A new law aimed at boosting workplace protection for pregnant women and new parents has cleared the Commons.
The Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill was supported by MPs unopposed and will now undergo further scrutiny in the House of Lords. The Bill aims to strengthen employment rights for new mothers and mothers to be by protecting them against redundancy for longer.
Labour MP Dan Jarvis, who sponsored the Bill, urged MPs to back his proposals, telling them they had a “precious opportunity within our grasp to make a real difference to over 50,000 pregnant women and new parents each year”. The Barnsley Central MP – the former mayor of South Yorkshire – told the Commons: “Many of us here know all too well the trials and tribulations of becoming a new parent.
“Everything can be a worry. How quickly or slowly your newborn is hitting milestones – breastfeeding, rolling over, sitting, crawling, a never-ending list of questions racing through your mind.
“A lot of these worries are about issues that are beyond our control, but today we have the chance to alleviate some of that anxiety by ensuring that one of the things new parents are less worried about is whether they will have a job to return to after taking parental leave.”
The Bill would create new powers to protect women from redundancy during and after pregnancy, and also amend existing regulations to protect parents from redundancy on return to work from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave. Jarvis added: “I think what new parents need as a minimum is job security, and this Bill seeks to provide that by increasing security in the workplace for both pregnant women and new parents by extending redundancy protections.
“This means that a statutory duty will be placed on employers to prioritise soon-to-be and new parents in a redundancy situation, by offering them, not inviting them to apply for, a suitable alternative vacancy if their job becomes at risk.”
Business minister Kevin Hollinrake said the Government was “pleased” to support the Bill, adding: “These measures will provide invaluable support and protection for pregnant women and new parents. A little bit more security during these times in people’s lives is so important.
“The evidence and analysis of the need to introduce additional protection is absolutely clear to the Government.”
Hollinrake said the measures are “wholly in line with our ongoing commitment to support workers and build a high-skilled, high-productivity, high-wage economy”.
Pregnant Then Screwed director Joeli Brearley said very few women are able to challenge employers who ignore the current protections because the legal system isn't on their side, adding that women are often not made redundant, but simply put in a position where they can no longer keep working.
The campaign group want the government to extend the current three-month limit on bringing unfair dismissal claims to six months, which it says will encourage more women to challenge discrimination.
Meanwhile, the BBC spoke to a woman, Sarah, whose employers rejected a request for part-time or flexible working when she got pregnant. They instead simply offered her a demotion and a pay cut.
Sarah left her job and is hoping a tribunal will still consider her case against her former employer. She said: “I don't want any other woman to go through what I went through. It broke my heart.”
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