A Time to Value - Proposal for a National Paid Maternity Leave Scheme
Recommendations
Chapter 13 Funding
Recommendation
1:
That a national paid maternity leave scheme be immediately implemented
and funded by the federal Government.
Chapter 14 Coverage
Recommendation
2:
That a national scheme of paid leave at the time of birth of a
child be provided for women. The exceptions to this, where payment can
be made to a woman's partner, should include where the mother has died,
where the mother is not medically able to care for the child (based
on a doctor's opinion), or where the child has been adopted.
Recommendation
3:
That a government funded national scheme of paid maternity leave
be available for women in paid work.
Recommendation
4:
That paid maternity leave be available to the primary carer of
an adopted child irrespective of the age of the child.
Chapter 15 Eligibility
Recommendation
5:
That in order to be eligible for paid maternity leave a woman must
have been in paid work (including casual employment, contract work and
self-employment) for 40 weeks of the past 52 weeks with any number of
employers and/or in any number of positions. Access to this payment
should not be means tested.
Chapter 16 Duration
Recommendation
6:
That a national scheme of paid maternity leave provide for up to
14 weeks of paid leave to be taken immediately prior to and/or following
the birth of a child.
The paid leave must be taken as a continuous block.
A woman may elect to take less than the full 14 weeks of paid maternity leave, but will only receive payment in the weeks taken as maternity leave.
Chapter 17 Payment level
Recommendation
7:
That government funded paid maternity leave be paid at the rate
of the Federal Minimum Wage, or the woman's previous weekly earnings
from all jobs, whichever is the lesser amount.
Previous weekly earnings are to be calculated as the greater of either a woman's weekly earnings from all jobs immediately prior to taking leave or an average of her weekly earnings from all jobs during the time in employment over the previous twelve months.
Chapter 18 Payment mechanism
Recommendation
8:
That paid maternity leave be paid as a fortnightly payment during
the period of leave, administered by the federal Government and available
through dual payment mechanisms.
Specifically, an individual may elect to receive payment as either:
- a fortnightly direct payment from Government to the individual; or
- a payment from the employer to the individual with the employer reimbursed by Government (subject to the employer agreeing to offer this option).
Chapter 19 Role of employers
Recommendation
9:
That employers be encouraged to continue existing provisions for
paid maternity leave and women, including public servants, should not
be excluded from any government funded national scheme on the basis
of receiving employer provided paid maternity leave.
Recommendation
10:
That employer top ups to government funded paid maternity leave
be provided for and encouraged. Such top ups should be negotiated through
standard bargaining mechanisms.
Recommendation
11:
That employers may agree to take on the administration of paid
maternity leave payments on behalf of the Government and may be required
to play a role in validating entitlement to government funded paid maternity
leave entitlements.
Chapter 20 Interaction with the industrial relations system
Recommendation
12:
That current industrial arrangements in relation to maternity leave
continue.
Chapter 21 Interaction with existing Government payments
Recommendation
13:
That a woman who receives paid maternity leave will not be eligible
for the Maternity Allowance, the first 14 weeks of Family Tax Benefit
Part A and Family Tax Benefit Part B, and the first 12 months of payment
of the Baby Bonus. The maternity leave payment will be taxable.
Individuals will have the option of taking other available social security payments where this would result in higher payments.
Chapter 22 Data collection and review of the scheme
Recommendation
14:
That the Government review existing data collections to ensure
that adequate information is collected on:
- the number of women in paid work during their pregnancy and immediately prior to the birth of a child;
- the number of women who are eligible for unpaid maternity leave, employer provided paid maternity leave and government funded paid maternity leave;
- the take-up rates of paid and unpaid maternity leave;
- the pattern of women's return to work following the birth of a child;
- factors affecting women's decisions to have children; and
- issues relating to combining work and family responsibilities.
The establishment of these additional data collections should not delay the introduction of a national scheme of paid maternity leave.
Recommendation
15:
That the effectiveness, adequacy and coverage of a national scheme
of paid maternity leave should be reviewed three years after the scheme's
implementation.
Depending on the outcome of that review, it may be necessary to reconsider the eligibility criteria and/or payment levels. The Government may also wish to revisit some of the more contested aspects of the scheme as part of the review, including whether existing payments to women who are not in paid work are adequate and whether the payment should continue to be for mothers or whether it should be paid to the primary carer.