I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The decision of the European Council of Ministers in October 1992 to agree a directive on the protection of pregnant workers, as well as workers who have recently given birth and are breast-feeding, has culminated in the presentation of this Bill to the House. Ireland fully supported the adoption of this directive and, as Minister for Equality and Law Reform, I am pleased to introduce this Bill to meet the obligations arising from the Council's decision in 1992 that fall within my Department.
In the Bill, I propose a number of improvements to protection for pregnant workers which are separate from and additional to the directive and which will be of real benefit. The directive also involves significant occupational safety and health and social welfare measures which my colleagues, the Ministers for Enterprise and Employment and Social Welfare, are implementing separately in parallel legislation.
The Government's commitment to implement the directive is, of course, already understood by the social partners as an item of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work. That there is such broad support for the measure is very welcome.
Although the Bill is regarded in the Programme for Competitiveness and Work as a measure which will facilitate the combining of work and family responsibilities, it is perhaps, even more importantly, a statutory support for women in the labour market. It is this principle of support for women workers on which the existing law was based, namely the Maternity Protection of Employees Act, 1981. Similar recognition has been afforded to women workers with regard to pregnancy and childbirth in the Employment Equality Act, 1977, which allows special treatment for workers in such circumstances. The concept of employment protection for pregnant workers has also been extended into the Unfair Dismissals Acts and other labour legislation. It attempts to acknowledge, in statute, the true value to society of a woman's role in giving birth while, at the same time, seeking to ensure that women should not be disadvantaged in the labour market because of that role.
The Bill gives employees worthwhile and effective rights to meet their needs arising from their pregnant, recent birth or breastfeeding condition and places important obligations on the employer.
I decided it would be more helpful to employers and employees to prepare the Bill as composite legislation on the employment rights requirements of the directive. The alternative would have been to draw up a Bill which amended the 1981 Act. The value of repealing the 1981 Act and re-enacting it here is that it provides, in a single source, the employment rights of this group of workers. In re-enacting the 1981 Act, provision has been made to retain existing entitlements to 14 weeks maternity leave and the optional four weeks additional maternity leave as well as the rights of workers to job security while on leave and to return to work after leave.
A careful balancing of rights and obligations is maintained in this Bill and employers will continue to be entitled to adequate notification from the employee about her condition and her intention to avail of entitlements. At the same time, the diverse range of potential eventualities associated with childbirth are accommodated and the employee's rights are duly protected in those unusual circumstances where notification difficulties may arise.
In addition to re-enacting the 1981 Act, the Bill also introduces important new provisions. First, it extends the scope of maternity legislation to all employees who notify their employer of their condition. It also extends the categories of employee to include not just pregnant employees or employees on maternity leave but also employees who have given birth within the previous 14 weeks and employees who are breast-feeding within 26 weeks of giving birth. These points are addressed in the definitions outlined in section 2.
The 1981 Act applied initially to those working a minimum of 18 hours per week and excluded women on fixed term contracts with less than 26 weeks left to run. In 1991, an amendment was made to the Worker Protection (Regular Part-Time Employees) Act to include regular part-time workers. This Bill provides maternity entitlements for which all employees who have notified their employer of their condition are eligible, regardless of hours worked or length of service.
It will also apply to fixed term contract workers until their contract of employment expires, and it explicitly addresses the position of agency workers with a view to establishing greater clarity as to their rights in this area. In the past, there may have been some confusion as to whether an employment agency or the agency's client availing of the employee's services was the employer for the purposes of meeting maternity protection obligations. Under section 2, in future the party who is liable to pay the employee is to be deemed the employer.
Part I covers not only interpretation matters but also commencement, expenses and preliminary and general provisions, while Part II sets out the re-enactment of maternity leave entitlements along with a number of new provisions. The first of these arises from the directive and involves paid time off for ante-natal medical care. Although time off for ante and post-natal care is provided for in the existing legislation this Bill provides that in future such time off will be with full pay. The Bill goes further than the directive and extends the right to paid time off for post-natal care for women who have recently given birth. It is important to facilitate health care needs in the weeks immediately after childbirth, and it is a practice which I am sure benefits not only the employee but very probably the employer by ensuring that post-natal medical problems are tackled before they might seriously impact on the employee's health.
