Childcare vouchers during maternity leave, which were provided through salary sacrifice, would be suspended during maternity leave. Donaldson wished to join the childcare vouchers scheme but refused to join on these terms as she believed that it was discriminatory. She brought a claim instead in the Tribunal that her employer had discriminated against her on […]
Tag: sex discrimination
Guides on surrogacy and antenatal time off
Acas receives around 39,000 calls to its helpline each year from employers and employees about parental issues, including time off for antenatal and adoption appointments. One can imagine with the recent changes in this area and the complexity of the new rules on shared parental leave that this figure will only increase. In response to demand, ACAS has produced […]
New family friendly regulations
On the 1st December 2014, some of the new family friendly regulations became the law although some of the provisions will not become a reality until 2015. In addition to the shared parental leave coming into effect for babies due on or after 5th April 2015, a number of other less publicised amendments are due to […]
Maternity Leave around the world
I have been referred to a very interesting infographic about maternity leave around the world, which I thought I would share as it was very pictorially informative. To have a look at maternity leave around the world click here.
Discrimination and paternity pay
An Employment Tribunal has rejected a male employee’s claim for direct and indirect sex discrimination following his employer’s (Ford Motor Company) failure to pay enhanced additional paternity pay. The Tribunal rejected the employee’s argument that the correct comparator was a woman who was on maternity leave after 20 weeks following the birth of a child, […]
Surrogacy and maternity leave
Further to my earlier posts, we now have a ruling from the European Court of Justice on this issue. The ECJ has held that a commissioning mother (who receives a child via a surrogacy) does not have the right to maternity leave under the Pregnant Workers Directive. The aim of the Directive is to protect […]
Sex discrimination and post natal depression
The EAT has upheld a decision of the ET in Lyons v DWP Jobcentre Plus that a woman, who was dismissed having been off sick for several months after the end of her maternity leave, had not been discriminated against because of pregnancy or sex. s18 of the Equality Act 2010 sets out that pregnancy […]
Shared parental leave
The Government has published the draft Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014, which will bring into force the ability for parents to share leave and pay for babies due on or after 5th April 2015. The Regulations are only in draft and consultation ends today on their content but they currently contain a great deal of […]
Shared parental leave
The Government has published its response to the consultation on the administration of the new shared parental leave and pay system following its confirmation that new arrangements for shared parental leave and pay were on the radar for the current Government. The Government has already provided for change within the Children and Families Bill currently […]
Flexible working
The reputation of some industries for allowing staff to work flexibly is better than others. Research has shown much still needs to be done. I therefore read with interest two articles published in our own professional magazine, the Law Society Gazette on this very issue this week. It is quite clear that as lawyers we […]