EU LAW

EU Law

EU Law

Introduction

The underlying case relates to the maternity law UK and EU substantive law. The two are in conflict with other in that as per the directive passed by Council of the EU, it is the responsibility of states to arrange for paid maternity leaves for six months for all working women. On the other hand, the UK employment law which was passed back in the year 1990 gives the women the right to get only three months of paid maternity leave. This conflict in the clauses of the law and the directly has led to two things. On the one hand, UK has been accused of not following the EU directive which is mandatory for all the member states to follow. The law was to be implemented by Jan 1, 2007 and it has still not been implemented. On the other hand, it is causing confusion among women as well as their employers on who constitutes for how long a leave and why?

Background to the case

In order to resolve the case, it is first imperative to develop an understanding on the maternity benefits and the regulators of maternity rights in UK. Department for Work and Pensions looks after the maternity rights of employed women in UK. The maternity benefits include maternity leave, maternity allowance and Statutory Maternity Pay also commonly known as SMP. These three benefits are awarded to pregnant women working at different levels of the organization. However, the amount of time a pregnant woman has been associated with the employer does not matter. Some women may be entitled for maternity leave only while others may be entitled to all three maternity benefits. Women in the military have slightly different rules on maternity benefits than other employed women.

There is another very important concept of additional maternity leave. This refers to leave taken over and above the statutory leave period. A maximum of 26 weeks of leave can be applied for. This leave, however, is dependent on the discretion of the employer. In addition, when the additional leave period ends, a woman who wishes to rejoin office may no t be offered the same job considering the long period she has been away from work. She may be offered a similar rather lower job provided she is willing to take it.

Advise for Angela

Some facts on Angela are given hereunder:

She's employed and has been working with Brighton department store.

She is pregnant and has asked for six months of paid maternity leave under the direction passed by Council of the EU.

She is denied six months paid leave and is instead offered to take three months leave as given in the UK law.

She is UK national

Angela is UK national which makes her eligible for all the rights given to UK nationals and permanent UK nationals under relevant laws. As stated earlier, it is the conflict in the EU directive and UK law that has led to this conflict. Being a UK national, her rights will be determined ...