Chobani, the Greek yogurt company run by billionaire HamdiUlukaya, is offering six weeks of paid parental leave to its more than 2,000employees, mostly factory workers who typically aren’t awarded suchperks.

The move puts Chobani at the center of an issue that finds rareagreement between Democrat Hillary Clinton andRepublican Donald Trump in the contentious 2016 U.S. presidentialelection. Both have released family-leave plans in recent weeks,marking the first time in U.S. history that candidates from the twomajor parties are offering proposals to mandate the benefit.

“Being a dad is also the hardest job I’ve ever had,” Ulukaya,who became a father this year, said in a letter to employeesWednesday. “It started a lot of conversations with folks about howwe can better support new parents here at Chobani.”

Parental leave, which allows time off for the birth ofa child, has become a popular employee perk on Wall Street and inSilicon Valley as firms vie to attract and keep younger workers.But while the percentage of large corporations offering paid timeoff hit an all-time high last year of 21 percent, a majority of U.S. workers don’tqualify and more than 40 percent aren’t guaranteed even unpaidleave.

Related: 10 countries with the most parental leave

U.S. lags

Companies such as Netflix Inc., Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc.and Credit Suisse Group AG have expanded their paid parental leavein recent years. Still, the U.S. remains the only industrializedcountry that doesn’t require paid time off for mothers followingthe birth of a child, according to the United Nations.

Clinton’s plan would guarantee all Americans up to 12 weeksof leave at 66 percent of their regular income, with a ceiling onthe wages. Trump, meanwhile, has proposed giving new mothers sixweeks of paid maternity leave if their employers don’t offer thebenefit. Chobani is offering the perk to both mothers and fathers,even if a child is adopted.

Under the U.S. Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, companies withmore than 50 employees must offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave andprotect the parent’s job. If the employee has worked for less thana year or the company has fewer than 50 people, there is no suchrequirement. That leaves about 44 percent of workers without unpaidleave.

Takeover spurned

Ulukaya, a 44-year-old Turkish immigrant, founded Chobani afterpurchasing a defunct Kraft Foods yogurt plant in upstate New Yorkin 2005. He started selling yogurt two years later, and by 2012 thecompany had hit $1 billion in sales.

Related: Conservatives pushing for paid parentalleave

The rapid expansion led to production hiccups and a cash crunch,but the company has since regained its footing with help fromprivate equity firm TPG Capital. Last year, Chobani hired GoldmanSachs Group Inc. to explore the sale of a minority stake, thoughUlukaya ultimately spurned a takeover offer from PepsiCo Inc., whichwanted to own a majority of the company.

Chobani’s parental-leave policy comes on the heels of Ulukaya’sannouncement in April that he would give employees stock worth upto 10 percent of the closely held company, should it be sold or gopublic.

“I’ve always believed that when we take a step, we take ittogether,” Ulukaya said.

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.