Government, not business, must fund paid parental leave

01/10/2008

The Federal Government should fund any national paid parental leave scheme, the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission said today.

Commission CEO, Dr Helen Szoke, said a government-funded national paid parental scheme was in the interests of the entire country because of the social and economic benefits of having children and keeping women attached to the workforce.

She said a government-funded scheme would hopefully silence those in the business community who have threatened to refuse to employ women should the cost of parental leave be passed onto employers.

“It is important that women are not placed in a situation where they are threatened by even more sexual discrimination than they currently experience,” she said.

“It is also important to acknowledge that small businesses are more likely to feel the financial strain of providing paid leave and a government-funded scheme would spread the financial load more equally.

Dr Szoke said employers who already offer paid parental leave should continue to top up any government-funded entitlements.

“Employers who offer paid parental leave beyond the government-funded entitlements will become the employers of choice for many women,” she said.

“This may even encourage employers who don’t currently offer paid parental leave to reconsider their policy.”

“Eighteen weeks is better than nothing but Australia is still lags behind the United Kingdom, Canada and Sweden in terms of benefits and conditions, so any topping up by employers will be a boost to families and future generations,” she said.

Dr Szoke said that paid parental leave would increase women’s capacity to return to work and contribute to their family and the economy.

“Allowing mothers and fathers more time with their children at this important time, is necessary for the child, strengthens the family and strengthens the community - and more babies is good news for an aging society,” she said.

“Paid leave will help Australian parents achieve greater work/life balance by giving them options and opportunities instead of demanding hard decisions and sacrifices.”

The Commission recently published Family Responsibilities guidelines to help employers and employees understand new legislation that protect working parents and carers from discrimination when trying to balance their work and family responsibilities.