WFA 'could cause employers difficulties'

News Article - 28 November 2006
Category: Regulatory

New legal rights for working parents are likely to pose difficulties for employers, a survey has found.

The rights, outlined under the Work and Families Act, will extend maternity and adoption pay from six to nine months while also giving carers to right to ask for flexible working hours, Recruiter magazine reports.

A study by auditor firm KPMG and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that 64 per cent of employers thought that paternity leave provisions laid out under the act would cause some or significant difficulties, while 57 per cent thought the extension of maternity pay would cause problems.

Some 51 per cent of employers surveyed thought of their businesses as being well-prepared or very well-prepared for handling the implementation of the act, while seven per cent said they considered themselves to be poorly prepared.

Among the new laws set out in the act is the flexible working and work-life balance clause, which is to enable parents with a disabled child or a child under six to request flexible hours and makes it an employer's duty to take such requests seriously.

Article keywords: working parents

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