{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","contentId":"0000017f-bccc-dbb0-adff-fcdd7e8a0001","url":"https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/what-20-weeks-of-fully-paid-leave-does-for-amazon-families","headline":"What 20 weeks of fully paid leave does for Amazon families","description":"Only 27% of working Americans have access to paid parental leave. Read the fine print behind Amazon's fully paid leave for new-parent hourly employees.","datePublished":"2022-04-12T22:07:29.655Z","dateModified":"2025-02-25T14:15:10.692Z","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amazon Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/08549ff/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1125x1125+438+0/resize/84x84!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F47%2F6d%2F7fe296e642859c7ba2a629eda3ba%2Famazon-logo-hero-images-2024.jpg","width":"84","height":"84"}}],"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/f60a55e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1999x1000+0+64/resize/1200x600!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Fe7%2Fb4%2F8a3cbc8948118f4c4ec1e283a926%2Fimg-2635-blog-size.jpg","width":"1200","height":"600"},"articleBody":"# What 20 weeks of fully paid leave does for Amazon families\n\n*Only 27% of working Americans have access to paid parental leave. Read the fine print behind Amazon's fully paid leave for new-parent hourly employees.*\n\n![Amazon employee with his back turned to a computer and smiling. ](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/1555794/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4000x2667+0+1/resize/300x200!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Ff5%2F05%2F3a353a114b16b3f122fcab153ca1%2F20220720-amazonindy-tg-1573.jpg)\n\n- [Employee Benefits](https://www.aboutamazon.com/workplace/employee-benefits)\n\n- We offer up to **20 weeks** of fully paid leave for birthing parents**,** including four weeks before the baby is born.\n- We offer up to **six weeks** of fully paid leave to supporting parents and adoptive parents.\n- Our Leave Share program allows employees to **give six weeks** of paid parental leave to a spouse or partner whose jobs don't provide paid leave.\n- With flexible scheduling and part-time options, our Ramp Back program helps employees through the challenge of coming back to work after a new baby.\n- Employees are eligible if they have one year of continuous service and are regularly scheduled to work at least 30 hours per week before their child arrives.\n\nOur parental leave benefits are a part of our broader benefits package that we provide hourly employees to improve health and well-being. These benefits include health, vision, and dental insurance, a 401(k) with 50% company match, Amazon’s Career Choice program, and more. \n\nU.S. hourly front-line employees earn an average base wage of more than $22 per hour, and average a total compensation of more than $29 per hour when including the value of elected benefits. To learn more about the real-life impact of our starting wage, [read Mary Kate’s story](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/amazon-offered-this-employee-benefits-balance-and-peace-of-mind).\n\n![A woman sits with a baby surrounded by toys, while a man looks on.](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/6fe3065/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1320x744+0+0/resize/767x432!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Fca%2F61%2F6fb3bf184411b120825ffc76e194%2F20weeks-img-1-gallery1.jpg)\n\"There's some companies that only give you a few days or a few weeks, and I don't think that's fair,\" said Julie, an hourly Amazon employee and new mom. \"Mothers should have more time off to bond with their kid.\" \n\nWatch more about Julie and other Amazon families in the video above.\n\n![A man, woman, and child all look at an infant in a baby carrier.](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/cb8b69f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x1334+0+0/resize/767x512!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F3d%2F52%2F528cdd474399a3915195dc1a7f62%2F060a8694.JPG)\nVictoria, an Amazon employee, started her paid leave during the weeks prior to delivery when her doctor ordered bed rest. \"The doctor says that the reason she stayed to term—because she was born on her due date—was because I had that four weeks of doing nothing. It was the best thing for both of us.\" \n\nWatch more about Victoria and other Amazon families in the video above.\n\n![A woman sits on a couch and holds a baby.](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/673eb11/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x1334+0+0/resize/767x512!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Ffb%2F4b%2F6dba0b25409386dac8f4f3c2e262%2F060a7725.JPG)\n\"He's only gonna be really little once,\" said Elizabeth, an Amazon hourly employee whose paid leave allowed her to take her son, Peyton, to visit his grandparents early in his young life. \"So spending that extra time with him just meant so much to me.\" \n\nWatch more about Elizabeth and other Amazon families in the video above.\n\n![A woman holds a baby while a child plays nearby.](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/42afcb4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x1334+0+0/resize/767x512!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F2e%2F48%2F18a8164a46508c8eda651c781451%2Fimg-4150-1.JPG)\nBrisa and her partner, Victor, both work at Amazon and both got paid leave when Belle joined their family. The six weeks for Victor, as a supporting parent, and 20 weeks for Brisa herself were \"very comforting because I hit harsh times,\" she said. \" I'm very grateful that Victor was there.\" \n\nWatch more about Brisa and other Amazon families in the video above\n\n.\n\n![A man holds a baby while sitting with a child on a couch. ](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/69bd857/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1320x744+0+0/resize/767x432!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F92%2F0e%2Fc166f05a4747bd4ebd6b51a420ee%2F20weeks-img-5-gallery1.jpg)\n\"I had six weeks paid leave, and that allowed me to just hop in and help wherever I could,\" said Victor. \"The extra time, it helped me find that patience and find that overall rhythm to help each other out and just parent.\" \n\nWatch more about Victor and other Amazon families in the video above\n\n.","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"About Amazon","url":"https://www.aboutamazon.com","sameAs":["https://x.com/amazonnews","https://www.linkedin.com/company/amazon","https://www.instagram.com/amazonnews"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://assets.aboutamazon.com/bd/8f/88e7b0314cc2bd05b9de3155a0fe/amazon-news.svg"},"parentOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Amazon","url":"https://www.amazon.com","sameAs":["https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3884","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)","https://x.com/Amazon"]}}}