Supporting Working Parents - CareforKids.com.au ®

Supporting Working Parents
What can employers do to help?

While last month's survey revealed that employers are starting to get on board with supporting working mums, a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald showed just how much work there is to be done with some employers and businesses!

Sacked For Taking Maternity Leave – It's Illegal

The story cites the frequency with which women are sacked for taking maternity leave and told to quit if they cannot juggle work and child care. The employment watchdog Fair Work gets 30 related complaints a week and that some employers think that being supportive to mums is "pandering to their special circumstances".

While the government and workplace bodies are still giving lots of excuses for not sorting the issue of statutory paid maternity leave, many employers still don't understand that if you don't support working mums, mothers will simply leave the workforce, need more state benefits (paid for by the tax payer and businesses), the economy would shrink and many of these stone age businesses will go bust.

In the meantime, if employers are being difficult about maternity leave (paid or unpaid), remind them that the law states that an employer who sacks a staff member for taking maternity leave (either outright or with proven constructive dismissal) is breaking the law and liable to a heavy fine.

Maternity leave entitlement: the law

Paid maternity leave is not automatically available - the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) reportedly opposes the Productivity Commission's recommendation of 20 weeks' paid parental leave, claiming it would overburden business
52 weeks of unpaid maternity leave are available to all employees, whether part-time, full-time or regular casuals, so long as they have worked 12 months for the employer
If you plan to take unpaid maternity leave, you must give your employer 10 weeks' notice of your intention
You must also give four weeks' notice saying when you plan to start and end maternity leave
If you have a child prematurely, you must tell your employer and supply documentation including a medical certificate
Your employer must keep your position available
An employer who sacks a staff member for taking maternity leave is breaking the law and liable to a heavy fine.

Click here for more information.

If you are an employer looking to do more & enhance your benefits program click here to read about the CareforKids.com.au Corporate child care initiative.