AUCKLAND, New Zealand — New Zealand’s Parliament on Wednesday unanimously approved legislation that would give couples who suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth three days of paid leave, putting the country in the vanguard of those providing such benefits.
Employers in New Zealand, as in some other countries, had already been required to provide paid leave in the event of a stillbirth, when a fetus is lost after 20 weeks or more. The new legislation will expand that leave to anyone who loses a pregnancy at any point, removing any ambiguity. The measure is expected to become law in the coming weeks.
“I felt that it would give women the confidence to be able to request that leave if it was required, as opposed to just being stoic and getting on with life, when they knew that they needed time, physically or psychologically, to get over the grief,” said Ginny Andersen, the Labour member of Parliament who drafted the bill.
Ms. Andersen added that she had not been able to find comparable legislation anywhere in the world. “We may well be the first country,” she said, adding, “But all the countries that New Zealand is usually compared to legislate for the 20-week mark.”
funkygecko on March 25th, 2021 at 09:15 UTC »
This has been law in Italy since 1976. Pregnancy interruption, whether spontaneous or induced, is treated as a "pregnancy-related disease" and as such does not even count towards the maximum number of paid sickness days you can take in a year. All you have to do it submit a certificate issued by a general practitioner to your employer.
swisspea on March 25th, 2021 at 06:43 UTC »
To provide some context for why this is necessary. I had two losses while working (I’m a teacher). One loss was early, but to make a long story short, I was miscarrying for longer than I was ever pregnant and needed surgery at the end. I had a total of 7 days off work, and that was medical leave. During this protracted time, I had to go to an overnight camp for four days, in the mountains with my school. I was bleeding the whole time. It was horrible. I had to care for 18 children (who I loved) while losing my own.
A few years and a healthy baby later, I had a 23 week stillbirth (right on the cutoff between miscarriage and stillbirth in my country). I was entitled to full maternity leave (16 weeks in my country) and the time was so healing both physically and mentally. I was so grateful for the time and remember it as a time of sadness, grief, but also of healing and gratitude.
Edited to add some more details about my country’s policies.
Legal-Yellow-Mellow on March 25th, 2021 at 05:15 UTC »
Employers in New Zealand, as in some other countries, had already been required to provide paid leave in the event of a stillbirth, when a fetus is lost after a gestation of 20 weeks or more. The new legislation will expand that leave to anyone who loses a pregnancy at any point, removing any ambiguity. The measure is expected to become law in the coming weeks.
“I felt that it would give women the confidence to be able to request that leave if it was required, as opposed to just being stoic and getting on with life, when they knew that they needed time, physically or psychologically, to get over the grief,” Ms. Andersen said.