BASF announces family-friendly changes to parental and other leaves of absence in the US

Changes allow employees to ‘be there’ at important life moments

FLORHAM PARK, NJ, December 14, 2016 – Effective January 1, 2017, BASF will make significant changes to its parental, family medical, and bereavement leave programs for United States management-represented employees. These changes are intended to support a healthy workforce and demonstrate BASF’s commitment to creating chemistry with family-friendly programs.

Beginning January 1, 2017, the following changes will take effect at BASF in the United States:

• All new parents – maternal, paternal and adoptive – will be eligible for eight weeks of paid parental leave to bond with their children. For new moms, this is in addition to the typical six to eight weeks of paid maternity leave already available.
  
  
• BASF will also now pay the first five days of Family Medical Leave to allow employees to care for a family member with a serious health condition.
  
  
• Employees will be able to take up to 10 paid days (80 hours) of bereavement leave when they suffer the loss of an immediate family member.

“We care about working families and we know that our employees are facing unique challenges. Many people have children at home or aging parents to care for, and it can be tough to meet the demands of work and personal life,” said Judy Zagorski, Senior Vice President, Human Resources North America. “We all have times when we need to be able to pause work and put family first. I’m happy to say that because of BASF’s approach to leave, our employees don’t have to choose between being there for the people they love and making a difference at work.”

These changes also directly support BASF’s already strong commitment to safety, quality, and innovation by ensuring that employees have the time they need to take care of those who matter most, and can come back to work fully present and focused on creating value for customers and other key stakeholders.

About BASF

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has nearly 17,500 employees in North America, and had sales of $17.4 billion in 2015. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.us.
 
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 112,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of more than €70 billion in 2015. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS). Further information at www.basf.com.

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