Parents in Jersey could be entitled to 52 weeks of parental leave, including six weeks’ paid leave, if recommendations from the Employment Forum are taken up by government.
A major study of the current system, and what changes should look like, has published a raft of changes to improve family friendly rights.
At the moment, mothers are entitled to up to 18 weeks’ maternity leave, of which two weeks is paid leave, while partners are entitled to two weeks’ unpaid leave.
The changes could be rolled out in stages over the next two years.
Helen Ruelle, Chair of the Employment Forum, said: “We have recommended extending the employment rights to improve the position for parents in the workplace, to give families more choice and flexibility, and hopefully to encourage gender balance in childcare roles.”
“We believe that our recommendations would provide a more inclusive and progressive approach to family related rights in the workplace, whilst recognising the potential impact on businesses in Jersey. This will be a significant change for some employers. However, it is important that progress is made to 52 weeks’ leave as quickly as possible, which we have recommended in two stages so that employers have time to prepare.”
The Forum’s consultation resulted in more than 300 responses from parents, employers and other interested parties including trades unions.
The Social Security Minister Deputy Susie Pinel directed the Forum to consider a number of possible changes to the current law. Other recommendations in their report include…
- From September 2019, maternity leave, adoption leave and parental leave would be combined to provide a more inclusive and straightforward system so that new parents are simply entitled to 52 weeks of parental leave each
- Time off to attend antenatal appointments for fathers and partners
- Time off to attend adoption appointments for adoptive parents
- Time off for the intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement to attend antenatal appointments with the birth mother
- The right to request flexible working for all employees, not just those with caring responsibilities
- The right for breastfeeding employees to request reasonable breaks and employers must take reasonable steps to provide facilities for breastfeeding mothers in the workplace
- The right to be paid during a period of absence where a risk assessment prevents a pregnant or breastfeeding woman from undertaking her normal job and the employer cannot provide her with other duties
You can read the full 72-page report here.
