The Validity of the Maternity Law for Working Women in Corporates - Essay Example

 The requirement for employers to allow maternity leave under United Kingdom law is a disadvantage to women in the workplace Contents Introduction 2 Discussion 2 Disadvantages of Maternity Leave 2 Advantages of Maternity Leave 4 Comparison between the two arguments 5 Conclusion 6 References 7 Introduction Over the last two decades, the EU policy has focused on implementing measures to encourage improvements in the health and safety at work of pregnant workers who have recently given birth as well as implementing the principle of equal treatment and equal opportunities of men and women in matters of employment. This includes providing new mothers and pregnant workers with protection from unfavourable treatment and providing them with a minimum period of maternity leave and rights during leave. In UK, EU law provided pregnant women with protection from discrimination. There are a lot of discussions in this respect about the validity of this maternity law for working women in corporates. This report will take a look at the both side of this law and discuss which one favours other. Discussion Disadvantages of Maternity Leave Many have argued that maternity leave is disadvantageous for working women since it holds back women’s progress in the workplace. Under the present UK law, a working woman who gives birth to a child is allowed to take maternity leave up to a year. For six weeks they are paid 90 percent of their usual salary, but after that they rules vary and it can be around £ 135 per week or even less than that. But maternity leave is becoming a huge burden on many businesses and women. The legislation thus directs many employers not to employ women and the companies are reluctant to give jobs to women of childbearing age. This part of the legislation, which is called family-friendly legislation, is wrong and needs to be abandoned. Many ordinary women in ordinary jobs do badly when they take advantage of the family-friendly legislation. When they join their work it becomes difficult for them to return to their earlier earnings and they don’t get their pension rights when they were away. But organisations display a good pretty picture of the facilities which they offer to their working new mother. But the reality is actually very different. The new mother has to abandon her job for a fixed term. After first six weeks, her income possibly falls huskily and it takes her time to return back to normal salary level. These statutory benefits and provisions create a perverse incentive for a short term to return to work against what might be a longer term interests (Govt.UK, 2014, p. 1). It is important to understand that the decision whether to return to work or not is difficult and individual. This may include personal inclination, circumstances, family income, costs at home, job and childcare. There is no blanket bureaucratic regulation of work-life balance that can influence the individual choice. For example, the care of a young child is priority for a mother and the decision should be left to her without being bribed or influenced by highly politicised culture. If a mother decides to follow the culture, it may be poorer in the longer or short term. The working woman has already lost out on pension and experience. When she returns to job she has to handle all the worries of caring for her vulnerable child. Promotion and pay may not match with those of her colleagues who have not taken the leave. Chances are that she might have to change from full time work to part time work. According to research, the hourly pay of working fathers is more than that of hourly pay of working mothers with dependent children compared with what they had before their children. After each birth women who return to their work have low growth of their wage and the pay difference does not start to reduce for 15 years. In reality family-friendly law is actually female and family unfriendly. The current arrangement at maternity leads to downward spiral of career and earnings. The life becomes a near dependency life for top-ups of one sort or another and it eventually leads to an impoverished old age (Lawlor, 2010, p. 1). Research have shown that one in seven of the women had lost their job while on maternity leave, 50% have reported a cut in hours or demotion while 40% have reported that their jobs have changed by the time they have returned. Thus women have to suffer in silence, and a common cause is that when women returns to the job, she finds that all her clients have been given to other people and eventually they are not returned. Thus she has to build up her entire client base again. Thus they are made redundant ahead of worse-performing men. The main issue is that women are looked as being less committed to their employers since they are now mothers. Many organisations are doing out of court settlement since they don’t want to be seen treating new mothers like that. But the main awful thing is that big companies are writing these cheques to the women accompanied with a confidentiality clause (Palmer and Day, 2011, p. 1). According to research, paid leaves go to women of higher wealth and education. Lower-income women are not eligible and hence the debate of short term or long term paid