Seems like his employer could have been a bit more flexible
“There’s no allowance in legislation for when a mother dies during child birth.”
Well..idk..maybe let’s try and be a bit flexible on this occasion. Why traumatise the family more eh?
What a shitty fucking company. What a shitty government allowing rules as they are to not be changed. If you are employed your employed should get the benefits same as any other employee.
the idea of shared paternity leave is fine, and it should have covered him.
​
It honestly makes you wonder what “special interests” got involved in the finer point of that law, which lead to something like this.
finally and its already been mentioned but how about his employer just decides not to be an arse hole to a grieving new Dad
Doesn’t help that this article is really badly verbalising the law and entitlements here, and making it appear to be a position unique to men.
A woman in the same position (having not worked for their employer for 26 weeks yet) would be in the exact same position and be ineligible for maternity leave. For example, a pregnant women whom the father has abandoned or where the father is unknown.
The difference is that a woman may be eligible for Maternity Allowance (which is a state benefit) if she has been employed for the last 26 weeks but not for the same employer. But this is up to £156.66 per week (earnings dependent, it can be as little as £30 a week) so it’s barely going to buy the food and nappies. And doesn’t apply to those who’ve been unemployed or worked infrequently.
The issue here is that our parental leave and pay entitlements are linked to continuous employment by one employer. And are shit.
Should be roasting the company in the article and shame them in to supporting the poor man.
It’s the minimum you are legally allowed to get away with. There was nothing stopping the company saying “you know what, this is a horrible situation, take some leave”
Tbf, the article doesn’t say if the employer has left him in the lurch or is being decent – it is highlighting the current rules and entitlements. That said, if the employer has being a dick then they should be ashamed of themselves.
There might not be anything in legislation but I’d sure love to hear from his employer on why they don’t think it appropriate to give the poor guy some time off.
What a nasty company to work for. Need to name and shame them.
There are lots of holes in paternity, maternity and shared parental leave provisions and this is a particularly brutal example of that.
Abhorrent that it’s allowed to happen.
Mothers and fathers and children need to be protected properly. I know from personal experience how fragile a family unit is. I read something once about Norway and their policies I can’t remember right now. There are countries that get this right. We need to do better as a nation to protect and support young families.
As if the death of his wife wasn’t enough for him to deal with, he’s also got to deal with this shit. Shame on his employers, and whoever writes this poxy legislation.
What a horrible situation. I don’t even want to imagine the pain of losing one’s wife and then having to care for a new baby whilst work is being shitty what a cocktail of anxiety, grief and sorrow. My heart goes out to this man.
The policies around children in this country are really bad. There’s literally no encouragement to have children (which is backfiring as less children are being born which will have a huge impact in the next 20-30 years in social/healthcare and pensions).
When I hear Finland get childcare from birth for free, or hear about boxes to help new parents out in Denmark, or hear about the 6 months full pay paternity in Sweden…
We have a backwards system here. You want kids? Expect 2 weeks maximum paternity, Maternity isn’t much better, and usually statutory unless the employer is nice. So don’t expect to have kids if you have a mortgage that needs paying unless you’re wealthy. Oh, and childcare? Free 30 hours a week (during term time… or 21 a week spread over 12 months)… from the age of 3. You want to go back to work? Expect to pay an extortionate amount on childcare.
Oh but shared parental leave?!… which is pretty useless as usually one parent earns more than the other so it’s not really worthwhile, again, if you have a mortgage to pay.
It’s basically a system built for families with one parent at home, and one parent at work, during a time when houses were affordable. So, the 1960s-70s.
Ridiculous nonsense that the last labour gov could have sorted but didn’t, and we have no chance under the tories.
Worth noting that if his wife hadn’t died he still wouldn’t have been eligible for any paternity leave or shared parental leave. This specific situation just makes it even more shocking.
It’s completely unfair that two people can be working and paying National Insurance contributions, but if one changed employer they’re ineligible and the one who didn’t is. Eligibility should be tied to employment with any employer. Now employers continuously submit payroll information to HMRC it would be trivial to check entitlement.
What a depressing story, yet another reason that I am embarrassed to be British. Compassion and tolerance left much of this cursed Island many years ago.
Back in the days, he will get married with a random woman the day after the funeral to get a cheap babysitter.
From an old true story
Tories don’t want the plebs to breed. Only their class is allowed (eg Johnson’s massive output). Immigrants can just be brought in to work, who are already school educated, will pay for university courses and move on somewhere else eventually rather than retire and use loads of healthcare.
Or they’re just terminally incompetent at actually governing.
For anyone looking to find out who the company is, a LinkedIn search will get you the answer you’re looking for.
This has shocked me more than an awful lot of news lately….
How?! Wtf?! However?!
How do you come home to your husband/wife and them that you’ve done this?
This is exactly why laws are needed to force businesses to do the right thing. If you leave the option up to them they will always make decisions like this.
Mate I’d claim sick leave for like how long the paid one is and hand in my 2 week notice instantly. No joke fuck the bellends who said that to the new father.
