Maternity & paternity
Pregnant employees are entitled to take 52 weeks' maternity leave. Pregnant employees' partners are entitled to take two weeks' ordinary paternity leave provided that they have the required continuous service.
Parents with babies due on or after 5 April 2015 are entitled to take shared parental leave. Shared parental leave enables mothers to commit to ending their maternity leave and pay at a future date, and to share the untaken balance of leave and pay as shared parental leave and pay with their partner.
Shared parental leave and pay – equalising opportunities?
With reports citing that only 1% of those eligible took a period of shared parental leave in 2018 it is...
Webinar: Managing sickness absence during pregnancy
Employers need to take particular care when managing sickness absence during pregnancy as the legal framework protecting pregnant employees is...
Why it’s time to compel all employers to publish parental policies
Recent research claimed that top employers’ parental policies are “invisible”, and a number have now publicly committed to publishing their...
Shared parental leave should be ‘overhauled’
Shared parental leave is unaffordable for most working families and should be overhauled, according to the TUC.
Shared parental leave...
Diageo announces six months’ paid parental leave
Drinks giant Diageo has announced a new policy to offer men and women 52 weeks’ parental leave with the first...
Top 10 HR questions March 2019: Anonymous witness rights
If a witness in a disciplinary procedure wishes to remain anonymous, how can the employer balance their privacy against the...
O2 increases paid paternity leave to 14 weeks
Mobile network O2 has increased paid paternity leave for all permanent staff to 14 weeks, which it claimed is among...
Redundancy when on maternity leave: a matter of communication
HR practitioners, even some line managers, know full well that an employee at risk of redundancy when they are on...
Top employers’ support for working parents is “invisible”
A number of employers including Asos, IBM, Lidl and Facebook are completely ‘invisible’ when it comes to publicising their support...
April 2019 employment law changes: Seven things for HR to do
Every April, HR professionals are faced with a raft of amended employment laws and deadlines for their organisation to meet....
‘Business lacks transparency over parental support’
LinkedIn has claimed to have revealed evidence of a “disconnect” between employers and employees over the issue of flexible work, as most working parents feel their employers are not fully open about their parental policies.
Men’s parental leave is key to women’s progression
On International Women’s Day, Lauren Touré looks at how encouraging men to share parental responsibilities can have a profound effect on female career progression.
Top 10 HR questions February 2019: Redundancy, FTCs and maternity leave
When faced with the need to make redundancies, how should an employer decide which employees to select?
Redundancy exercises bring...
Third of mums using toilets to express milk at work
A third of breastfeeding mothers returning to work are being forced to use a toilet to express milk because of...
Top 10 HR questions January 2019: Holiday pay, overtime and tax on exit payments
How should employers deal with overtime when calculating holiday pay? Does it make a difference if the overtime is voluntary,...
