‘Maternity Leave’ Jettisoned for ‘Birth-Related Leave’ in Queensland, Australia
Queensland employers will no longer be allowed to use the terms “maternity leave” or “her” and will instead be forced to adopt gender-neutral terms “long birth-related leave” and “pregnant employee.”
Criticism has been ongoing for months after the Palaszczuk government introduced several amendments to the state’s Industrial Relations Act 2016.
The new provisions aim to promote gender pay equity, strengthen protections for workers subject to sexual harassment, and improve the entitlements under the Queensland Employment Standards, including parental and adoption leave.
In a contentious move, the new changes will jettison terms like “maternity” and “maternity leave” in a bid to avoid any implied gender division of parental care. For example, Clause 11 proposed changing the phrase “from intention to take maternity leave” to “intention of pregnant employee to take birth-related leave.” …