When family rights were first introduced, only mothers were provided for with maternity leave and pay. More recently fathers and same sex partners have been granted family rights. Men and women, including adoptive parents, may be entitled to parental leave.
Flexible Working
Employees with responsibilities for children up to 16 years (18 if disabled) have the right to ask employers for a change of hours to enable them to care for their children.
Time off for Dependants
All employees, not just parents, have the right not to be unreasonably refused unpaid time off work to deal with emergencies involving their dependants.
April 2011 change
For any child born after 3 April 2011, mothers can transfer up to 6 months of any remaining leave to the father. Any remaining maternity pay that would have been payable to the mother for any period during the additional paternity leave is transferred to the father.
Minimum benefits or statutory rights
Employees often get confused with the rights they are provided in their contract and the statutory minimum rights that all employees are entitled to. An employer can enhance the benefits if he wishes to and many do, however an employee should look at her/his contract to ensure that she/he has the correct information at this important time. In particular employers sometimes ask employees to comply with certain conditions in return for exceeding the statutory provisions and it is important that these are understood.
Health & Safety
The employer must respect the right for time off for anti natal care and he must take whatever steps are necessary to deal with the specific risks to health and safety that the employee faces as a pregnant woman in the workplace. It is a criminal offence for an employer to allow a woman to do any work in the 2 week period after she has given birth, or in the 4 week period if she works in a factory.
Maternity Leave
Employees have the right to 26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave and 26 weeks of Additional Maternity Leave making one year in total. The combined 52 weeks is known as Statutory Maternity Leave. There are a host of issues relating to the taking and returning from maternity leave which are outside the scope of this article.
Statutory Maternity Leave
If a mother qualifies for SMP, it is paid for the first six weeks at 90 per cent of average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit and for the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of either the standard rate of £124.88, or 90 per cent of average gross weekly earnings. From 6 April 2011 the standard rate will increase to £128.73
Statutory Paternity Leave
Eligible for those employees who are the child’s biological father (providing he has responsibility for bringing up the child) and those married to or the civil partner or partner of the child’s mother or adopter and has main responsibility (apart from the mother or adopter) for the child’s upbringing (may be of same sex as the mother or adopter and therefore the person taking the paternity leave could be a woman). The employee can opt to take either 1 or 2 week’s paternity leave paid at the same rate as Maternity Pay (ie £124.88 per week up to April 5 2011 and £128.73 thereafter).
Rights to return
Those on maternity and paternity have the right to return to same job and same terms and conditions as would have applied if she or he was not absent.
Parental Leave
Employees with responsibility for a child, including adoptive parents, may have the right to unpaid time off work to care for the child. This is for the purpose of caring for the child but also looking after the welfare of the child in a general sense and making arrangements for the child’s good. Employees must have 12 month’s service and have the right for a total of 13 week’s leave in respect of each qualifying child for whom they have the responsibility. Parents of a child entitled to a disability living allowance are entitled to 18 weeks’ parental leave. The leave must be taken before the child’s 5th birthday, or 18th if disabled.
© Strategic HR Support Ltd 2011
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