Netflix withholds unlimited paid parental leave from 450 staff

Netflix has faced criticism for excluding 450 employees from its unlimited parental leave scheme.

Workers at its DVD-by-mail service have been omitted from the recently introduced benefit. It specified that new parents can take as much paid leave as they want during the first year after their child’s birth or adoption. The perk was also similar to a paternity program launched by Virgin.

Three pressure groups – UltraViolet, a women’s rights group; Coworker.org, which fights for workers’ rights; and Democracy for America (DfA), a political organisation – have all posted online petitions to extend the advantage beyond the 2,000 workers that work it the internet video service.

The groups say the company is favouring the higher paid tech specialists over the lower-paid employees at the distribution centre.