The Family and Medical Leave Act granted workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job leave for the birth or adoption of a child; however the number of firms offering paid paternity leave is increasing. While paid paternity leave was practically nonexistent twenty years ago, today 13 percent of companies offer the benefit. However many men are still reluctant to ask for paid leave or the federally protected unpaid leave available under the Families and Medical Leave Act, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that of all the leaves granted since the law went into effect, only one half of 1 percent were requested by males.
See "More firms offer paid paternity leave", Diane E. Lewis, Chicago Tribune, August 12, 2003