The second new provision is contained in section 16 which proposes to entitle the father to leave if the mother has died within 14 weeks of the birth of the child. In such circumstances the Bill will entitle the employed father to leave for the balance of the period of the 14 weeks after the mother's death. Leave provisions along the lines of additional maternity leave will apply during the final four weeks of this 14 week period with full maternity leave arrangements operating up to that.
The provisions contained in Part III reflect the special emphasis in the directive on the protection of employees who are pregnant, who have recently given birth or who are breast-feeding. These must be considered in conjunction with the occupational safety and health regulations which are being made by my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment. I would like, therefore, to outline the general approach being taken on the safety and health side.
As Deputies will know, we have in place a comprehensive occupational safety and health code contained in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989, and regulations made under it. Those provisions require employers to identify any hazards at the workplace, to assess the risks which may be present for their employees and to take any necessary preventive measures. The new regulations being made by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment will make explicit the obligations of employers, as these relate to employees who are pregnant, who have recently given birth or are breast-feeding.
Once the employee has informed the employer of her condition, the obligation on the employer to take action will apply. If it is not feasible to remove the risk, the employer must consider alternatives, including the possibility of moving the employee to suitable other work. Only when solutions to the problems cannot be found within the workplace do the provisions in Part III for the granting of safety and health leave come into play.
Very similar provisions apply as a protection against night work and the employee's doctor must certify that night work for that employee in her condition would be injurious to her health. The employer's response to this situation must first be to seek to move the employee to day work. Having failed to find other solutions to the workplace risk or night work, the employer will be required to grant safety and health leave and there will be an obligation on him to pay the employee for the first three weeks and to give, on request, a certificate describing the circumstances in which the leave was granted and stating the commencement date and expected duration.
It is considered only reasonable that, as the risks exist at the particular workplace, the employer should be obliged to bear some part of the payments during the leave period. For the remainder of the leave period, there will be a social welfare benefit payable on conditions contained in regulations made by the Minister for Social Welfare.
The detailed provisions in regard to the granting of safety and health leave are contained in section 18. Additional provisions regarding the varying circumstances in which the leave will end are included in sections 19 and 20.
Sections 21 to 29 address the issue of protection of employment rights. As well as re-enacting the protection of rights during maternity leave and the general right to return to work at the end of such leave, they extend these rights to cover the newly-provided health and safety leave. This Part also deals with the requirement to provide suitable alternative employment to the employee on return to work, where it is not practical for the employer to reassign the worker to her original job. Where this applies, the new contract under which the employee is offered the other work must be not less favourable than the previous one. Notification procedures and postponement circumstances are covered in these sections also.
The resolution of disputes is dealt with in Part V. The disputes issue is well tried and tested, and similar provisions to those which currently apply under the 1981 Act have been adopted. In the light of experience, however, some adjustment has been made and, in particular, it has been decided to rationalise the dispute machinery so that all cases are first referred to a rights commissioner. The right of appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal from the rights commissioner will, of course, continue to exist but the current option to bypass the rights commissioner service has been removed.
The prohibition of dismissal on grounds of pregnancy, giving birth or breast-feeding is set out in section 38 by way of an amendment to the unfair dismissals legislation. By adapting the unfair dismissals provisions, the traditional resolution and redress mechanisms for dismissals disputes are maintained. Protection is also afforded under the Bill for the statutory rights of pregnant employees in respect of redundancy payments, terms of employment and employer's insolvency.
As I said, this legislation has been the subject of detailed consideration by a number of Departments. It has also been possible to reflect on the considerations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women on these matters. In addition, relevant agencies such as the Health and Safety Authority and the Employment Equality Agency have contributed to the preparation of these proposals, and the normal consultation process with employer and employee interests has also applied. In all the circumstances I would like to hope that we can process the enactment of this Bill without undue delay.
I look forward to hearing the contributions of Members to this debate.