09/06/2017

A father who took paid paternity leave to look after his newborn baby when his wife suffered from post natal depression is entitled to the same enhanced rate of pay as a mother would have received under his firm’s maternity leave policy – but for 2 weeks less than the 14 weeks enhanced pay that new mothers would have received. 

In ‘Mr M Ali v Capita Customer Management Ltd: 1800990/2016’, the Employment Tribunal upheld the father’s complaint that his firm had treated him less favourably than its female employees by paying him statutory pay only during his period of parental leave.

Given that the regime implemented by ‘The Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014’ was intended to allow mothers and fathers to take parental leave without any distinction, a father who is unable to take paternity leave without the same maternity pay available for women would effectively be subject to discriminatory behaviour.

Mr Ali had accepted that there was a distinct difference between maternity and paternity leave in the two weeks immediately following childbirth, as mothers needed to take at least this length of time off to help them recover physically from giving birth.

This decision is not binding on subsequent tribunal cases although it does provide a strong indication of how similar cases will be viewed.