Alba’s Honest Company to Offer New Moms 16 Weeks Paid Maternity Leave

Jessica Alba is taking a stand for mothers (and fathers) at the her own company…

The 34-year-old half-Mexican American actress and entrepreneur has revealed that her Honest Company will be offering new mothers 16 weeks of paid maternity leave, starting in 2016.

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Alba, who co-founded the company, announced the news at the Dreamforce conference in San Francisco on Thursday.

“It will pay for itself,” she said, according to reporters in the audience. New fathers at Honest Company will be offered eight weeks paid paternity leave (with an option to extend for another 8 weeks unpaid).

The paid parental leave The Honest Company is offering is well-above the nation’s average.

The Family and Medical Leave Act requires companies of a certain size to give their employees 12 weeks unpaid parental leave. Paid leave is up to individual employers to decide. The Department of Labor reports only 12% of Americans working in the private sector have access to paid family leave through their employer.

“I love when we hire people who are parents, because I know they are going to multitask,” Alba said, according to NBC,  garnering applause from the audience.