Don’t Take Me out to the Ball Game—I Just Had a Kid!

The New York Mets second baseman, Daniel Murphy, just celebrated the birth of his son. But some are not as happy as he is. New York sports radio host, Mike Francesa, controversially slammed the player for taking a collectively bargained paternity leave from the MLB.

According to the leave policies that were agreed upon in 2011, Murphy may take up to 1-3 days of paternity leave. Murphy elected to take the full three days so he could travel to Florida where his wife, Tori, was giving birth. Because of his leave, he missed his second straight game but is expected back for tonight’s game against the Nationals. Not a big deal right? Well according to Mike Francesa, the leave was wrong. Taking time off to bond with your newborn son, wrong. Why you may ask?

Francesa slammed Murphy for taking advantage of the paternity leave. The radio host called the leave policy a “scam and a half.” He asserted that Murphy should go “one day, go see the baby be born and come back. You’re a Major League Baseball player. You can hire a nurse to take care of the baby if your wife needs help.”

He further said, “What are you going to do? I mean are you going to sit and look at your wife in a hospital bed for two days?…you know that you’re not doing much the first couple of days with the baby that was just born.”

When Francesa found out his co-workers had taken up to 10 days paternity leave, his harsh response was: “for what? To take pictures?” Since Francesa has been highly criticized for his outdated views on parental responsibility. One male caller said to the host, “Society has come to a point where we recognize this is the most important milestones and it’s important to be with your family.”

Paternity leave is becoming more and more prevalent in workplace policies. Each state differs in its laws. If you have questions about CA paternity leave laws and feel you have been objected to adverse employment actions, contact an attorney immediately.