Maternity leave scheme problems

Posted by Jenni Colwill on 21 May 2010 | 0 Comments

The Women and Work Research Group (WWRG) at Sydney University have identified a few more problems with the government’s proposed paid parental leave legislation in their recent submission to the Senate's Inquiry into the Exposure Draft of the Paid Parental Leave Scheme Bill 2010.

I’ve done a bit of complaining in the past about the governments proposed paid parental leave scheme but in case you haven’t got the message…I TRULY don’t like it. And I’m not alone in this view. In brief, the problems with the legislation as it is currently written include the following.

• Your employer doesn’t have to pay your superannuation entitlements while you are on leave under this legislation. Apparently no one in government has been listening to the debate about the gender pay gap and the low level of retirement incomes that Australian women face. Or perhaps it isn’t really such a problem after all?
• There is no guarantee you’ll get the same, or similar, job back when you return from paid maternity leave – now really, how could this have been overlooked? Hello? Did anyone look at the draft Bill before it was published?
• There is also no guarantee that your employer will give you the leave. The legislation entitles you to the payment, but not to the leave. Another oversight?
• You get the payment by claiming it (presumably through Centrelink) but the money then goes to your employer who pays you…? Messy! How will you know that it is all being passed on to you?
• The legislation does not clearly spell out that the payment you receive under this legislation is intended to be taken in addition to your employer’s paid maternity leave scheme. Clearly the government’s view is that no Australian employers would be nasty enough to use this payment as a substitute for what they currently offer their staff. Would they?
• There is no separate paternity leave provision in the current legislation. The mother is the ‘primary claimant’ and the ‘primary claimant’s partner’ is the ‘secondary claimant’. The payment can be shared between the primary and secondary claimants, but both parents cannot be paid for the same period of time off work.
• Although the government has acknowledged that this legislation is only a small step along the path to a decent paid parental leave scheme, there is no schedule or plan for taking the next (probably equally small) steps. I wonder why?

I am totally unimpressed by all the congratulations and strong support being given to the government for this scheme. A whole lot of people have been ecstatic that Australian women are being offered these crumbs, but I AM NOT.

This is one of the most cynical exercises I have seen a government undertake.

Scant attention has been given to the issue; the proposed scheme offers an absolute minimum of entitlements after an extended timeframe which just happens to go past an election .

WOMEN AND BABIES DESERVE A LOT MORE.