Protect Mothers Returning to Work in Covid-19

In this together Or are we?
The nice shiny ‘reality’ is we are all in the same storm – together. The harsh facts are, we might all be in the same storm, but we are not in the same boat.
Women, mothers, returning to work from unpaid maternity leave, have been exiled to sea, in an unseaworthy boat.
As you read this remember, that the majority of women on maternity leave in Ireland, are unpaid, with the exception of civil and public servants and a limited number of women employed in large private businesses. For the 26 weeks of their protected leave, mothers receive statutory maternity benefit provided by the state, provided she has made enough PRSI contributions.

If you are a mother returning to work after maternity leave, a specially protected period of leave, enshrined in under Irish law with The Maternity Protection Acts, 1994-2004 and under EU Directive 92/85 EEC exists.
These laws mean that if you have been on maternity leave, additional maternity leave, father’s leave, additional father’s leave or health and safety leave, you are entitled to:
1. return to work with the same employer or the new owner (if there was a change of owner);
2. the same job under the same contract as you had before; and
3. terms and conditions that are as good as those you had before and that include any improvements that you would have enjoyed if you hadn’t been absent.
These are your legal rights as a citizen of this country and of the EU. They are not a privilege or something to be thankful for. A global pandemic does not change or impact these rights.

Yet, if you are a mother in Ireland in 2020 returning from maternity leave, you are faced with total financial uncertainty and a complete lack of support.
As you think about the scenario I am about to describe, replace the word mother or she, with your mother, your partner, your daughter, your sister, your niece or any woman that you know, love and cherish.
The woman that you are thinking about, the person you love and care for, if she was on unpaid maternity leave during Covid-19, she is faced with a bleak choice, which amounts to a deeply unpalatable set of circumstances, different to any other worker in Ireland.
If any other worker lost their job through Covid-19, if your income was reduced, or if you cannot work from home, whether self-employed or in employment, you can benefit from the Covid-19 payment or the temporary wage subsidy scheme.
If however, you are a mother returning from unpaid maternity leave, you might be in the same storm as the rest of us but you are certainly not in that same boat.
As a mother returning from maternity leave, your job is legally protected, however, if the business you work for is deemed an essential service, so remains open, or is about to reopen on May 18th, you are in a uniquely underprivileged situation.
Remember all creches and childcare facilities are closed, and grandparents cannot help.
At this point, a mother returning to work faces bleak options.
Her employer can leave her job open to her, until childcare returns, but not pay her. So far, she is no different from any other employee, except, she is,
as she cannot claim the temporary wage subsidy scheme.
‘The Scheme is confined to employees who were on the employer’s payroll as at 29 February 2020, and for whom a payroll submission was made to Revenue in the period from 1 February 2020 to 15 March 2020.’
Simply put this means that a mother, who was on unpaid maternity leave, who is due to return to work after March 15th 2020, would not have been on payroll at the times stipulated by the legislation. If she was not on the payroll at that stage, the legislation specifically excludes her from the temporary wage subsidy scheme.
The ‘confinement of the scheme to…’ exclusively omits one group of workers from the remit of the legislation: mothers returning to work after maternity leave.
If her employer informs her that she has no job to return, her employer is then in breach of the Maternity Protection Acts, and EU Legislation. While this gives her recourse to take legal action, and avail of Covid-19 payments, the capacity to do so is the reserve of those who can afford it, and a massive financial burden on a woman with no income. The reality is she now has no job and will struggle to find a reference to find another one.
Her other option is to ‘voluntarily’ leave her job.
However, if she ‘voluntarily’ leaves her job she is excluded from claiming the Covid-19 payment. If she ‘voluntarily’ leave her job, she must then wait nine weeks before she can apply for social welfare payments.
What does she do? How would you advise your mother, wife, partner, sister, daughter or friend faced with this disgusting decision?
There is no advice. This is wrong. It fails our mothers and it fails our children.
Let them move from words to action ideally, by passing an amendment to the emergency legislation that extends paid maternity leave for all mothers during Covid-19. This extension to their specially protected period of leave ensures their return to work, when it is possible, while also providing some financial security.
If it is not possible to extend the statutory maternity leave, including the sentence, ‘with the exception of mothers returning to the workplace during Covid-19, who were on specially protected leave when financial supports were put in place’ to the Covid-19 payment or the Temporary Wage Subsidy scheme helps. This wrong must be fixed IMMEDIATELY and let us stand together, properly, for all women.
Listen to Today with Sarah McInerny on RTE, speaking to Richard Grogan to hear more.