Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I am glad that there will be a review which I take it will take place in March 2015. I appreciate that there are health and safety implications and that a pregnant woman can avail of extra entitlements. The problem arises in cases in which sick leave eats into a pregnant woman’s entitlements, but later on, when she is not pregnant, she cannot avail of sick leave because her entitlement has been used up. It is precisely the people who may not have a poor record in taking sick leave who may encounter a difficult pregnancy which eats up their sick leave and who are the ones being afflicted. It has caused significant stress across the public sector. For example, I have received correspondence from a young mother in my area who had to go back to work because of the fear that her pay would be docked. Like many young couples, she is in negative equity. She has made the point that in the 12 years of her working life as a teacher she had never missed a day until she experienced a difficult pregnancy. Owing to a virus among pupils in her school, her doctor told her to stay off work for four weeks because it posed a danger to her baby. The virus returned to the school and she missed another two weeks. She also had another difficulty which meant a stay in hospital. Suddenly, one can see how her sick leave entitlement was used up. She was literally crying in writing to me. Another teacher sent me an e-mail from her hospital bed about not being able to avail of sick leave. That is where the problem lies and the issue needs to be addressed.

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