The case for paid parental leave

7 Nov 2002

Reconciling Work & Family Life The case for paid Parental Leave

Working parents (women and men) have the legal right to 14 weeks Parental leave since December 1998, however recent research found that only 20% of eligible workers have taken this leave since its introduction. The research confirmed that the most common type of leave made available to employees, by their employers in the private sector, is 'a continuous block of 14 weeks', and that the absence of payment was the biggest disadvantage to workers availing of such leave.

In Ireland Parental Leave is unpaid - neither the Employer nor the State is required to make a payment to the employee and the leave must be taken in a single block of 14 consecutive weeks, unless the employer agrees to a more flexible approach and allows the parent to take the leave on a part-time basis over a number of periods.

Parental Leave is now the only form of "caring leave" that does not qualify for a PRSI related benefit in Ireland. Maternity Leave, Adoptive Leave and Carer's Leave all qualify for a PRSI related benefit.

The majority of EU Member States provide payment for parents taking Parental Leave to care for their children, i.e., Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden.

Background

EU Parental Leave Directive - In 1995 the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) negotiated the first Framework Agreement between Employers and Unions at European level under the Social Protocol to the Maastricht Treaty. I was part of the ETUC negotiating team and at that time there were only three Member States that did not already have Parental Leave i.e. Ireland, the UK and Luxembourg. The EU Commission adopted the Directive on 3 June 1996 setting out the minimum requirements and provisions for Parental Leave.

The Parental Leave Act, 1998[1] provides working parents (men and women) with an individual right to 14 weeks leave from work to take care of their child up to age 5. Each Parent including Parents of adopted children, have the legal right to Parental Leave. In the case of an adopted child under 3 years of age at the time of the adoption the leave must be taken before the child reaches 5 years of age. However, if the child is aged between 3 years and 8 years at the time of the adoption, the leave must be taken within 2 years of the adoption order.

The Act also provides for force majeure leave, i.e. paid time off from work for urgent family reasons in cases of sickness or accident. This leave is limited to cases where the immediate presence of the employee, at the place where the ill or injured person is located, is indispensable. Force majeure leave consists of one or more days, not exceeding 3 days in any period of 12 consecutive months, or 5 days in any period of 36 consecutive months. This leave is not confined to caring for children - it may be taken in respect of a spouse, a partner, a brother or sister, a parent or grandparent. (see Equality Authority Website for details.)

Parental Leave Review Group

The Programme for Prosperity & Fairness provided for a review of the Parental Leave Act in consultation with the Social Partners and its Report and Recommendations were published in April this year.

As part of the review research was carried out by MORI MRC, which showed that only 20% of eligible workers have taken Parental Leave since its introduction in 1998. The majority of those taking Parental Leave were women i.e. 84%. The research also confirmed that the most common type of leave made available to employees, by their employers in the private sector, is 'a continuous block of 14 weeks'.

The Research also showed that overall only 2% of employees took force majeure leave and as with Parental Leave the uptake of force majeure leave was higher amongst women at 4% compared to 2% for men.

Newmarket Consulting Ltd. carried out an attitudinal survey of Employers, Employees and Unions. Not surprisingly this research showed that 63% of employees stated that the absence of payment was the biggest disadvantage to them of availing of such leave. For the most part, employers stated that they do not/would not pay employees in relation to periods of parental leave taken and only one employee interviewed indicated that the employer had made a payment in that case. The survey showed that 82% of employees favoured taking the leave in a form other than a continuous block of 14 weeks, including 49% who wished to take the leave in the form of 1 or 2 days per week over a number of weeks. 42% of employers preferred their employees to take parental leave in a continuous block of 14 weeks.

The Review Group Recommendations[2] cover a number of issues including:

  • Payment of Parental Leave - The majority of the members of the Working Group recommended that Parental Leave should attract payment. However this was not supported by the Employers (IBEC) the Department of Finance or the Farming Pillar.
  • Manner in which Parental Leave may be taken - There was consensus that the manner in which Parental Leave can be taken should change. The Group recommended the introduction of a new option that would give parents the legal right to take Parental Leave in separate blocks, each block consisting of a minimum of six continuous weeks, subject to the maximum period of leave allowed.
  • Duration of Parental Leave - The majority of the Group recommended that the duration of parental leave should be increased by 4 weeks, bringing the total to 18 weeks. In the event of parental leave attracting a payment in the future, the additional 4 weeks parental leave would not attract such a payment. The Department of Finance and IBEC did not support this recommendation.
  • Maximum age of a child - The majority of the Group recommended that the maximum age of the child in respect of whom employees may avail of parental leave should be increased from 5 to 8 years of age. IBEC did not recommend extending the maximum age beyond 6 years of age. In the case of a child with a disability the Group, recommended that the maximum age of the child should be increased to 16.
  • Force Majeure Leave - The Group recommended that the Act should be amended to provide a statutory basis for the development of Codes of Practice in relation to force majeure and parental leave; and that the issue of force majeure leave in respect of same sex partners be addressed. The majority of the Group recommended that provision be made for a half-day's force majeure leave. The Department of Finance and IBEC did not support the recommendation.
  • Paternity Leave - The Group did not reach consensus on this issue. The majority of the Group supported a recommendation to introduce a statutory entitlement to 3 days paid paternity leave per child, payable by employers. IBEC and the Farming Pillar could not agree to the introduction of paid paternity leave by employers, at present.

Conclusions

It is clear to me that the lack of payment and the requirement to take Parental Leave in 'a continuous period of 14 weeks' are both barriers to working parents availing of their right to Parental Leave, hence the extremely low uptake of only 20%.

Women still carry the main responsibility for childcare and 84% of those taking Parental Leave are women. Unpaid Parental Leave reinforces the gap in incomes between men and women.

Congress will continue to press Government to implement all of the recommendations of the Parental Leave Group including the introduction of a payment which Congress believes should be a PRSI related Parental Leave Benefit.

Joan Carmichael
Assistant General Secretary
Irish Congress of Trade Unions

 

[1] Full details of the provisions of the Parental Leave Act are available on the Equality Authority website www.equality.ie

[2] The full details of the Review Groups Recommendations are available on the Department of Justice, Equality & Law Reform's website - Publications - Review of Parental Leave Act - www.justice.ie

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