WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT MATERNITY LEAVE

HR DESK

with

Moruf Kolawole Nasir

(Experienced HR professional)

nmkolawole@gmail.com; jarushub@gmail.com

Hello my people! Pardon me for not making last week’s edition of HR Desk, I was still at honey moon nio! Lol. In the spirit of rounding off the honey moon mood, I dedicate this edition to my pretty Queen; Hence the write up on Maternity leave.

Employers and Government recognize the physical, emotional and psychological demands of childbirth, and know that the period of leave is important for the wellbeing of both the parents and the child. For this reason employees who are new parents are allowed to spend time with their new born.

Although, in some of the developed societies and in some real big time multinationals, Paternity leave is a normal parlance in their policies, and it is a subject of discussion in some many other ‘serious’ countries, but in our own ‘jungle’ where staff major welfare are still a nightmare in so many establishments, it is only sensible to address what we can lay claim to, and not the castle in the air.

First of all, it is worthy of note that maternal leave is the right of every woman who is qualified to go for it. By qualification, there is a clause to it: The minimum requirement provided by the labour law is the provision of “a medical certificate given by a registered medical practitioner stating that her confinement will probably take place within six weeks”.  With this it is obvious that the labour law excluded parents who adopt children. The good news however is that, since the labour law is the minimum standard most responsible organizations include parents who adopt into the package, although with more detail explanations on who gets what at what stage of adoption and so on. If your establishment did not make provision for this in their policy, PLEASE don’t start claiming right because your friend enjoys it in her own company. It is simply a lapse in the labour law, and some employers are using that to their advantage (eventhough it is at their disadvantage in the long run).

Secondly, also be informed that the number of months may not necessary be the same. The fact that Mrs Kolawole who works at the Central Bank of Nigeria enjoyed four moths maternity leave is not enough reason for you to fight your HR at First bank of Nigeria for not allowing you more than three months. Reasons being that: the labour law provides for three months, whereas federal Government employees enjoy four months. Some ‘sensible’ companies also allow their staff the luxury of over three months maternity leave.

Again, it is worthy of note that the three months is provided for as six weeks pre-confinement and six week after delivery. However, for the sake of having human face in employee relations, organizations have made it flexible such that the employee can decide to go for the leave anytime from her due date. Hence the idea of pregnant women coming to work till the week of their confinement, so as to extend their post-confinement period.

Similarly, pay issue is also an aspect that is overlooked by many because it is never an issue, but for some ‘unlucky’ employees who find themselves in an unorganized setting payment while on leave might be an issue. To this, the position of the law is: if the employee “had been continuously employed by her employer for a period of six months or more immediately prior to her absence[leave], she shall be paid not less than fifty percent of the wages she would have earned if she have not been absent…” . However, companies mostly pay the staff her full wage. This does not mean some deductions will not be made, if your company does not deduct any money from regular monthly pay, then be grateful. If deductions are made because you are on maternity leave, ensure the deductions are lawful. Some organizations only pay you your basic and housing allowance and deduct others. So before you compare what your friend benefits and begin to raise dust, find out what your organizations policy on maternity leave is, and if no policy is in place discuss with HR professional to know if any law has been violated, otherwise, you will be fighting for no just reason.

Another vital aspect of maternity leave is the closing time for the employee after resumption form maternity leave. The labour law specifically provides for half an hour twice a day if the employee is nursing her baby, for that purpose. “if she is nursing her child, she should be allowed half an hour twice a day during her working hours for that purpose.”  For the sake of convenience and best practice, HR practitioners merge the two half (since our environment did not provide facilities for nursing mothers to bring their new babies to work) and allow the employee to either close an hour earlier or resume an hour late, to enable her attend to her baby at home. It is suffice to also note that some organizations allow more that one hour. But the minimum provision is one hour.

Medicals and welfare package for the new babies. From the above and from most of my write ups, you would have notice that issues of staff welfare are mostly dependent on individual organization, that is why people prefer to work in some organizations to others. On medical, it is not binding by law for employer to foot any medical bill incurred by a woman during or on account of her pregnancy or confinement, neither is there provision in law for any package for the new baby. However, best practice necessitates the inclusion of deliveries (CS sometimes inclusive) in HMO package of organizations. Some organizations go the extra mile of providing for the new babies too.

Finally, how often can a staff embark on maternity leave? Coincidentally, the labour law is silent on this, which makes organization to formulate internal policies on this to their advantage in relations to the nature of their job. But since no woman can born more than once a year, best practice allow a woman to go for her maternity leave as many times as she is due for it, although this may still conflict with her annual leave, depending on organization and their policies.

Always remember “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn”.

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