--- description: Regardless of gender, birth and adoptive parents are now entitled to paid parental leave. title: Amazon Adds Paid Paternity Leave For Workers image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75b007371c407448/698860f5f887dc32abe92112/gettyimages-4603084401.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Companies](/tag/companies/) ## Companies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Amazon Adds Paid Paternity Leave for Workers by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 3, 2015 2:27 AM CUT  A picture shows the logo of the online retailer Amazon dispalyed on computer screens in London on December 11, 2014\. Online retail giant Amazon scored its first ever Golden Globe nominations -- a breakthrough in its bid to catch up with streaming pioneer Netflix. AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images) A picture shows the logo of the online retailer Amazon dispalyed on computer screens in London on December 11, 2014\. Online retail giant Amazon scored its first ever Golden Globe nominations -- a breakthrough in its bid to catch up with streaming pioneer Netflix. AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)LEON NEAL—AFP/Getty Images by [Mark Rivett-Carnac](/author/mark-rivett-carnac/) ## Mark Rivett-Carnac Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 3, 2015 2:27 AM CUT The e-commerce giant Amazon has introduced paid paternity leave for its employees, the company [announced](http://www.wsj.com/articles/joining-tech-rivals-amazon-adds-paternity-leave-more-paid-time-off-for-mothers-1446503585 "undefined") Monday, as tech companies [increasingly lead the charge](http://blog.netflix.com/2015/08/starting-now-at-netflix-unlimited.html "undefined") on family leave. Regardless of gender, biological and adoptive parents who have worked for the company for more than a year are now entitled to six weeks paid parental leave, the _Wall Street Journal_ reports. As part of the changes, birth mothers will now be entitled to 20 weeks of paid maternity leave. The move comes in the wake of an [article](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined") by the New York _Times,_ which depicted Amazon’s workplace as being hostile to working parents. But the company said the policy shift was a reaction to focus groups and competitors’ offerings. \[[_Wall Street Journal_](http://www.wsj.com/articles/joining-tech-rivals-amazon-adds-paternity-leave-more-paid-time-off-for-mothers-1446503585 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4097670/amazon-paternity-leave-benefits/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4097670/amazon-paternity-leave-benefits/"},"headline":"Amazon Adds Paid Paternity Leave for Workers","datePublished":"2015-11-03T02:27:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:06:53.339Z","description":"Employees of more than a year are now entitled to six weeks paid parental leave","url":"https://time.com/4097670/amazon-paternity-leave-benefits/","keywords":["Companies","Tech","Amazon","gender"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75b007371c407448/698860f5f887dc32abe92112/gettyimages-4603084401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Rivett-Carnac","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-rivett-carnac/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt75b007371c407448/698860f5f887dc32abe92112/gettyimages-4603084401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRITAIN-BUSINESS-RETAIL-AMAZON","caption":"BRITAIN-BUSINESS-RETAIL-AMAZON","creditText":"LEON NEAL—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4097670/amazon-paternity-leave-benefits/","name":"Amazon Adds Paid Paternity Leave for Workers"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See The Unique Way Amazon Ships This Teddy Bear","description":"Go Behind the Scenes at Amazon to see how the products you buy make it to the shipping truck","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IY8KG0y3/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-01T04:19:45.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IY8KG0y3.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4097670/amazon-paternity-leave-benefits/","duration":"PT2M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4097670/amazon-paternity-leave-benefits/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```