Ireland will be one of the first countries in the world to allow women to pause maternity leave for treatment ofserious illness once legislation introduced in the Seanad is enacted, according to the Minister for Equality.
Roderic O’Gorman said the Maternity Protection Bill will entitle a pregnant employee who requires treatment for a serious medical reason to postpone their leave for a period of up to 52 weeks, ensuring they do not lose out on maternity leave because of illness.
The legislation also gives members of the Oireachtas a statutory right to 26 weeks maternity leave. The Minister said this provision is “crucial” to move towards gender balance in the Oireachtas.
“And it’s important that these provisions can be in place before the upcoming election, to give a strong signal to female candidates that having children will never be a barrier towards political life.”
The legislation, which passed all stages in the Seanad, will be amended in the Dáil to regulate non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), which have been used as a means to prevent employees speaking about their dismissals while pregnant.
Mr O’Gorman said the amendment would be introduced in the Dáil, as his officials are working with the office of the Attorney General to finalise the provision on NDAs because “we are working under certain time constraints” to get the legislation passed before the general election.
The Minister paid tribute to Erica Tierney and Mary Canavan “who both received cancer diagnoses during their pregnancies and had to begin their maternity leave on the births of their babies while also going through treatment”.
He said their sharing of their personal stories and passionate campaigning through the Irish Cancer Society’s Leave our Leave initiative was the reason “we are now so close to making this legislation a reality”.
The Bill provides for an entitlement for an employee who requires treatment for a serious medical reason to postpone the maternity leave for a period of up to 52 weeks. A serious condition is one that entails “a risk to the life or health of the employee and also requires necessary and ongoing medical intervention”. It includes mental health as well as physical issues.
Lynn Ruane, whose private member’s Bill on NDAs passed all stages, expressed disappointment that the measure dealing with these agreements was not yet in the legislation. She said that “NDAs are being used in the past to cover up getting rid of women while they’ve been on maternity leave, which is obviously against the law”.
Ms Ruane said there are “lots of powerful people that have used the NDAs as a tool and an abuse of their power”. She added that there are “hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of NDAs in circulation, and some of them are absolutely appalling in terms of what is explicitly written into them”.
Mr O’Gorman said he shared Ms Ruane’s concern about NDAs and “their impact on victims of sexual harassment of victims”. He assured her that “your proposal is a correct one” and would be reflected in the amendment when it is introduced in the Dáil next week.