BL Premium reports that parents and civil rights groups are challenging SA maternity leave law because it discriminates between parents who have given birth and those who have not, such as fathers and adoptive parents.
The matter will be heard by over three days this week starting on Wednesday, at the Johannesburg High Court. This arose after a father was denied maternity leave by his employer who said maternity leave protection only applied to women who had given birth. The Department of Employment and Labour is opposing the application. If successful, it could mean parliament would be ordered to amend the relevant legislation to not limit maternity protection to only birthing mothers, but extend it to any parental figure. In terms of the relevant legislation, specifically section 25 of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA), “an employee is entitled to at least four consecutive months’ maternity leave.” Werner and Ika van Wyk, the main applicants, had a son in 2021. It is their argument that the word “employee” in the BCEA is gender-neutral. In the alternative, if the word “employee” is presumed to be “female employee who births”, then the BCEA is discriminatory because it excludes anyone who is a non-birthing parent from using maternity leave protection to raise a newborn.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tauriq Moosa at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
- Read too, Lawyers for Human Rights to represent organisations, couple in court challenge to give fathers four-months of paternity leave, at Pretoria News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page