources to help expand on those factors. While looking up information for these factors, I also came across how FMLA works with military family leave, so I would also include information of how it applies to a family involved with military work. An article I quickly looked up is https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/key_workplace/960/ (you have to download the pdf), but it might be a little outdated so definitely conduct some research for more sources that address these factors. In terms of structuring this section, I think you do a really good job at being clear, concise, and making it easy to follow along with. It’s really easy to get lost in wordiness, and I feel like the list you added about eligibility helps with keeping the information organized. When it comes to adding statistics, I think those could be included within a paragraph as supporting evidence to why FMLA isn’t as attainable so that the statistic doesn’t pop out of nowhere or seem out of place. From what I have seen so far, I would split this section into a few paragraphs, and it looks like you have a solid first paragraph already established. Maybe add a paragraph with the stats (where you could also include a sentence or two about how maternity/family leave is handled in other countries), and then add another paragraph addressing FMLA in relation to foster care, trans folks, temp workers, and military families. You seem to have a strong sense of splitting ideas into clear and concise sections, so I’m sure you will be able to organize these points in a way that is easy to follow.