You may be interested to read a summary of the current legislation regarding the rights of pregnant women and new mothers in Europe. I am proud that the EU has always led the way on this equality legislation.
Pregnant workers’ directive (1992/85/EEC)
This legislation gives women:
- Right to minimum 14 weeks maternity leave
- Right to guaranteed income during at least 14 week maternity leave
- Rights to specialised health and safety laws in the workplace whilst pregnant and breastfeeding
- Protection meaning they cannot be dismissed whilst on maternity leave
- Rights to employment contract ensured whilst on maternity leave
The Commission's new proposals for this legislation include:
- Increase in the minimum maternity leave from 14 to 18 weeks (as suggested by the ILO)
- Increase flexibility regarding when leave is taken (i.e. before or after the birth)
- Improved employment protection on return to work. Woman will have right to return to same / equivalent job and right to benefit from any improvement in working conditions to which she would have been entitled in her absence.
The Parliament is also revisiting the Self-employed workers' directive (1986/613/EEC) to ensure that self-employed parents are entitled to the same parental leave rights as other workers.
Equal treatment (employment) directive (2002/73/EC)
This fairly recent legislation is not currently being updated by the Commission. But it already:
- Prohibits discrimination against pregnant women and women on maternity leave
- Ensures the right to return to same / equivalent post after maternity leave. Denying this right is defined as discrimination.
- Allows women to take their cases to employment tribunal because this unfair practice is defined as discrimination.
The Women's Committee has just written a review of the implementation of this directive which we will be voting on next week in Strasbourg. I will blog on how this goes.
No comments:
Post a Comment