Two New Employment Laws will give far greater Protection to New Parents

Two 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 of 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 be extended up to 18 months after the birth of the child.

The Equality Act 2010 provides protections in relation to pregnancy and maternity leave and makes it unlawful to discriminate against women on the basis of maternity-related issues and it forms a protected characteristic under the act.

If a person has been made redundant during maternity leave, under Regulation 10 of the Maternity and Paternity Leave Regulations 1999 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 by the Government to investigate. The subsequent 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. Employers appeared to earmark women on maternity leave and on their return to work they are almost immediately informed that they were being considered for redundancy. Employers should be aware that such practices expose them to the possibility that former employees will bring a case in the Employment Tribunal.

Employers ought to take extra care in ensuring they comply with the upcoming changes in law as well as the current legislation in respect of such matters, and make certain that pregnant employees are protected against discrimination and given first refusal of any suitable alternative vacancies when redundancy is being considered, including associated businesses within the employer’s organisation. However, such employees should not be excluded from the redundancy pool altogether, and they should be considered as part of the process, subject to the legislation in place. Failure to do so could be considered discriminatory on other employees within the pool, although the regulations as they stand and going forward are an example of a rare exception in law which allows lawful positive discrimination.

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.

Daniel Theron, Partner, commented “The government has extended the protections for employees on maternity, adoption and shared parental leave and the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act has now received Royal assent. The new Act extends the existing protections from the point an employee informs their employer that they are pregnant beyond their return to the workplace. Employers must be very careful not to contravene the new Act as if they do so and their employee goes to the Employment Tribunal, the awards related to discrimination can be extremely high.” Daniel further commented “the other Act - The Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act is a new provision and Employers would be wise to consider the possibility that pregnant employees may find themselves in the position where their newborn baby is sufficiently unwell to require neonatal care and ensure that they have adequate cover if the employee is unable to return to the workplace when originally planned. Employers must consider the impact of not abiding by the pre-existing and new legislation as well as taking into account the upcoming Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) guidance on these matters, as a failure to do so could waste considerable HR time and resources and be commercially detrimental to the employer.”

The new laws will not come into force for some time which will enable employers to prepare and make any changes required, and we would urge all employers to take legal advice on these issues to ensure their policies and procedures are up to date.

Giambrone & Partners well-regarded employment lawyers are highly experienced in assisting employees that have been the subject of discrimination and have been successful at obtaining significant compensation for our clients. Giambrone & Partners also have significant experience in advising employers on both Employment Tribunal claims and advice to help prevent alleged unlawful conduct from escalating into litigation.

The new laws should considerably assist employees to avoid pregnancy-related discrimination. Employers would be well advised to recognise that the Government strongly supports legislation that protects employees from discrimination and regularly reviews their standards.

Daniel Theron advises on litigation in family law, employment, cross-border debt recovery and defamation. Daniel has considerable expertise in contentious cross-border family law, including complex financial arrangements and enjoys a high level of success in both debt recovery and employment law. 

He has had notable success in employment law cases, frequently obtaining significant awards for our clients.

Daniel enjoys a reputation of being meticulous in his analysis of the merits of a matter and tenacious in his pursuit of a successful outcome for clients. He frequently impressively navigates challenging situations culminating in an excellent level of achievement, in excess of all expectations.

If you would like to know more about the new employment laws please contact Daniel's clerk us at clientservices@giambronelaw.com or click here.