Parental leave from work should be increased from 14 to 18 weeks, according to a new report published today.
The Report of the Working Group on the Review of Parental Leavealso recommended that parents be allowed take that leave in blocks as opposed to current practice where leave must be taken in a lump.
Under the Parental leave Act of 1998, a review of the effectiveness of the Act was to be undertaken three years after its implementation.
Today’ report follows a review of the effectiveness of the Parental leave Act of 1998.
The Group identified 18 issues for consideration:
- a legal formula should be found that would extend parental leave to persons acting in loco parentis
- a statutory codes of practice governing parental leave should be established
- employees should be protected from penalisation for proposing to exercise, or having exercised entitlements under the Act.
- parental leave should always attract payment and employees should have statutory entitlement to three days paid paternity leave.
Overall, the report estimated that 6.7 per cent of the labour force is eligible for parental leave with only 20 per cent of eligible employees have taken parental leave with 84 per cent of that taken by women.