Antenatal and Postnatal Care

An employee is entitled to paid leave for antenatal and postnatal care. An employee can receive paid time off for any antenatal medical appointments before the birth and postnatal medical appointments for the first 22 weeks following the birth. An employee must give the organisation two week’s written notice of any appointment and must be able to produce a certificate/record that the visit took place. Employers can request that where possible, the appointments are at the beginning or at the end of the working day. If the appointment finishes during the working day, the employee is expected to return to work.

An employee, who is pregnant, has recently given birth or who is breastfeeding, cannot be placed in any job that is a risk to her health and safety or that of her child. If such a risk does exist then the organisation must remove the risk, re-assign the employee to other suitable employment or place the employee on health and safety leave, which will be paid for the first 21 days. Thereafter the employee will receive benefit from the Department of Social Community and Family Affairs.

Maternity leave entitlement does not apply in the case of a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Antenatal Classes

An employee is entitled to paid leave for antenatal classes. This leave will be granted to expectant mothers and fathers, subject to the following;

• An expectant mother is entitled to paid time off to attend one set of ante-natal classes, except for the last three classes in a set. This is a once off entitlement.
• An expectant father is entitled to paid time off to attend the last two ante natal classes in a set of classes which the expectant mother is attending. This is a once off entitlement for fathers in relation to one birth only.

The employee must give the organisation two weeks notice in writing, of the times and location of the classes. This written notification should be accompanied by an appointment card from the relevant body running the classes. These requirements may be waived in special circumstances where the failure to provide notification is not due to an employee’s neglect. In such circumstances the employee must provide evidence of attendance at the ante-natal class, and also provide a detailed explanation as to why he/she failed to adhere to this notification procedure.

Employers can reserve the right to refuse payment for time-off to employees where there is an abuse of their procedure, and any such abuses can be dealt with under the disciplinary procedure.

Breastfeeding Arrangements

OPTION 1. Reduction of Working Hours to Facilitate Breastfeeding
(Applicable where facilities for breastfeeding are not provided in the workplace)
An employee who is breastfeeding will be entitled to reduce her hours by one (1) hour per day for the purposes of breastfeeding other than in the workplace. For the purposes of the 2004 Act "breastfeeding" means breastfeeding a child or expressing breast milk and feeding it to a child immediately or storing it for the purposes of feeding it to a child at a later time.

This entitlement may be availed of for up to 26 weeks after the date of birth of the child. Such a reduction of hours will comprise of one 60 minute period, two 30 minute periods, or three 20 minute periods as agreed with management. Part time employees will be entitled to a pro-rata benefit to that provided to full-time employees.

To avail of this benefit, the employee must inform their manager of the intention to avail of this reduction in hours when advising the organisation that she will be returning to work, i.e. not later than four weeks before the intended return to work date. The employee should include a copy of the child’s birth certificate with such an application. The employee will remain on full pay during the period that hours are reduced for the purposes of breastfeeding.

OPTION 2. Provision of Breastfeeding Breaks
(Applicable where facilities for breastfeeding are provided in the workplace)
An employee who is breastfeeding will be entitled to work breaks equivalent to one (1) hour per day for the purposes of breast feeding in the workplace. For the purposes of the 2004 Act "breastfeeding" means breastfeeding a child or expressing breast milk and feeding it to a child immediately or storing it for the purposes of feeding it to a child at a later time. This entitlement may be availed of for up to 26 weeks after the date of birth of the child. Breastfeeding breaks may be taken as one 60 minute break, two 30 minute breaks, or three 20 minute breaks per day as agreed with your manager. Part time employees will be entitled to a pro-rata benefit to that provided to full-time employees.

To avail of this benefit, the employee must inform their employer of the intention to avail work breaks when advising the organisation that she will be returning to work, i.e. not later than four weeks before the intended return to work date. The employee should include a copy of the child’s birth certificate with such an application. Availing of such breaks will not result in any reduction of pay for the employee.

Maternity Leave | Maternity Leave: Termination & Postponement