Human Rights Commission
Media Release
18 September 2007

Multiple employed should be eligible for paid parental leave

Casual and seasonal workers and workers with more than one job should be covered by the paid parent leave scheme, says EEO Commissioner Dr Judy McGregor.

“Many women who are seasonal workers are being discriminated against simply because they have multiple employment arrangements and that’s grossly unfair.”

“Suffrage Day (19 September) is a time to reflect on women’s progress at work and in society. While the paid parental leave scheme is a major success story for women, there is an urgent need to improve eligibility to cover women who really need and deserve the money.”

The Human Rights Commission had received both an employment and a sex discrimination complaint from a seasonal worker about not being covered by paid parental leave but neither complaint had been accepted.

Dr McGregor said she had written to the Minister of Labour Hon Ruth Dyson asking her to prioritise seasonal and casual workers in the review of paid parental leave.

Widening the criteria should be the next improvement to the scheme, even before improving the amount of money through changes to the structure of the scheme, recently suggested by the Families Commission.

The scheme has been amended several times already and when it was changed to include women who were self-employed, concurrent type of work through multiple self-employment was included. It is therefore anomalous that other forms of multiple employment, such as seasonal work, are not covered.

“Given that doctors covered by more than one District Health Board and teachers employed by more than one Board of Trustees are eligible there can be no rationale for excluding seasonal workers, many of whom work in lower paid jobs and have a greater need of paid parental leave.”

Employers’ interests have been given as the reason for not widening the criteria to seasonal workers. However, both the employers of the woman who had complained to the Commission were happy for the woman to be covered by the paid parental leave scheme had she been eligible.

In the recent evaluation of paid parental leave most employers thought the scheme had either no or a positive impact on their business.

Dr McGregor said she had also raised with the Minister the eligibility of fathers / partners in their own right. This would help to overcome the sense of grievance felt by some men that they miss out on direct access and affirm the role of both fathers and mothers in bringing up children.

ENDS

© Scoop Media