John Mason is reporting in the Register-Star Etsy, the worldwide, online handmade goods marketplace, has announced it will now offer employees 26 weeks of fully paid leave when they become a parent through birth or adoption, regardless of the parent's gender, country of residence or family circumstance. Brooklyn-based Etsy has offices at 10 locations worldwide, including Hudson, where it currently employs 100 people. The new parental leave policy puts the company far ahead of other large employers in Columbia and Greene counties. The majority of those companies or institutions offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave as mandated by the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. And unlike many parental leave policies, the Etsy guidelines are inclusive of single parents, adoptive parents and parents who use surrogates. The new policy ranks Etsy third nationwide among large employers with defined amounts of parental leave. Only Netflix and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation offer more attractive options for new parents. Read the full story in the Register-Star.