A Human and Industrial Relations Expert, Rose Karikari Annan, is advocating for government to allow small and medium firms to use part of pension contributions of their employees to pay their maternity leave.
She argues that some of the firms are unable to pay their female employers when they proceed on maternity leave due to financial constraints.
According to Ghana’s Labour laws, a female worker, on production of a medical certificate issued by a medical practitioner or a midwife indicating the expected date of her confinement, is entitled to a period of maternity leave of at least twelve weeks in addition to any period of annual leave she is entitled after her period of confinement.
The laws also say that the female worker on maternity leave is entitled to be paid her full remuneration and other benefits to which she is otherwise entitled.
However, according to a Human and Industrial Relations Expert who is also the Deputy Chair of the National Labour Commission, Rose Karikari Annan a lot of small and medium companies are unable to fulfil this obligation due to financial constraints.
Speaking to Citi Business News at the Ghana Employers Association’s 5th Women in HR Conference, she said: “If you have 10 women working for you, can you regulate when each one should be pregnant, no, so if all of them get pregnant at the same time, what should that business do? The cost of paying their maternity leave and the cost of their replacement is huge. In Europe and America, maternity leave is part of Social Security. So we can bring that to Ghana.”
Madam Karikari urged the practitioners to adopt strategies that will improve the working conditions of outsourced workers.
The 5th Women in HR Conference brought together about 150 female HR practitioners.