Not sure if we can’t say on here, but the man’s name and small town make it very easy to find on LinkedIn which company (or rather educational institution) made this choice
I was pissed off that as a man, I don’t get full pay for at least a couple of months (only 2 weeks), whereas a woman in my company gets full pay for 4 months. My partner is self employed and gets stat pay. We still had the same amount of time off and I’m glad I was able to bond with my son more than if I didn’t take a few months off, but it just gets to me knowing that if it were the other way round we would have been a bit better off financially. It’s obviously going to put a lot of men off from having the time off that maybe can’t afford it and not helping close the gender gap.
However, this story is absolutely shocking.
I got life and critical illness cover for my wife when she was pregnant with our second, because even though my employer has fairly good paternity and sick leave terms, it wouldn’t be enough if I had to be both sole carer and earner.
Didn’t even occur to me to do it with our first though, was only when planning childcare cover in the event of a difficult birth or Caesarian that I looked further into the what-if’s?
And employers cry about not being able to find workers
Paternity leave is absolutely shocking in the UK. You get, what, 2 weeks?
If you get a C-section, aren’t you not supposed to do anything for like a month?
So your partner gets a C-section and then after the 2 weeks you’re meant to go back to work?
Just further proof that the system doesn’t work for us, but works for companies. We’re mere ants who should be subservient to our overlords and suck it up when their systems aren’t fit for purpose
We have been having babies and postpartum care since the beginning of time. WHY ARE WE SO AWFUL AT THIS?! Why has every single corner not been covered by now, if it was something profitable these things would be covered a thousand times over.
I was just searching jobs earlier and saw 12 weeks paid was a given for mothers, but fathers only got 4, absolutely bananas. Hope the poor chap gets a hell of a discrimination payout!
All the politicians that did not come out to help this lady that haven’t said anything you need to replace them. Every single one of them doesn’t matter what party they’re from. Just get rid of them and pick somebody else. You can clearly do better.
Why does a first world country not have automatic paternity leave anyway? It’ll reduce discrimination against women when hiring and give dad a better chance to contribute more equally to parenting (in cases of mum surviving).
It’s pretty concerning that a woman can die during a C section in a first world country this century too.
There was a recent guardian article saying maternal mortality rates are rising, even controlling for COVID. The gap between affluent and disadvantaged areas has widened as well.
Poor Brits. With the kind of government that envies the power and wealth that corrupt American politicians have, wait for what’s coming…
As a new parent (M) and the primary carer of two kids, I feel for this guy and any other single parent…
One thing I would say is that paternity leave in the UK is one of the few instances where men’s rights are so bad it is effecting women. The mother doesn’t get a choice to go back to work because paternity leave is so shit. Shared parental is a joke and employers think they’re doing the father a huge favour by “allowing” them to have it.
PS: I believe women are entirely worse off than men, and this is just another instance of them being abused by society, even if it is indirectly.
Can’t he file for disability for grief though? Where are peoples imaginations being wasted in the legislature rn?
36 comments
Seems like his employer could have been a bit more flexible
“There’s no allowance in legislation for when a mother dies during child birth.”
Well..idk..maybe let’s try and be a bit flexible on this occasion. Why traumatise the family more eh?
What a shitty fucking company. What a shitty government allowing rules as they are to not be changed. If you are employed your employed should get the benefits same as any other employee.
the idea of shared paternity leave is fine, and it should have covered him.
​
It honestly makes you wonder what “special interests” got involved in the finer point of that law, which lead to something like this.
finally and its already been mentioned but how about his employer just decides not to be an arse hole to a grieving new Dad
Doesn’t help that this article is really badly verbalising the law and entitlements here, and making it appear to be a position unique to men.
A woman in the same position (having not worked for their employer for 26 weeks yet) would be in the exact same position and be ineligible for maternity leave. For example, a pregnant women whom the father has abandoned or where the father is unknown.
The difference is that a woman may be eligible for Maternity Allowance (which is a state benefit) if she has been employed for the last 26 weeks but not for the same employer. But this is up to £156.66 per week (earnings dependent, it can be as little as £30 a week) so it’s barely going to buy the food and nappies. And doesn’t apply to those who’ve been unemployed or worked infrequently.
The issue here is that our parental leave and pay entitlements are linked to continuous employment by one employer. And are shit.
Should be roasting the company in the article and shame them in to supporting the poor man.
It’s the minimum you are legally allowed to get away with. There was nothing stopping the company saying “you know what, this is a horrible situation, take some leave”
Tbf, the article doesn’t say if the employer has left him in the lurch or is being decent – it is highlighting the current rules and entitlements. That said, if the employer has being a dick then they should be ashamed of themselves.
There might not be anything in legislation but I’d sure love to hear from his employer on why they don’t think it appropriate to give the poor guy some time off.
What a nasty company to work for. Need to name and shame them.
There are lots of holes in paternity, maternity and shared parental leave provisions and this is a particularly brutal example of that.
Abhorrent that it’s allowed to happen.
