Minister English outlines Government position on reproductive health related leave
Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail Damien English TD this evening (24 May) addressed the Seanad on the Private Member’s Bill, Organisation of Working Time (Reproductive Health Related Leave) Bill 2021 which proposed that employees be entitled to leave with pay where the employee has suffered a miscarriage and leave with pay to receive treatment from a registered practitioner in the State in relation to pregnancy, childbirth or assisted human reproduction.
Speaking this evening Minister English said: I welcome the Private Members Bill as an important contribution to the discussion in this area. Miscarriage and stillbirth are extremely difficult experiences that touch many peoples’ lives, perhaps more people than any of us here realise as more than one in five pregnancies end in miscarriage. The loss is devastating for women and their partners.
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Tánaiste and Business Minister Leo Varadkar said employers should now draw up the appropriate working arrangements and policies, to ensure that employees will have more options to work outside of traditional hours, which many people have availed of during the pandemic.
Jane Murphy from the Employment Bar Association says dividing obligations between employer and employee seems sensible, particularly at a time when many employees are working flexibly and remotely and often using a number of different devices to communicate
“As a result, it is not as easy as it might have once been for an employer to monitor and manage working time and practices effectively. It, therefore, seems appropriate that obligations are placed on employees to protect their own right and the right of others to disconnect,” said Murphy.