Female employees will have an extra 24 days of fully paid maternity leave if a proposed law that seeks to exclude weekends from the workplace entitlement is adopted.
The raft of amendments contained in the Employment Act (Amendment) Bill, 2015 also changes the calculation of paternity leave period from calendar to working days, giving qualified men an extra four days.
Maternity and paternity breaks are presently fully paid for and are calculated inclusive of Saturdays and Sundays, granting women three months off work while men get two weeks. The proposal is, however, expected to be a burden on employers who will go for longer days with a leaner workforce or hire temporary staff while paying millions of shillings in higher wages that accrue from the extra days.
“The maternity and the paternity leave will now be slightly longer, since they will be counted on the basis of working days and not calendar days,” an analysis of the Bill by KN Associates LLP, a Nairobi-based law firm, shows. “Maternity leave will become a four-calendar-month event and paternity leave a two-calendar-week-and-four-days event, give or take a few days.”
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Maternity leave days were last amended in 2007 when the current Employment Act came into force, extending the period from two months to three months. The law entitles women to 90 days of maternity leave as long as they give at least seven days written notice, or a shorter period as may happen during health emergencies.
Jobs and salaries of employees on leave are protected in the law that entitles them to full pay. “No female employee shall forfeit her annual leave entitlement (currently a minimum of 21 days) on account of having taken her maternity leave,” the law further states.
The Bill, which is currently undergoing public and stakeholder consultation, is therefore expected to receive the backing of working parents since they will enjoy extra days with their newborns.
The employer’s lobby has, however, contested the proposal, terming it “populist” and one that will inadvertently lower the employability of women in certain jobs.
The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) said the proposals will also burden employers with extra wages for work not done as well as remuneration of employees who stand in for those on leave. “This unfortunate proposal, which is being pushed by activists, is not considering the cost implication of extending maternity and paternity leave days to the economy,” said Jacqueline Mugo, the FKE executive director.
“When people apply for jobs, some employers silently consider a person’s availability especially for jobs such as marketing and customer service. By increasing maternity leave days, the Bill is doing women a disservice.”
