FAIRNESS
AT WORK
CHAPTER FIVE
Family-Friendly
Policies
5.1 Competitiveness
depends on the UK making the best use of the talents of as many
people as possible. The larger the number of people - particularly
skilled people - to which business can look, the better. We also
need to ensure that as many people as possible who want to work
should have the chance to do so.
5.2 But
work and parenthood can create conflicting pressures. Parents,
both men and women, need time with their children and time to
create a supportive home in which their children can thrive. When
they are at work they need confidence that their children are
being well cared for so that they can concentrate on the job in
hand. Helping employees to combine work and family life satisfactorily
is good not only for parents and children but also for businesses.
5.3 Many
successful modern companies, both large and small, have therefore
adopted a culture and practices in support of the family. To the
mutual benefit of the employee and the business, they allow flexibility
over hours and working from home allowing parents to spend more
time with their children. They provide time off for family crises.
Some provide childcare facilities or fund employees’ use
of nurseries. They know how important it is to retain staff in
whom they have invested and on whom they depend. The Government
wishes to support and reinforce such a family-friendly culture
in business. In the future it will become increasingly important
to enable employees to balance satisfactorily family responsibilities
and work, and children to benefit from parental care.
5.4 The
Government is already taking action including through:
- a National
Childcare Strategy which will meet the needs of children and
support their parents in combining work and family life. The
Strategy will encourage businesses to provide access to good
quality childcare for their employees or to develop policies
such as flexible working which help parents look after their
children themselves;
- the development
of ways to encourage working from home by raising its status;
- the Working
Families Tax Credit, giving financial support to working families;
- research
into the needs of small businesses in this area and employment
issues for women;
- promoting
a focus in the EU on family-friendly policies, including through
the recent UK Presidency Conference on the Future of Work.
5.5 To
ensure that all parents are better able to balance work and family
life, voluntary measures need to be underpinned by a statutory
framework. In addition to measures to improve family incomes,
the Government’s two main priorities are to tackle excessively
long working hours and to give parents greater flexibility. The
National Minimum Wage and the implementation of the Working Time
Directive will help to support working parents. The Government
also welcomes the Part-Time Work Directive, which will remove
discrimination against part-time workers and increase access to
part-time work. This will mean better quality part-time jobs and
more choice, which will help parents, women and men, to combine
work with family life. The Government will implement this Directive
by April 2000 and will consult both employers’ and employees’
bodies and other interested parties before doing so.
5.6 To
tackle excessively long working hours the Government will implement
the Working Time Directive and Young Workers Directive. There
is no advantage to employers in exhausted employees. On the contrary,
the need to work within fair, maximum hours is likely to promote
more efficient working practices and innovation.
5.7 The
Working Time Directive will enable people to balance better
their work and home lives. It specifies:
- minimum
daily and weekly rest periods;
- rest breaks;
- annual
paid holidays;
- a limit
of 48 hours a week on the average time which employees can be
required to work (except by voluntary agreement); and
- restrictions
on hours worked at night.
5.8 The
Young Workers Directive has similar but tighter provisions
for employees under 18 years old.
5.9 Draft
regulations to implement these Directives were published for consultation
on 8 April. Replies are due by 5 June 1998. The regulations are
designed to allow maximum flexibility through agreements between
employers, employees and trade unions.
5.10 The
European Commission is expected soon to propose the extension
of the Working Time Directive to currently excluded sectors, including
transport, sea fishing and the offshore oil and gas industry.
The inclusion of some sectors gives rise to difficulties. The
Government will therefore be working closely with the Commission
and other member states to arrive at sensible arrangements which
reflect both employee and employer interests.
5.11 To
ensure that it is easier for parents to balance work and family
life, the Government will introduce a series of new measures as
it implements the Parental Leave Directive:
- three months’
parental leave for men and women when they have a baby or adopt
a child, plus protection from dismissal for exercising this
right; and
- time off
for urgent family reasons to help employees look after a sick
child or deal with a crisis at home.
5.12 The
Government will implement this Directive by December 1999. Before
doing so, it needs to consider how to achieve a coherent package
of rights, including existing rights, for parents which supports
competitiveness.
5.13 First,
the new rights need to be properly integrated with existing employment
rights for pregnant women. These have developed piecemeal and
their complexity and potential for abuse have been criticised
by employers, employees, the judiciary and the House of Commons
Employment Committee. The Government will therefore review existing
maternity provisions alongside the new rights to achieve a coherent
package that is easier to understand and operate. The Government
then intends to legislate to create a framework of basic rights,
supported by regulations on the details. The Government will consult
on the regulations. However, before the framework and the regulations
can be finalised a number of issues have to be resolved and the
Government wishes to consult.
5.14 Women
have a right to 14 weeks’ maternity leave but 18 weeks’
pay. This is confusing to both employers and employees. Many employers
see benefits in aligning the two periods. The Government proposes
to extend maternity leave to 18 weeks.
