Paid Maternity Leave

[Demona]

Some info on UK practice from www.dti.gov.uk for babies due on or after April 6th 2003 (some verbatim, some summarised by me):

Maternity Leave

* A woman can take 26 weeks paid maternity leave

* Statutory Maternity Pay is worth 90% of their earnings for 6 weeks, followed by 20 weeks at £100 (or 90% of earnings for the full 26 weeks if this is less than £100 a week).

* The earliest date at which a woman can take maternity leave is 11 weeks before the baby is due.

Maternity suspension from work on health grounds

* An employee who is pregnant, or who has recently given birth, or who is breast-feeding may have to be suspended from work on maternity grounds if continued attendance might damage her, or her baby's, health. A woman on maternity suspension must be paid her normal wages or salary by her employer for as long as the suspension lasts.

* However, if a woman has unreasonably refused suitable, alternative work, she is not entitled to maternity suspension pay.

Pertinent bit for employers

* Employers are able to claim back 92% of the payments they make, with those eligible for small employers' relief able to claim back 100% plus an additional amount in compensation for the employer's portion of National Insurance contributions paid on SMP.

Paternity leave

* Eligible employees can take up to two weeks' paid leave to care for their new baby and support the mother.

Unemployed Women

* Eligible for £100 a week for 26 weeks.

I also want you to consider the legal right of a woman to return to her old job (or one similar within the company) after she has had a baby, and the fact that a company is not allowed to consider a candidates' liklihood to have children when deciding whether to give them a job.


I believe some of that information is out of date, or will be soon, but as a starting place for discussion: what in that list do you think is reasonable / unreasonable? Should government be legislating on maternity leave or the rights of pregnant women (or even potentially pregnant women) in the workplace at all?

[Demona]

No-one's even going to read the thread? :(

[Quamie]

Hey give me a minute I was out at football practice. :eyebrow: I am back now.


Ok I read it and WOW... I am totaly impressed with the policy, why. Because it is a policy that says it is thinking about the welfare of a mother and child and a family. How is a mother supose to give her child the care it needs if she is worried about money. Having to go back to work after 6 weeks is not what a lot of women want. Sure there are some who will not use the time and that is fine, but I am sure there are more women that will use the services and be eternaly greatful that the maternity leave was available.

[OnederWoman]

Beats the heck out of anything we have here. The Family and Medical Leave Act permits a woman up to 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave, and guarantees the same job or an equal job upon return, that's about it. Oh, and it only applies to companies with 50 or more employees.

Some companies offer disability insurance that covers maternity leave, usually at around 60% of your regular pay.

Sigh. We have a long way to go.

[Jory]

I don't agree with paid maternity leave unless it is like the disability insurance that you have to pay into. AND, if employees are paying into it, then the time off should be available for everyone for whatever reason.

Because it is a policy that says it is thinking about the welfare of a mother and child and a family. How is a mother supose to give her child the care it needs if she is worried about money.

Perhaps better financial planning BEFORE having children would solve the problem of caring for her child.

As for holding the job... up to six weeks is fine, but half a year? I think that is asking too much.

[Echo2]

We only have what Onederwoman explained. It's called FMLA and we can thank the democrats for giving it to us. They had to fight hard to get it because the republicans felt it was excessive. Corporate profits and all.

The UK one sounds a little like welfare. I dont think people should get paid for time away from work for maternity leave but I do think they should be able to maintain their job.

[Quamie]

"Perhaps better financial planning BEFORE having children would solve the problem of caring for her child"Quote

It is unfortunate but a lot of women work and are only paid minimal wages. In an ideal world there are 2 parents that have good incomes to save before the baby comes. In more cases then not the parent is a single mother making minimal wages. So what should she do, not eat or feed her baby? Quit her job to get on welfare?

What is wrong with a woman being able to spend time with her child during its first few months of life? If a mother is working and paying taxes she is contributing to the fund that is helping her take the time off. Unemployment seems to be similar form or payment to ML. Why is it offensive to some that a woman get paid for a short time, when you look at the whole picture, to care for her child?

[Mabel]

I don't think a company should be forced to offer PAID maternity leave, but I do think they should be required to allow the mother back into the company after her leave. I also think that a smart company WOULD offer *paid* maternity, as part of their benefits package.

[Demona]

Worth pointing out at this point that Britain, like most of the rest of western Europe, has a birth rate below replacement level. While I would doubt that paid maternity leave would encourage women to have children who would not otherwise have children, it does make it easier for those who do want to have children to do so, and to have them sooner. The longer the woman has to save to have a child, the less likely she is to be able to have children, and the more likely she is to have fewer children.

In such a situation children do not just benefit their parents - they are a benefit to all businesses and individuals as the next generation of consumers and tax payers.

[Mabel]

Ah, VERY good point Demona!

[Demona]

I don't think a company should be forced to offer PAID maternity leave, but I do think they should be required to allow the mother back into the company after her leave. I also think that a smart company WOULD offer *paid* maternity, as part of their benefits package.

But under UK law the company is losing little or no money on paid maternity leave (as opposed to unpaid), because they can claim the money back from the government.

[Jory]

But under UK law the company is losing little or no money on paid maternity leave (as opposed to unpaid), because they can claim the money back from the government.


And who supplies the government with that money? I find that part particularly bothersome since it would seem that the people who are childless are funding other people's choice to have children.

In more cases then not the parent is a single mother making minimal wages. So what should she do, not eat or feed her baby? Quit her job to get on welfare?

She should be using BC is what she should do. If it fails, there are other options, but people/business should not have to pay in excess for poor choices that one makes.

[Book Wizard]

I think the Uk's policy is a good one. It keeps Moms with their kids longer and that has got to be good for both parent and child.

[Demona]

And who supplies the government with that money? I find that part particularly bothersome since it would seem that the people who are childless are funding other people's choice to have children.

They already do, through funding from taxes for schools. However, in the same way that schools benefit everyone by helping create an educated populace, people having children benefits those who do not by providing the next generation of tax-payers in a country which is otherwise going to be top-heavy by the time such childless people want their pensions paid (without the support of those children they decided not to have).

[Truffles]

Canada has maternity leave legislation. We are paid (through Employment Insurance) 55% (I think) for 50 weeks but I believe the employer must hold the position for 2 years. I'm not too sure about the last bit. We also have Human Rights acts that protect the nursing mother.

[sarah]

i know its not standard here in australia but the financial company i work for offers us 12 weeks paid at full time rates... the option for a further 12 weeks at half of the normal full time pay and the remainder of two years with a job gaurantee
we also get 3 months of $300 a month to go towards a nappy service or daycare that work will pay directly for us on return to work
I LOVE MY JOB