Maternity leave law by end of year

Thursday 30 January 2014

Guaranteed time off for new mums and dads is this year’s top priority for Social Security Minister Francis Le Gresley - who also says he plans to step down at the next election.

Senator Le Gresley said he wants to get “family friendly” policies on the books before the end of the summer. His proposals are based on a consultation that proposed giving new mothers up to 18 weeks off – two week’s paid leave, plus six weeks’ unpaid for all staff and an additional ten weeks’ unpaid for staff who have been at their job for more than 15 months.

Jersey is lagging way behind other countries in terms of maternity and paternity provision in the workplace, and Senator Le Gresley says that he wants to put that right before the end of the year.

“All sorts of rights are completely lacking in Jersey’s employment law,” said the Minister.

“This has been on the back-burner for years following considerable consultation back in 2008, but it has always been delayed because of other priorities such as redundancy provision or discrimination legislation.

“We hope to lodge the proposals in May and debate in July, before the summer recess.”

Senator Le Gresley has also indicated that he plans to step down at the coming elections. The former Citizens’ Advice Bureau manager has been in the States since 2010. He would be 67 at the end of his next term if he were to stand again, and says that ministerial jobs have an intense workload and that they are better suited to younger people.