EMPLOYMENT
SHARED PARENTAL LEAVE
year of their child’s life, or, in adoption cases, the first year after their child’s placement. Many hope that these new measures will encourage more men
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to share childcare, drive gender equality in the workplace, and eliminate discrimination surrounding maternity leave.
How does SPL work? Under SPL, a mother brings her maternity leave (and maternity
pay) to an early end so that she and her partner (who must be working and eligible for the scheme) can share the balance of that leave and pay, up to a total of 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay. This means that fathers are likely to be taking more time off with
their child in his or her first year of life (or adoption). Conversely, some mothers may find that they return to work earlier because their child’s father is taking leave in their place. Parents may decide to be off at the same time, or to take it in turns to have periods of leave to look after their child. Each employee will be required to give a minimum of eight weeks’
notice of their intention to take each separate period of parental leave. Employees will only be able to take three separate sets of leave, or make three changes to the planned dates, during the 52 weeks.
hared parental leave (SPL) came into force in the UK on 5 April 2015. It is a new optional entitlement for employed parents to share childcare responsibilities during the first
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SCANDINAVIA
Following the introduction of shared parental leave in the UK, Emmanuelle Ries, Astrid Trolle Adams, Hélène Canard-Duchene and Susanna Grichtmaier, of international business law firm EBL Miller Rosenfalck, look at how other European countries help working parents to share childcare, and consider whether such initiatives can help to promote gender equality in the workplace.
Employers will not be able to refuse leave, but they will be able to
insist that leave is taken as a single block. New fathers will have a new right to take unpaid leave to attend up to two antenatal appointments. Given that, to make the system work, parents are likely to be
liaising with two employers – who may have very different needs and approaches to granting SPL – there is plenty of scope for confusion, lack of coordination, and difficulty in this new system. Managed effectively, however, shared parental leave can build employee engagement and loyalty, provide opportunities to achieve equality in the workplace, and enable more women to proceed into senior roles.
A Scandinavian import Rumour has it that SPL has its origins in a trip David Cameron took
to Sweden, where, as in other Nordic countries, parental leave is strongly oriented towards supporting dual-earner families in which both parents are involved in both the labour market and care work, and earnings- related parental insurance benefits entitle both to extensive leave. Not surprisingly, Sweden was a pioneer in reforming maternity
leave. In 1974, parental leave replaced maternity leave, with 90 days of paid leave for each parent at that time. Despite the gender-neutral name and the fact that fathers’ leave was
also paid, fathers generally gave their leave to mothers. In 1995, the ‘daddy month’ was introduced. This is a month that is earmarked for the benefit of the father. It is not transferable to the mother.
16 | Re:locate | Autumn 2015
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