Call for equal benefits for adoptive, surrogate parents
While new proposed legislation would offer 10 days of parental leave and new leave provisions for parents who adopt or have children through surrogates, gender activists argue that all parents should have the same parental leave benefits. The Mercury reports the Labour Laws Amendment Bill is with Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Labour, which is considering submissions made last month by Sonke Gender Justice jointly with the Mosaic Training, Service and Healing Centre for Women, and by Cosatu.
The Bill proposes that any parent who is not entitled to maternity leave can apply for 10 days’ parental leave after a child is born or when an adoption order is granted. This leave would be paid for from the UIF. It also provides for an adoptive parent who adopts a child younger than two, or a parent who has a child through a surrogate, to be entitled to 10 weeks’ leave.
In both scenarios, the second parent would be entitled to 10 days of parental leave. There is currently no provision made for adoptive parents or those who have children through surrogacy. Wessel van den Berg, of Sonke Gender Justice, said the organisation – together with Mosaic – had proposed that there should be no distinction between the leave benefits that biological parents and other parents received.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
