Employers who offer enhanced maternity pay may face discrimination claims if they do not extend the benefit to men when new laws on shared parental leave come into force.
The warning comes from Tom Kerr Williams, a partner at law firm DLA Piper, in an article for Personnel Today – Will shared parental leave oblige firms to offer enhanced paternity pay?
Under the new shared parental leave rules, parents will be able to share statutory maternity leave and pay. The mother is required to take the first two weeks post-childbirth as leave for health and safety reasons, but the remaining 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay can be shared by both parents. The rules apply to parents whose expected week of childbirth is on or after 5 April 2015.
XpertHR resources
Employment law manual: maternity pay and maternity allowance
Historically, offering enhanced maternity pay did not amount to unlawful discrimination because women were granted special protection in their biological position as a mother, therefore justifying different treatment and pay.
However, once parents can opt to share statutory paternity benefits over 50 weeks, it could be argued that special treatment for women can no longer be legally justified. Kerr Williams says that the principle could apply to enhanced maternity pay: “It is hard to argue that such leave protects the mother’s biological position if she is at liberty to transfer all but the first two weeks to the child’s father. This may present a discrimination risk for employers who do not offer the same enhanced maternity pay to fathers taking shared parental leave.”
A European Court case in 2010, Roca Alvarez v Sesa Start Espana ETT SA, set a precedent that special protection for mothers in relation to their biological position can be challenged. The court found that a Spanish law allowing mothers to take time off to feed an unweaned child under the age of nine months was discriminatory to men. This was because feeding and devoting time to the child could be carried out just as well by the father as by the mother.
When shared parental leave rules are in force, a tribunal could make an award for injury to feelings and financial losses if it finds a male employee has suffered as a result of discriminatory treatment, says Kerr Williams. However, this is likely to be limited to the enhanced pay for the shared parental leave period.
Organisations will need to revise their policies in response to the shared parental leave rules, which are being introduced as part of the Children and Families Act 2014. Kerr Williams advises them to consider the following options in response to concerns about discrimination claims relating to enhanced maternity pay:
- provide an enhanced maternity scheme and a shared parental pay scheme in tandem, but advise that parents who opt for shared parental leave are not eligible for enhanced maternity pay; and
- offer an enhanced “parental” leave and pay deal which applies to parents of either gender.
Ed Bowyer, a partner in the employment law team at Hogan Lovells, says that “the safest but most expensive” option for employers will be to offer enhanced parental leave and pay to either parent.
A recent survey of HR professionals by Hogan Lovells found that 30% expected shared parental leave to have a positive impact in terms of take-up by fathers. Of those, 70% planned to enhance their shared parental pay or set it at the same level as maternity pay.
The Government has ignored the potential cost for employers of equalising shared parental pay with current enhanced maternity pay. Its impact assessment on the new regulations, states: “Since none of these approaches is being imposed by the proposed legislation, the costs are not considered here.”
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The Government anticipates that, initially at least, take-up for shared parental leave will be only between 2% and 8%. The current system of additional paternity leave (APL), which entitles fathers to up to 26 weeks’ leave to care for a child from 20 weeks after its birth, has attracted little take-up. According to a survey by the TUC last year, only 0.6% of eligible fathers exercised their right to APL in 2011/12.
Preliminary results of research by XpertHR, to be published this summer, indicate that almost three-quarters of HR professionals support the legislation’s goals, but they voiced concerns about administrative complexity and costs, especially among small and medium-sized enterprises.
4 comments
My view is that this will be a non-event like the current opportunity to take up to 26 weeks’ additional paternity leave within the first year of their
child’s life provided that the mother has returned to work before using her
full entitlement to maternity leave. There is very low take up and in my experience the majority of men don’t really want to take the full two week entitlement, let alone any more.
With regard to enhanced maternity payment, this may well herald changes to benefits for new starters so will in fact work against women.
Yes there are wives who are the highest earners where it might happen but I will be surprised.
I think there will be a few ‘sponsored’ test cases by special interest groups but the next headline could be ‘shared parental leave may trigger more divorces’.
I think this will sneak up on us. The take up of APL has only been low because it’s not financially viable. This question of discrimination is entirely different.
I can’t help but agree that it would be discriminatory not to match enhanced SPL pay to men with the enhanced maternity pay we offer our female employees.
There’s a simple choice: we withdraw our enhanced maternity package to women or we match it for men.
Yes there is a cultural hurdle here but there are loads of men who would jump at the chance to take some time off on full pay to spend time with their new kids.
Take this a bit further and it quickly becomes perhaps the single most positive thing to happen for gender equality. Ever!
Me and my partner has concerns regarding a local authority currently planning on not offering enhanced maternity. I’m 6 months pregnant and the primary earner, my partner works for the council and currently they only plan on allowing him to take statutory.
There are real people that this effects, the decision not to pay makes a huge difference to our lives and our plans regarding who will be the primary carer. The only reason the take up will be low IMO is because organisations make it discriminatory towards men.
What is frustrating is knowing that in a year or so, there will be a test case which will then force everyone to make things equal, but in the mean time, people like me are left with still no real choice and no equality.
Me and my partner has concerns regarding a local authority currently planning on not offering enhanced maternity. I’m 6 months pregnant and the primary earner, my partner works for the council and currently they only plan on allowing him to take statutory.
There are real people that this effects, the decision not to pay makes a huge difference to our lives and our plans regarding who will be the primary carer. The only reason the take up will be low IMO is because organisations make it discriminatory towards men.
What is frustrating is knowing that in a year or so, there will be a test case which will then force everyone to make things equal, but in the mean time, people like me are left with still no real choice and no equality.
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