Labour Party MEP Edward Scicluna said yesterday that increasing maternity leave from the current statutory 14 weeks to 20 weeks, as is currently being evaluated by the European Parliament, would “entice more women to the labour market in Malta and, in the long run, will be beneficial for both mother and child. However, it is unfair for the employer to bear the brunt of the increased costs”.

Speaking at the National Labour Centre in Hamrun, in a seminar organised by the Labour Party’s Fondazzjoni IDEAT and chaired by Joe Gerada, Prof. Scicluna gave an in-depth presentation on the benefits and economics of increasing paternal leave.

“Increasing maternity leave by six weeks from 14 weeks to 20 weeks, and the implementation of a two-week extension as paid paternal leave, would bring about an annual increase of €5 million in overall costs.

“At present, the full cost of the financial burden – paying wages to new mothers for 14 weeks, falls on the employer. This is most unfair to both employer and employee for two reasons and if we want to entice more Maltese women to the labour market, since Malta currently has the lowest rate of female employment in the EU, then the time has come to introduce a scheme to finance women’s ‘risk’ of having a child.

“Just as financial ‘risks’ related to pensions, sickness leave and several health services are funded by the whole working population, the government should now start looking into the possibility of having maternity leave also funded by the whole working population,” said Prof. Scicluna.

According to the economist, if the wages of the person on leave is financed by a private or public funded scheme, and not fully by the employer, as it is now, it is feasible to have employees receiving wages while on maternity leave from such funding, while the employer would use the unspent wage on employing temporary staff.

Unless this idea is implemented, added Prof. Scicluna, “small and micro enterprises, which account for over 70 per cent of employment in the private sector, will face added difficulties should the extension of maternity leave come into force since they would need to look into substituting absent workers who are on maternity or paternity leave”.

Moreover, said Prof. Scicluna, an increase in maternity leave is beneficial to both mother and child.

“It has been studied and proven that 12 weeks paid maternity has negative results on breastfeeding, infant health, mortality and maternal well being.

“Ideally, a 26-week paid maternity benchmark is the point at which the health outcomes for both mother and child are more positive than negative,” he concluded, adding that the time has come for employees who are on maternity leave to look into the possibility of contributing to the company by either working part-time, job sharing or working reduced hours for a limited period.