Mother forced to return to work while mourning her baby’s tragic death described as “horrific and inhumane”

When Chris Breen and his wife lost their baby when she was just six weeks old, they needed time to grieve.

That’s because her planned paid maternity leave was cancelled by her employer.

Now the the inner-west Sydney couple are calling for change.

They want to see a law change to offer “humane” rules that don’t force people back to work after such losses.

A petition they started calling for an end to “cancelling maternity leave for infant death or stillbirths” has more than 10,000 signatures

“The law is silent on whether they can cancel paid leave – it differs company to company,” Breen said.

His wife said since they started the petition other mothers who lost their babies had contacted her.

Some have been allowed their full paid maternity leave but others have also had to return to work.

“It is just horrific and inhumane,” she said.

The call is for the government to amend the Fair Work legislation so that private sector employers are not solely responsible for determining if their employees should receive leave and how much they should receive.

According to Dr. Giuseppe Carabetta, an associate professor of employment law at the University of Technology Sydney Business School, the regulations also differ when it comes to government assistance.

He pointed out a scenario where if a baby is stillborn, employees are not allowed to take unpaid special parental leave as per national regulations. Nonetheless, there are provisions for unpaid parental leave and compassionate leave in such situations.

In 2021 Labor introduced a bill to change the law on paid parental leave for stillbirths.

Asked by 9News, Federal Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Murray Watt said he would put the issue to the National Workplace Consultative Council with a view to closing any gap.

A spokeswoman for Fair Work Australia issued a statement to 9News.

“For employer-provided paid parental leave, whether an employer can cancel paid parental leave if an employee’s child dies within the leave period would depend on the terms within the source of the entitlement, whether that is an employee’s enterprise agreement, workplace policy or employment contract,” she said.