Businesses oppose longer maternity leave

Businesses are totally opposed to the European Commission's proposal to increase maternity leave entitlement by four weeks, dashing women's hopes of striking a better balance between work and family.

The Malta business community is putting pressure on the government to oppose the proposal at EU Council level, according to a document drafted by the Maltese Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

In principle, they supported measures to "protect a woman's biological condition during and after pregnancy" and to "combine professional and family responsibilities" but totally disagreed with the proposal to raise the minimum threshold of paid maternity leave.

In its document, sent to the government and seen by The Times, the chamber says increased maternity leave will create a large financial burden the industry cannot sustain, especially in the prevailing economic situation. Apart from costs, the business community is also arguing that the proposal will serve as a deterrent to employers from hiring more women because they will "represent a more costly source of labour than men".

The Commission's proposal, still under discussion, recommends that EU member states increase the minimum entitlement of maternity leave to 18 weeks from the present 14.

Although some member states already grant more maternity leave than the minimum allowed by EU law, Malta has stuck to the 14-week minimum.

A spokesman for the Malta Business Bureau, which represents the sector's interests in Brussels, said the Commission's proposal would complicate the life of businesses in terms of logistics and administration.

"Women on maternity leave a skills gap during the period of their absence because a local temporary workers agency does not exist," he said.

He pointed out that 96 per cent of local companies were micro (employing fewer than 10 people), which meant the burden on the company's operations and remaining workforce were further accentuated.

In the case of large companies, the magnitude of the replacements was even more drastic. For example, a large company having, say, 1,433 employees, had 90 employees at one go on parental leave, he added.

The business community made it clear in its position paper that if this proposal were agreed upon by the member states it warned it would not be prepared to fork out more money. The additional finances would have to be paid out of social security contributions and other public funds.

Officially, Malta does not have a formal position on the proposal although, during a preliminary discussion earlier this year, the island indicated it did not agree with the Commission's proposal.

The European Parliament is also divided on the proposal and last May it decided to send a report drawn up by one of its committees back to the drawing board.