Articles
EU Parliament Agrees to Extend Maternity Leave to 20 weeks' Full Pay
The European Parliament has agreed proposals to amend the Pregnant Workers Directive as follows:
- Increase the minimum maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks;
- Give women full pay for the minimum 20-week maternity leave period;
- Member States to take measures to prohibit the dismissal of pregnant workers from the beginning of pregnancy until at least 6 months after the end of maternity leave and ensure that written reasons for dismissal are given during this period;
- 2 weeks' full pay paternity leave for fathers;
- Remove obligations to perform night work or overtime on all pregnant workers during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy, those with health problems during the rest of the pregnancy and for breastfeeding mothers during the period of breastfeeding;
- Extend compulsory maternity leave from 2 to 6 weeks.
How will this affect businesses in the UK?
In the UK maternity pay is limited to 6 weeks at 90% of average pay and 33 weeks at a flat rate of statutory maternity pay (SMP), currently £124.88 per week. Extending maternity pay to 20 weeks' full pay will have a significant impact in the UK. At the moment, English law prohibits the return from maternity leave in the first 2 weeks after the birth. Employees will be prevented from returning in the first 6 weeks if the proposals are implemented. The general view is that this is likely to have a lesser impact as approximately only 1% of mothers currently take less than 6 weeks' maternity leave. However, when calculating bonuses, employers must take into account the period of compulsory maternity leave as time worked by the employee. This means that UK employers would have to take into account an additional 4 weeks of the maternity period when calculating the amount of the women's bonus entitlement. Another change is that employees are currently only protected against dismissal in the UK up until the end of the maternity leave. Although it does not seem that there will be an absolute ban on dismissals of women up to 6 months after the end of the maternity leave, employers may have more difficulty justifying any such dismissal. Finally, paternity pay would increase from the current Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) of £124.88 per week to full pay for the 2 weeks. Don't forget that fathers of children due on or after 3rd April 2011 may take up to a further 26 weeks additional paternity leave on top of the 2 weeks minimum. Pay for the additional period would still be at the level of SPP.
Does this mean that businesses must start paying 20 weeks' full pay?
Not quite. The proposals of the EU Parliament will have to go before the Council of Ministers and will require a qualified majority in order to be adopted and later implemented in each Member State. Not surprisingly, the most controversial proposal is the increase to maternity pay to 20 weeks' full pay, especially as this is a significant change from the European Commission's original proposal of up to 18 weeks' pay, which could have been limited to the current levels in each Member State. It is reported that the UK Government is lobbying against the increase. It is also thought that given the current economic climate the proposals are likely to only be approved subject to amendments.
We will report as soon as we have further news. Watch this space................
For more information on the above or for advice on any other employment issue please contact our employment department on 020 7354 3000 or e-mail employment@colmancoyle.com
Author: Sandra Martins
Date: November 2010