New employment laws that strengthen the existing law related to pregnancy, maternity leave and other family leave have recently received Royal assent.
The Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act
Employees are entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave, a right that they have from when they first start their job.
The Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act will extend the rights of pregnant employees currently afforded to them whilst on maternity leave or other forms of parental leave including adoption leave to beyond the period of their leave. It is anticipated that this may extended up to 18 months after the birth of the child.
If a person has been made redundant during maternity leave, an employer is required to offer first refusal to an employee who falls into the category when there is an alternative vacancy available.
There was a growing belief that pregnant women and new parents were disproportionally being made redundant and the Equality and Human Rights Commission was commissioned to investigate. Their report found that an unacceptable 77% of the women who took part had experienced discriminatory treatment during their maternity leave or on their return to the workplace and 11% felt forced to resign.
The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act
In addition to the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act, another Act relating to new parents, The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act, has also received Royal Assent. Rather than extending the rights of new parents, this new legislation will provide additional rights to new parents where a neonatal infant is admitted to hospital.
This Act relates to parents whose newborn baby is unwell and is admitted to neonatal care for seven continuous days before the baby is 28 days old. It is estimated that every year 60,000 parents experience a critically ill neonatal child in hospital. Currently, parents must rely on existing leave provisions and are provided with no further assistance. The new parents will now be afforded additional statutory leave of up to 12 weeks if their child meets the criteria.
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