5.15 The
Parental Leave Directive is flexible about how such leave should
be taken:
- in a single
block or as an annual allowance;
- full or
part-time;
- at any
time up to the child’s eighth birthday or a lower age,
or with some required to be taken at the time of birth or adoption;
- under individual
arrangements agreed between the employer and the employee.
5.16 As
far as possible employers and employees should be encouraged to
make whatever arrangements best suit their own circumstances.
However, legislation is needed to deal with special cases, such
as what happens if an employee changes jobs before taking his
or her full parental leave allowance. In order for the Government
to ensure that a proper legislative framework is created, it would
welcome views on the options set out here.
5.17 Employees
have to give notice of maternity leave. The current requirements
are complex and can be simplified. The Government would welcome
views on how this should be achieved and what statutory provision
is required for the new rights to parental leave.
5.18 At
present women qualify for 14 weeks’ maternity leave from
day one of their employment, for paid leave if they have worked
for 6 months and for extended maternity leave after two years’
work for the same employer. The Parental Leave Directive allows
for a qualifying period of up to a year for the right to parental
leave.
5.19 The
Government believes that these qualifying periods should
be aligned as far as practicable. It therefore proposes that
the right to extended maternity leave and parental leave should
both apply after one year.
5.20 Contracts
of employment continue during the 14 weeks of statutory maternity
leave. The law does not specify what then happens to the contracts
of women who take longer periods. This has led to confusion and
litigation. The Parental Leave Directive requires that the status
of the contract during parental leave is set out clearly in legislation.
5.21 Because
of the uncertainty over the state of the contract during extended
maternity leave, problems can arise when a woman is made redundant
while on leave. There are particular difficulties if she cannot
return to work on the day she intended to because she is sick.
These uncertainties would be significantly reduced if it were
clear that the contract of employment continued during the absence.
There would be some costs to employers: for example, a woman in
this position would continue to accrue service for the purposes
of leave and seniority. However, provided it was not discriminatory,
the contract could specify what terms applied during absence from
work. The Government therefore proposes that legislation should
provide for the contract of employment to continue during the
whole period of maternity or parental leave, unless it is expressly
terminated by either party, by dismissal or resignation.
5.22 At
present women returning from maternity leave have a right to their
old job. If this is not practicable, they generally must be given
a suitable alternative, with equivalent terms and conditions of
employment. The Parental Leave Directive requires that employees
should be guaranteed their job back, or a suitable equivalent,
after parental leave. Employees who are not guaranteed their old
job back will be deterred from taking parental leave, thus undermining
its purpose. The Government therefore proposes to provide similar
rights of return after parental leave as already apply after maternity
leave.
5.23 Currently,
parents who adopt a child have no statutory right to take leave
from work. Any leave they take must be agreed with their employer,
and they have no guarantee of their job back. The Government believes
this is wrong and unfair. Adoption is valuable to society, and
adoptive parents have as much need as others to spend time with
their children. The Government therefore welcomes the recognition
of adoptive parents’ rights in the Parental Leave Directive
and proposes to provide three months’ parental leave for
adoptive parents. It does not, however, intend that adoptive
mothers should have the same maternity rights as birth mothers.
5.24 Small
firms often have particular problems. For example, small firms
may find it easier to cope with employees taking leave in a series
of short absences rather than as a block.
5.25 Current
legislation already recognises the difficulties very small firms
may face in holding a job open for a long time. In limited circumstances,
they may be able to show that they cannot realistically take a
woman back after the longer period of maternity absence. European
requirements do not allow any exemption from the provisions relating
to maternity or parental leave, but they do provide for special
provision to be made in relation to small firms.
5.26 The
Government wants to ensure sufficient flexibility in implementing
the Directive to meet the needs of all employers, large and small.
It seeks views on the particular difficulties small firms might
face in complying with the rights proposed in this chapter, and
on how these might be alleviated.
5.27 The
Parental Leave Directive provides a right for employees to take
time off work for urgent family reasons in cases of sickness
or accident.
5.28 Currently,
there is no statutory right to take time off to deal with a family
emergency. This is generally left to employers’ discretion.
The Government believes that it is right for employees to feel
secure that necessary time off will be allowed, although employers
cannot be expected to provide frequent or long-term time off.
Legislation already provides rights to reasonable time off for
specified reasons, for example to arrange training if the employee
is being made redundant, or to carry out public duties. Industrial
tribunals also take into account the needs of the business in
deciding whether an employer has reasonably refused time off.
In the same way, the Government proposes to provide a right
to reasonable time off for family emergencies, which will apply
to all employees regardless of length of service.
5.29 Dismissal
on grounds of pregnancy or exercising a right to maternity
leave is automatically unfair, regardless of length of service.
The Parental Leave Directive requires similar protection for parents
taking parental leave. The Government believes that employees
should be able to take family leave secure that they will not
be victimised as a result. The Government therefore proposes
to ensure that employees are protected against dismissal or other
action if they exercise their rights to parental leave and time
off for urgent family reasons.
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