Female Employment Tribunal members to get 6-month maternity leave

Government has amended the regulations to provide six-month maternity leave to female members of the Employment Tribunal.

The new policy has been amended after a member raised the issue on social media, expressing concern over the non-availability of six-month maternity leave for female members of the tribunal.

In February, the issue came to light on social media after employment tribunal member Mariyam Sham’a Ibrahim alleged that she was not provided adequate leave after childbirth.

The member shared a picture of herself in the office with her son worried that she would have to return to office at just two months without extending her leave. This led to widespread public criticism of the employment tribunal.

The two-month leave granted at that time after childbirth for female members of the Employment Tribunal was changed to six months and the 'Procedure for Maintaining Discipline of Members of Employment Tribunals' was made public on Wednesday.

In the amendment, which was made public on Wednesday, 'annual leave of members' has been added to the clause 'maternity leave'.

"Female members of the Employment Tribunal shall be entitled to leave of up to six months as leave granted on account of childbirth," the added clause said.

Three other amendments have also been made to the ‘Regulations of Ethics for Members of Employment Tribunals'. that is;

While the matter was raised due to the concern expressed by member Mariyam Sham’a over non-availability of six months' leave after childbirth, the tribunal had said at the time that the procedures followed by government employees were not applicable to the employees of the tribunal as they were not civil servants.

However, in 2019,. In 2019, president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih appointed seven members of the tribunal for a five-year term and they said they had a discussion with the President's Office regarding the provision of six-month maternity leave promised by the government to female employees of the Tribunal. 

Earlier, members of the tribunal were given two months maternity leave under the criteria of the members of the employment tribunal.

Once the leave period ends and the staff returns to work, their working hours in the office is reduced to three hours for the first year of their child. It's a 30-minute period that that is granted in favour of the infant every day.