“The disproportionate impact of the pandemic on working mothers”

[JuliaMumsnet]

As a mother and employment lawyer Caroline Oliver, Senior Solicitor at Didlaw, explains how the challenges of working mothers have increased in the last year and some possible courses of action.

"When the Prime Minister announced school closures once again last month, many working parents let out a collective groan of despair. Like others, I had just returned to work after the Christmas break and assumed my three children would return to school to give me time to balance my responsibilities as a mother and employee.

Working mothers like me find the career versus carer juggle a challenge at the best of times. In the early days of motherhood, our careers take a back seat during pregnancy and maternity leave. Many of us return part-time and we witness colleagues leaping ahead of us on the career ladder. Due to the tightrope of balancing motherhood with a career, it's no wonder that the gender pay gap increases to 25% when we reach our 40s.

The pandemic has led to a disproportionate adverse impact on women like me. We're more likely to be employed in the caring, nursing or hospitality sectors which have been in the front line both in terms of health risk and job insecurity. Women have also assumed the major role of substitute teacher at home. It's no wonder the spinning plates have shattered into tiny pieces, along with the emotions and wellbeing of many women.

Maria Miller MP, whose parliamentary bill is seeking to enhance the rights of women on maternity leave, recently reported that women seeking employment law advice with concerns regarding discrimination has increased fivefold since the lockdown a year ago. A study by PwC in May 2020 found that 78% of those who lost their jobs as a result of Covid-19 are women.

So what employment rights protect working mums who have experienced these Covid-19 related challenges firsthand?

The first key point is that women are protected from suffering unlawful discrimination throughout the course of the employment relationship. This starts at the recruitment stage and so any unfavourable treatment during the application process would give rise to a claim against a prospective employer. This continues through to the point of dismissal or resignation. Any negative treatment relating to terms and conditions, training, promotion, pay or selection for redundancy relating to the status of being a woman, pregnancy, maternity or childcare responsibilities is unlawful under the Equality Act. Unfair treatment relating to part-time status is also unlawful.

My aim here is to make suggestions to help women ride the pandemic storm in the months ahead. Some of the following options might be available:

Furlough – this option is available, in theory, to anyone who is ‘adversely affected by coronavirus’. So women who need time away from work due to childcare responsibilities can request this. Flexible furlough is also an option as this enables you to work some of your contractual hours and receive furlough pay for the remainder. The only drawback however is that there is no right to be furloughed – you can request this but your employer may not agree. A reasonable employer who wants to keep you will.

Flexible working – you have the right to make an application to your employer to work flexibly in terms of hours, days or other arrangements. Employers must consider and respond to each request and either grant it or refuse it based on certain prescribed justifications. Again, you will find out pretty quickly how reasonable your employer is and how valued you are.

Taking leave – In addition to taking annual leave, parents have a statutory right to request parental leave or to take emergency leave. The former is an option to take blocks of one week at a time up to 18 weeks per child until their 18th birthday. The latter can be taken to assist with a short-term emergency related to a dependent. However, with the exception of annual leave which must be paid in full, parental and emergency leave are unpaid.

These are unprecedented times that call for unprecedented measures and understanding between employers and employees. For further information and commentary on options available for working parents whilst homeschooling take a look at my homeschooling blog.

If you’re concerned about how some of the issues raised in this post affect you, discuss your options with your employer informally. You also have the option to raise a formal grievance but don’t do that without thinking of the possible fallout and take advice first. Otherwise, the best advice is to seek early advice and you may wish to consult ACAS, your trade union, a maternity charity or solicitor."

By Caroline Oliver
Twitter: @Caroline2Oliver

Caroline Oliver will be returning to this thread to answer your questions for one hour on the 24th February at 1:30pm, so if you have questions for her, leave them below.

@endlesscraziness

My husband completely stepped up and worked from home, did all the home schooling and had dinner waiting for me when I got home. Not all men are useless

Same here. And his job is as demanding as mine. Albeit less people focussed.

@BlueSoop

One thing that comes up time and time again on MN is that the woman has to bend / adapt / resign as the dad's work cannot be flexible (refuses to ask?) How do we shift this mindset? It’s the general idea that a high paid, high powered job cannot be flexible. The man is often the higher paid of the two and therefore has less flexibility. The primary carer (usually the woman) has to switch to a less demanding job, perhaps a part time job, which is generally paid less. So the problem is that if you want flexibility you need to give up some pay to compensate for that.

Except that those of us who have been higher earning women generally have bent and flexed (often to the detriment of our career), or had to pay for childcare and household help. I worked with plenty of high earning men who never once left early for a sick child, when mothers doing the same job, did. Then I'd meet their wives, who would talk about how hard Bob worked and how on earth did I cope with not being able to attend the nativity or get home for dinner etc etc, and I'd be torn between wanting to set them right and not wanting to cause domestic issues for my colleagues (and a general thought that having a wife is a far more useful career aid than the average husband).

Exactly: generally the more qualified and highly paid you are, the more autonomy and flexibility you have. Men convincing their wives of the opposite is baffling. I agree that many of these issues require women standing up to their husbands. However, in the case of the tax system that directly discriminates against single mothers, only the Government can change it. And that would require many other women standing together with single mothers to demand this. Sadly there is little sign of this happening.

Hello - just flagging that we have a free legal advice clinic in partnership with Maternity Action starting today. So if you have a question about your rights at work during pregnancy, maternity or parental leave, head on over to the thread.