This letter to the IGDA, apparently defending Team Bondi’s alleged abuse of their game-developers, seems to me to be damning with faint praise – or just showing that the author is shockingly naive. e.g.:
“I had two kids during the project, Team Bondi offered me each time one extra week off ( on top of the required week )”
According to online resources on AU paternity leave, the legal minimum is “Up to 1 week unpaid taken at time of birth … Employer has right to refuse.”.
OK, so Australia has/had a barbaric paternity leave system (which, incidentally, is being massively overhauled in 2011). But it’s really nothing to be proud of that your employer gave a new father 2 weeks of leave instead of 1. I wouldn’t want a new father back in the office for at least a month – even if we were desperate for staff in those weeks, the guy’s going to be massively sleep-deprived, charged with a whole new set of emotions, etc. Not good for him, not good for his colleagues.
And, really … do you feel it’s OK to take someone’s child away from them for 13 hours at a time, after just one week?
1 reply on “Team Bondi: A child takes …2? … weeks”
Actually, the Australian regulations on parental leave are not quite as draconian as your information about Team Bondi might imply.
We have up to 12 months unpaid leave with guaranteed return to work and also up to 18 weeks paid leave (new in 2011 as you noted).
Full details here
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Department/Publications/Documents/PPLBooklet.pdf