If one of the parents has been employed on the national labour market for at least the last month of the vesting period, the Directorate of Labour shall take into account, where appropriate, periods of employment or self-employment in another Member State of the Agreement on the European Economic Area, Nordic social security conventions, the Interinstitutional Agreement on the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) or the agreement between the government. Iceland, on the one hand, and the Government of Denmark and the Government of the Faroe Islands, on the other hand, during the vesting period, provided that the parent`s work has conferred rights on the parent during maternity leave under the legislation of that State. The prerequisite is that the parent has started working on the national labour market within ten working days of leaving the labour market in another country of the European Economic Area, in another Nordic country, in another EFTA State or in the Faroe Islands. The parent must attach to the application for payment by the maternity/paternity leave fund the necessary certificates of periods of employment and insurance acquired in another State in accordance with the provisions of the Conventions. “I am receiving a request from an employee to take five weeks of parental leave from December 1 to 28, 2020 due to the announcement in Budget 2021. The period leading up to Christmas is our busiest time. Can I ask him to take leave at a later date? Does he have other vacation rights? How can I manage this? If two of your employees give birth or adopt the same child, both employees are entitled to a total of 8 weeks of leave. In the first part of this three-part series of articles on family-friendly policies (Part 2 on Processing Flexible Work Requests and Part 3 on Parental Leave, Compassionate Leave and Caregiver Leave), the latest article in Leeanne Armstrong`s Employee Handbook series, TLT`s General Counsel, addresses key considerations for the development and implementation of your maternity policies. Adoption, paternity and shared parental leave. But what is the basic legal framework? It`s complex, but below is an overview of the most important permissions. It is essential to establish additional leave and/or relevant salary entitlements and criteria, and you may want to refer employees to someone within your organization who is responsible for advising employees on their rights under your family-friendly policies. You can also indicate that in the event of a conflict between your internal policies and legal requirements, the legal framework will prevail. European case law has clarified that statutory annual leave cannot be taken at the same time as maternity leave and that compulsory leave during this period cannot be counted towards statutory leave.
They must therefore give the worker the opportunity to fully exercise her legal right outside maternity leave. The “protection period” is protected against this unlawful discrimination from the beginning of her pregnancy until the end of her additional maternity leave or when she returns to work (whichever is earlier). If there is no legal right to ordinary and additional maternity leave, the period of protection ends 2 weeks after the end of the pregnancy (for example, an applicant, temporary worker or employee who had a miscarriage or stillbirth before the 24th week of pregnancy). In the United Kingdom, a recent consultation recommended extending the period of protection to 6 months after the employee returns to work. If an employee or his partner has a baby or adopts a child and meets the eligibility criteria, he is entitled to shared parental leave (SPL). This means that after the first two weeks of compulsory leave, which a mother must take immediately after the birth of the child, the remaining 50 weeks can be divided between the parents and up to 37 weeks of the statutory salary. This must be communicated to the parents during the first year following the birth or the first year after the adoption of the child. Mothers are not required to take full maternity leave of 52 weeks, but it is mandatory that they take the first 2 weeks after the birth of the baby for health and safety reasons. If the mother works in a factory, this compulsory leave is extended to 4 weeks. In Ali`s appeal, the Court of Appeal did not accept that “after the mandatory maternity leave of two weeks after the birth, the main purpose or purpose of the statutory maternity leave is to facilitate childcare.” They did not consider that a worker on statutory maternity leave was comparable to a worker on shared parental leave and dismissed the appeal. In Hextall`s appeal, they argued that “the limitation of maternity benefit to biological mothers cannot be the subject of a direct action for discrimination or a claim for equal conditions, since the legislature has made an exception to the provisions granting a woman special treatment in relation to pregnancy or childbirth.” In other words, the Court of Appeal held that it does not discriminate against men who take shared parental leave to provide less costly benefits to women who take maternity leave. However, for practical reasons and in the interest of maintaining good employee relations, many employers align wages and benefits between women taking maternity leave and all workers taking joint parental leave.
However, if you decide not to align maternity allowance and shared parental allowance, you should closely monitor developments in the Ali and Hextall cases, as this decision is very likely to be appealed. Finally, it should be noted that it will always be discriminatory to offer different rates of pay for men and women under an improved system of shared parental leave; A mismatch between the higher maternity allowance and the extension of the joint parental leave is only allowed by the allowance. Both women and men are entitled to parental leave. You should exercise extreme caution when considering dismissing a worker on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. Is the increase in maternity benefit, but not in shared parental allowance, discriminatory? As an employer, you need to understand the different types of leave and wages available to parents, including maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave. It`s a good idea to incorporate legal requirements into your policies (to make sure they stay up to date), as well as any additional extended warranties you wish to offer. Self-employed persons are persons who, regardless of their legal form, work for their own company and regularly pay the insurance tax determined by the tax authorities. Full-time self-employed persons are required to pay a monthly withholding tax on the remuneration calculated corresponding to the threshold amount of the Directorate of Internal Revenue in the profession concerned. Since the law recognizes that workers who are outside the workplace are disadvantaged in dismissal proceedings, they benefit from certain additional protections. In accordance with article 10 of maternity and parental leave, etc. (Northern Ireland) Regulations (1999) This requirement applies regardless of whether other staff members are better suited to the position. As long as the role is suitable for the employee on leave, it must be inserted into the role.
In Sefton Borough Council v Wainwight, EAT confirmed that a maternity worker should not be interviewed for another role. Similar protections apply to workers who are on adoption and shared parental leave. The mother (M) takes 12 weeks (including the mandatory 2 weeks) of maternity leave before being shortened. She and father (F) want to take another 10 weeks together, after which F will need another 7 weeks, and M will return to work. This equates to 39 of the 52 weeks available that can be taken. Subject to compliance with the eligibility requirements, the statutory shared parental allowance could be paid for this entire period, but any additional leave would not be paid.