maternity leaves doesn’t concern them. Extra paid off for new mothers costs both the companies and the tax payer’s huge money which decreases the economic efficiency of the country. These are important since given the tight budget reality which UK faces the companies should decide whether it is profitable for them to restrict or expand paid leaves or fund other similar programs such as early childhood education etc. Not a lot can be gained from by new mothers from taking much longer leave. Thus an optimal maternity leave should be three to six months because there will be associated health benefits like baby visit, breast feeding full time, maternal health etc. The cost of maternal leave payments are paid through a tax on their employers or workers and not out of general reserves (Britt, 2010, p. 1). Advantages of Maternity Leave There is an economic and social benefit to a maternity leave. The economic incentives like increased employee retention of a company. The company does not have to go through costly process of recruiting and training a new worker in her place. By providing maternity leave the companies can really put forward itself as a caring organisation. This can lead to employee satisfaction among the workers. Many researches have been conducted to show the correlation between mother’s likelihood of returning to work and longer maternity leaves. It was found that leaves which were under two years have a positive though small influence on employment rates of female and on the gender ratio of employment. Paid leaves increases the financial stability of the family and women who receives them are much more likely to be working and hence are less likely to need food stamps when the age of their child becomes 1 year (Belkin, 2013, p. 1). Comparison between the two arguments The above discussion puts forward both the sides of the argument. Maternity leave is a mandatory leave which an employer has to give to expecting women. Women have the right to paid time off for antenatal care and also protected against unfair treatment. There is a huge amount of pregnancy discrimination among low income group and they would not be able to gather legal help when needed. Studies have shown that a few percentages of women are able to take actions against an employer who have broken the law. Some women may not know their rights at all, but in some cases there have been periods of harassment and bullying before the woman is finally shown the door. Then the woman is in no position to invest emotion and energy, let alone money to pursue their actions which again may not produce the desired results. But maternity leaves does have benefits as well since it gives the woman time to care for her child when he is most vulnerable. At the same time she can be a financial support to the family which is needed in difficult times which UK is going through. Conclusion It is unlawful for an employer to dismiss or else disadvantage an employee for pregnancy or maternity leave. There are many campaign group Maternity actions which give advice to women and are trying gathering government attention to monitor unlawful discrimination. According to Equal Opportunities Commission before recession around 30,000 women lost their jobs per year due to the result of being pregnant and many believes that the number is rising dramatically ever since. Clearly Maternity Leave predicates against women form getting equal opportunities in terms of employment and it makes no sense for an employer to give the employment opportunities to women instead of a man when all things are equal except that a woman has to take a year off. If government wanted to make the law family friendly it should restore the ability of one-income family to use the unused tax allowances of other spouse especially during maternity leave. The difference in disposable household income in favour of two earners can be substantial. But on the other hand burden on UK due to employment regulations is considerable and it affects directly or indirectly through taxation to feed the public sector. This competitive disadvantage is costing UK much important investment. Thus maternity leaves have both advantages and disadvantages and it is important to embrace good sides and coexist together. References Belkin, L. 2013. The Only Argument For Paid Maternity Leave: 'Because It Is Right'. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/argument-for-paid-maternity-leave_n_4228669.html. [Accessed on: 30 March. 2014]. Britt, E. 2010. Costs and benefits of maternity and paternity leave. Available at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20101006IPR85368/html/Costs-and-benefits-of-maternity-and-paternity-leave. [Accessed on: 30 March. 2014]. Govt.UK. 2014. Maternity pay and leave. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave. [Accessed on: 30 March. 2014]. Lawlor, S. 2010. Sheila Lawlor: Maternity leave is 'burden' on women. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-business/9592203/Sheila-Lawlor-Maternity-leave-is-burden-on-women.html. [Accessed on: 30 March. 2014]. Palmer, C. and Day, P.L. 2011. Gender equality under EU law: how far does it protect pregnancy and maternity. Available at: http://www.era-comm.eu/oldoku/SNLLaw/06_Pregnancy/2011_11_Palmer_EN.pdf. [Accessed on: 30 March. 2014]. Read More