Depends. If employees lost productivity due to medical leave, then it makes sense. It's one of the biggest parts of why women in the US (and around the world) are generally paid less, because they have children and are often out of the workforce for a period of time, ie lack of productivity.

Even in countries that allow for parental leave for both parents, you see couples still doing work arounds to keep at least one parent (often the male) in the workforce so they don't lose out on their career path.

Same thing has happened to say millenials with the 2008 financial crisis. They lost productivity and were stunted in their career paths due to it, and the same thing is/has happened due to COVID.