Has the European Parliament heard of the worldwide recession?
The European Parliament has voted in favour of amendments to the EU Pregnant Workers Directive (No.92/85). One of the most notable changes is the introduction of 20 weeks’ maternity leave on full pay (with some exceptions).
Do not amend your contracts and staff handbook, or sack all your female employees of child bearing age (which, by the way, is of course illegal) yet. To become law, these changes still have to be approved by the European Commission (ie our governments). It is unlikely that the changes will go through, when all of Europe is implementing austerity measures and drastic cut backs on spending.
