3 reasons to not accept the proposals on Paternity leave
The Coalition Government’s proposals for increases to maternity and paternity leave should be resisted. Whilst they are honourable in principle and maybe useful in terms of bonding and developmetn, they are not acceptable for the following reasons:
- It is immoral to place a cost burden on business owners. This extra leave from work is not at public expense but at the expence of owners of businesses. many of whom are struggling to cope. The idea that you can freely extend someone’s leave in this way without it being a cost to the business is absurd.
- Earlier plans to cut Red-Tape are being ignored. Directing time off in this way flies in the face of all that has been said before about reducing burdens on businesses.
- Open-ended leave plans are challenging to manage. Fathers can, under the new proposals, share the mother’s leave entitlement and with the option to take unpaid leave as well there is a good possibility that some could be away from work for upwards of 7 months. No employer can take that absence without carrying the cost in reduced effectiveness or in true cost of temporary replacements.
So for goodness sake let us hope that the Government change their minds on this idea and realise that thousands of business owners who have struggled to get through the recession do not need and cannot support this liberal minded policy.
