Bill would give greater security to parents

A BARNSLEY MP’s bill – which aims to offer more protection for pregnant women – will return to the House of Commons today for its second reading.

Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis will see his Private Members’ Bill discussed later today.

His Protection from Redundancy (pregnancy and family leave) Bill will extend current protections on redundancy to help safeguard pregnant and workers returning from maternity leave. The measures will also extend to workers on adoption and shared parental leave.

Whilst three in four working mums say they experienced some kind of pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

Dan said: “No one should be penalised for having children, but too often women are. We are now six years on from the EHRC’s shocking findings and nothing has been done to tackle the grotesque levels of discrimination new mums and pregnant women face.

“The pandemic exacerbated workplace inequalities and today families are facing one of the worst cost-of-living crises in living memory.

“What new parents need at the very least is job security.

“My Protection from Redundancy (pregnancy and family leave) Bill is a step towards providing working families with security and dignity in the workplace.

“I’m proud it has crossparty support, including the backing of Unison, Fawcett Society, the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the EHRC.”

Research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) found that 54,000 women every year lose their job because they fell pregnant.

TODAY in Parliament I’m introducing a new law to protect pregnant women at work and safeguard parents returning from family leave.

Finding out you’re pregnant, having a baby, or adopting a child, should be one of the happiest times in your life, but for many new parents, the newborn baby bubble is burst by the news they are being laid off from work.

While colleagues have sent soon-tobe-mums off on maternity leave with flowers, some employers have a redundancy notice waiting for their return.

No one should be penalised for having children, but too often women are. In 2016, the government commissioned a survey that found three in four women experienced pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace.

While some 54,000 women a year lose their job simply because they are pregnant. It’s a complete scandal.

We are now six years on from these shocking findings and to date, no action has been taken to tackle the industrial scale discrimination women face. The government have consistently let women down.

They said they will address this issue, with promises to extend redundancy protections to pregnant women and new mums after their return to work. But it’s never happened.

In 2019, the Conservatives pledged to deliver these commitments through an employment bill.

A bill that, much like many of their manifesto commitments, vanished into thin air. Then, the pandemic hit. A crisis that worsened and amplified every pre-existing inequality and pushed even more women out of work.

Discrimination was rife pre-pandemic, but mothers were one and a half times more likely than fathers to have lost their job since the lockdown began.

I’ve heard from women locally and right across the country about their shameful experiences.

One story that has stuck in my mind was from a woman who lost her job at the height of the pandemic, after telling her employer she was pregnant.

Devastatingly, she suffered a miscarriage only a few weeks later. She lost her baby, and she lost her job. It’s very difficult to comprehend the pain and injustice of her situation.

Today, people are facing a cost-ofliving crisis of epic proportions. Wages are shrinking and millions of people are falling into poverty.

A scarcity of affordable housing, extortionate childcare costs, and soaring inflation means raising a family has never been harder and the decision to start or grow a family is becoming increasingly unaffordable for many.

What new parents need at the very least is job security, yet they continue to be the first to be booted out the door by employers.

There is no more time to waste.

That’s why I’ve introduced a Bill to strengthen women’s employment rights and extend redundancy protections for expectant mums and new parents.

It will include parents taking adoption or shared parental leave and stop them being the first to be laid off on their return to work. It’s a long overdue step towards guaranteeing families more dignity in the workplace.

I’m proud a Labour Government would build on this work. Our new deal for working people would make it unlawful to dismiss a woman who is pregnant, including six months after her return. It would reform the botched shared parental leave system and extend maternity and paternity leave. But for now, we must do what we can to protect those most vulnerable to redundancy.

Indeed, there is no more important job in the world than raising a family. It seems only right you should not lose your career for doing so.