Buuri MP Kinoti Gatobu in Meru town on January 15, 2017. He is proposing
the law to provide for an option to extend maternity leave by another
three months without pay. PHOTO | PHOEBE OKALL | NMG
Summary
- Currently, a female employee is entitled to three fully-paid maternity leave on top of their statutory annual leave.
- The ILO Maternity Protection Convention recommends maternity leave for at least 18 weeks or four and a half months.
- The United States is among a few nations that do not have a paid-leave law.
Working mothers could spend at least six
months with their newborns if an amendment to the Employment Act that
seeks to increase maternity leave is adopted.
Buuri MP
Kinoti Gatobu is proposing the law to provide for an option to extend
maternity leave by another three months without pay.
Currently, a female employee is entitled to three fully-paid maternity leave on top of their statutory annual leave.
“The
current provision is three months maternity leave therefore an
extension of three months maternity leave will be in conformity with
international best practices,” the amendment says.
Proponents of maternity policy terms reckon it will help in the recruitment and retention of women at the work place.
The
International Labour Organization Maternity Protection Convention
recommends maternity leave for at least 18 weeks or four and a half
months.
Benefits for working mothers vary
In Uganda, female employees are entitled to 60 working
days maternity leave while in Tanzania, one ought to have been an
employee for at least six months to qualify for the 84-day paid
maternity leave.
In South Africa, the employer is not
compelled by law to give female employees paid maternity leave but it
demands that they are allowed a four-month break.
The
Nigerian Labour Act does not recognise paternity leave but it demands
that female employees are given at least 22 weeks (three months)
maternity leave.
The United States is among a few countries that do not have a paid-leave law.
This
means in the US mothers and fathers go back to work much sooner after
birth of a baby than they would like because they can’t afford unpaid
time off.
Vodafone, which owns 40 per cent of Safaricom
,
reviewed its leave policy in 2015 to include a 16-week fully paid
maternity leave and a 30-hour week instead of 40 on full pay for the
first six months.
In developing the policy, the firm
commissioned audit company KPMG to explore the costs and benefits of
more generous maternity benefits.
KPMG's analysis found
that the cost of recruiting and training new employees to replace women
exiting the workforce after childbirth amounted to $47 billion every
year.
By comparison, the cost of offering working mothers 16 weeks of fully paid maternity leave would cost an additional $28 billion.
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