Chapter 6 Key facts checklists

Parental rights

A pregnant woman is entitled to paid time off for antenatal care. This right to time off has been extended to the father or mother's partner (male or female) but the leave is unpaid and only for two visits.
Maternity leave is voluntary apart from the compulsory period which lasts for two weeks beginning with the day of the birth.
Paternity leave, which is paid, is of two weeks' duration.
An employee has the right to return to his or her job on terms and conditions no less favourable than those that would have applied if the employee had not taken maternity, adoption, parental, or paternity leave.
Where an employee is pregnant, has given birth within the last six months, or is breastfeeding, the employer must assess the special risks faced by the woman in the workplace and take measures to avoid those risks.
Shared parental leave came into force in 2015. Depending on the facts, this may supersede maternity leave (which remains the default position). Currently shared parental leave pay is a little over £140 a week.
It is automatically unfair to dismiss an employee for reasons connected with pregnancy or the taking of maternity, adoption, parental, or paternity leave.
Parents with child responsibilities are entitled to time off for parental leave for a maximum of 18 weeks for a child under 18.
None of these tackles what is seen as the current major drawback of parental rights, the scarcity of affordable childcare. And none prevents the employer from providing better rights to employees than those detailed in this chapter. For example, employers may provide enhanced (ie contractual) maternity rights. At the time of writing (January 2018), men who are paid shared parental leave pay (around £140 a week) are seeking equality with women on enhanced maternity pay. At the time of writing, one case has been heard in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) and one case is scheduled to be heard there in early 2018. We await developments!