The financial burden of maternity leave should no longer be shouldered solely by employers, according to a number of participants at a seminar hosted by the European Parliament office in Malta yesterday.
Malta is the only EU country where the cost of maternity leave is fully shouldered by the employer, Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil told those present.
The forum, ‘20 Weeks Maternity Leave: Why Should I Pay for you to Have Children?’ saw six stakeholders debate the recent European Parliament majority vote to extend the minimum maternity leave from 14 to 20 weeks.
Although there seemed to be consensus that the financial burden should not be shouldered completely by the employer, there were mixed opinions over whether the cost should be shared with the taxpayer, or even if the taxpayer should shoulder it completely.
The six-week extension in maternity leave would cost some €12 million, Dr Busuttil pointed out, adding that this would not add significant weight to the local Budget. Although admitting that the idea of the taxpayer forking out the total amount should not be discarded, he said the cost should be shared with the employer.
Businesswoman Marlene Mizzi said the needs of the employer should not be ignored, adding it would be wrong to assume that all women welcomed the extension, since some might feel it would decrease their chances of getting a promotion after spending five months away from work.
Anna Borg, chairman of the National Confederation for Women’s Organisations, asked whether it made sense to be miserly with women when they enter the workplace after investing so much in female students at University.
The subsequent debate on whether this extension would place women at a competitive disadvantage in the workforce was confirmed by Charles Camilleri, from Camilleri Group of Companies, who was in the audience.
The employer of some of Malta’s largest store chains, including BHS, Mothercare and Golden Point, admitted that the solution to the problem, from his experience, was to employ women who already have children.
“Unfortunately, I had about seven women who left work because they got pregnant, so now I prefer to employ more mature women,” Mr Camilleri said.
The burden is not only a financial one, Dr Busuttil pointed out, since there may be other problems, such as the logistics of employing an interim employee during the 20-week period.
Labour MEP Edward Scicluna said a recent European Central Bank study found that the six-week increase in leave could see the female participation rate in the workforce increase by a maximum of nine percentage points.
“The extension can work against women entering the workforce as it may be discriminatory, but it shouldn’t be,” National Council of Women vice-president Doreen Micallef said. Dead set against the maternity leave extension, CEO of the Malta Business Bureau Joe Tanti said there were three issues that needed to be addressed – the low female participation in the workforce; better upbringing of children; and better work-life balance.
“First, we need to build the infrastructure to support businesses and then implement principles such as these,” he said.