Women made unemployed after maternity leave due to denial of wage subsidy - unions

Trade unions have said the Government must introduce changes to ensure that women on maternity leave are not disqualified from the operation of the Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme.

In a letter to Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe on Monday, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) said it was "not tenable" that a woman returning to work from maternity leave was treated "any less favourably than others".

It suggested that some women, on completion of maternity leave, were being made unemployed because they were excluded from the operation of the wage subsidy scheme.

Ictu general secretary Patricia King said the trade union movement strongly supported the introduction of the wage subsidy scheme, which provides financial support to encourage employers to keep staff on their books during the current pandemic.

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She said unions considered the initiative “a very positive measure to assist employers and workers in the ongoing income-related challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic”.

“However, the operation of the temporary wage subsidy scheme (TWSS) in respect to some new mothers is in conflict with the spirit of the TWSS and provisions in employment equality legalisation”, she said.

“Women seeking to return to work following statutory maternity leave who had not received a wage top-up on their maternity benefit from their employer do not meet a ‘key condition’ of the TWSS - ‘the employees were on the payroll at 29th February 2020’.

“As a consequence, where, as is highly probable in a business suffering significant negative economic impact due to the pandemic, an employer is not in a position to pay her wage without the assistance of a subsidy, such women are being made unemployed.”

Ms King said if employers did not include women in their employment who were on maternity leave on their payroll when registering with Revenue for the TWSS, “ they clearly did so in error”.

“There are in and around 20,000 recipients of maternity benefit annually, a fraction of whom will fall foul to this discriminatory operation of the scheme. “

“While I acknowledge and welcome the need for safeguards against abuse, these are bona fide employees often with a long employment history with the employer registered with Revenue for the TWSS.”

Ms King urged Mr Donohoe to reconsider the Government’s position on this issue.

Mr Donohoe has indicated the issue could not be addressed without legislative change. However, this has been disputed by Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who wrote to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and others last week seeking action on the matter.

She urged the Government to amend the temporary wage subsidy scheme so women returning from maternity leave were covered by its provisions.