As it stands, new mothers can take 12 months off work, of which nine months are paid. New fathers only receive two weeks’ paid leave from work. The new scheme means that the new mother will have their leave quota reduced to five months’ paid leave, and, in exchange, new fathers will receive an extra four weeks, making their new entitlement six paid weeks in total. The couple will also be allowed to divide an additional seven months between them. Of this extra time four months will be paid for.
This, essentially, means that fathers will be allowed to take five and a half months paid leave after the birth of their child by using up some of the mother’s entitlement. This therefore splits the loss of an employee, and the cost, over two companies. It also has the implication that now it won't necessarily be advantageous to have a work force that is predominantly men as they will now be allowed to have quite a chunk of time off 'to have babies', which could arguably have the knock on effect of reducing sex discrimination.
New fathers also have the option of taking another three months unpaid leave – if the mother decided to return to work after five months. In the alternative, both the mother and the father could take six months’ off work each at the same time, much of it paid, to look after their new baby. Employers would not be able to refuse requests for the time off, officials said.
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