Source · Select Committees · Petitions Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 33
The Government’s work to ensure premises are safe for workers during the pandemic is welcome.
Recommendation
The Government’s work to ensure premises are safe for workers during the pandemic is welcome. As an at-risk group, there is more that can be done to ensure that employers are aware of their responsibilities for the safety of pregnant women in the workplace, including the need for them to be suspended on full pay if it is not safe for them to work. We recommend that the Government publish clear guidance for employers on their obligations in respect of pregnant woman who cannot safely socially distance at work, including making clear that pregnant women have a right to be suspended on full pay if they cannot work safely. We also recommend that the Government extend the furlough scheme to include all pregnant women, so that an additional safety net is available to both pregnant women and their employers.
Government Response Summary
The government states that clear guidance for employers on their obligations to pregnant women, including the right to suspension on full pay if they cannot work safely, has been published by the HSE. However, it does not commit to extending the furlough scheme to all pregnant women, stating that current approaches are considered proportionate.
Paragraph Reference:
33
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
Entitlement to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is determined in part by a calculation, carried out by employers, to determine an employee’s average earnings over a set period. 8 The impact of Covid-19 on maternity and parental leave: Government Response For SMP purposes, ‘earnings’ are defined as gross earnings and include any remuneration or profit derived from a person’s employment, including sums such as Statutory Sick Pay, alongside other payments such as overtime, bonus payments and arrears of pay. Where the calculation reference period included time on furlough, the entitlement threshold might not have been met or the amount of money received during the first 6 weeks of SMP might have been reduced. As the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is new it was appropriate that the earnings calculation was adjusted to accommodate this and ensure women on furlough were not detrimentally affected. However, women claiming Statutory Sick Pay during their earnings assessment period is not a new situation and there are no plans to change the way that SSP is treated as part of the average weekly earnings calculation for SMP. We are aware of anecdotal evidence which suggests that some employers incorrectly asked pregnant women to take sick leave to reduce the risk of them contracting Covid-19 in the workplace. This approach is at odds with the longstanding obligations on employers to carry out health and safety risk assessments for all pregnant employees. Such assessments should have taken into account the increased risk of serious illness for pregnant women identified in public health guidance. The guidance published by HSE has been updated to explain employers’ responsibilities to their staff during the Covid-19 pandemic. The guidance is clear and where an employer has incorrectly put a pregnant woman on sick pay, for example, because her job could not be done from home, they should consider whether it would be appropriate to invite their pregnant employee to return to work (if appropriate controls are now in place). Where appropriate controls cannot be put in place, they should suspend their employee on full pay. Where there is evidence that an employer has deliberately flouted the law, HSE will consider taking enforcement action and will hold employers to account if they fail to comply with the law or their responsibilities. If anyone has lost out financially as a result of their employer not acting in accordance with their legal obligations, they can and should seek redress through the employment tribunal system.