Mothers and fathers and children need to be protected properly. I know from personal experience how fragile a family unit is. I read something once about Norway and their policies I can’t remember right now. There are countries that get this right. We need to do better as a nation to protect and support young families.
As if the death of his wife wasn’t enough for him to deal with, he’s also got to deal with this shit. Shame on his employers, and whoever writes this poxy legislation.
What a horrible situation. I don’t even want to imagine the pain of losing one’s wife and then having to care for a new baby whilst work is being shitty what a cocktail of anxiety, grief and sorrow. My heart goes out to this man.
The policies around children in this country are really bad. There’s literally no encouragement to have children (which is backfiring as less children are being born which will have a huge impact in the next 20-30 years in social/healthcare and pensions).
When I hear Finland get childcare from birth for free, or hear about boxes to help new parents out in Denmark, or hear about the 6 months full pay paternity in Sweden…
We have a backwards system here. You want kids? Expect 2 weeks maximum paternity, Maternity isn’t much better, and usually statutory unless the employer is nice. So don’t expect to have kids if you have a mortgage that needs paying unless you’re wealthy. Oh, and childcare? Free 30 hours a week (during term time… or 21 a week spread over 12 months)… from the age of 3. You want to go back to work? Expect to pay an extortionate amount on childcare.
Oh but shared parental leave?!… which is pretty useless as usually one parent earns more than the other so it’s not really worthwhile, again, if you have a mortgage to pay.
It’s basically a system built for families with one parent at home, and one parent at work, during a time when houses were affordable. So, the 1960s-70s.
Ridiculous nonsense that the last labour gov could have sorted but didn’t, and we have no chance under the tories.
Worth noting that if his wife hadn’t died he still wouldn’t have been eligible for any paternity leave or shared parental leave. This specific situation just makes it even more shocking.
It’s completely unfair that two people can be working and paying National Insurance contributions, but if one changed employer they’re ineligible and the one who didn’t is. Eligibility should be tied to employment with any employer. Now employers continuously submit payroll information to HMRC it would be trivial to check entitlement.
What a depressing story, yet another reason that I am embarrassed to be British. Compassion and tolerance left much of this cursed Island many years ago.
Back in the days, he will get married with a random woman the day after the funeral to get a cheap babysitter.
From an old true story
Tories don’t want the plebs to breed. Only their class is allowed (eg Johnson’s massive output). Immigrants can just be brought in to work, who are already school educated, will pay for university courses and move on somewhere else eventually rather than retire and use loads of healthcare.
Or they’re just terminally incompetent at actually governing.
For anyone looking to find out who the company is, a LinkedIn search will get you the answer you’re looking for.
This has shocked me more than an awful lot of news lately….
How?! Wtf?! However?!
How do you come home to your husband/wife and them that you’ve done this?
This is exactly why laws are needed to force businesses to do the right thing. If you leave the option up to them they will always make decisions like this.
Mate I’d claim sick leave for like how long the paid one is and hand in my 2 week notice instantly. No joke fuck the bellends who said that to the new father.
Not sure if we can’t say on here, but the man’s name and small town make it very easy to find on LinkedIn which company (or rather educational institution) made this choice
I was pissed off that as a man, I don’t get full pay for at least a couple of months (only 2 weeks), whereas a woman in my company gets full pay for 4 months. My partner is self employed and gets stat pay. We still had the same amount of time off and I’m glad I was able to bond with my son more than if I didn’t take a few months off, but it just gets to me knowing that if it were the other way round we would have been a bit better off financially. It’s obviously going to put a lot of men off from having the time off that maybe can’t afford it and not helping close the gender gap.
However, this story is absolutely shocking.
I got life and critical illness cover for my wife when she was pregnant with our second, because even though my employer has fairly good paternity and sick leave terms, it wouldn’t be enough if I had to be both sole carer and earner.
Didn’t even occur to me to do it with our first though, was only when planning childcare cover in the event of a difficult birth or Caesarian that I looked further into the what-if’s?
And employers cry about not being able to find workers
Paternity leave is absolutely shocking in the UK. You get, what, 2 weeks?
If you get a C-section, aren’t you not supposed to do anything for like a month?
So your partner gets a C-section and then after the 2 weeks you’re meant to go back to work?
Just further proof that the system doesn’t work for us, but works for companies. We’re mere ants who should be subservient to our overlords and suck it up when their systems aren’t fit for purpose
We have been having babies and postpartum care since the beginning of time. WHY ARE WE SO AWFUL AT THIS?! Why has every single corner not been covered by now, if it was something profitable these things would be covered a thousand times over.
I was just searching jobs earlier and saw 12 weeks paid was a given for mothers, but fathers only got 4, absolutely bananas. Hope the poor chap gets a hell of a discrimination payout!
All the politicians that did not come out to help this lady that haven’t said anything you need to replace them. Every single one of them doesn’t matter what party they’re from. Just get rid of them and pick somebody else. You can clearly do better.
Why does a first world country not have automatic paternity leave anyway? It’ll reduce discrimination against women when hiring and give dad a better chance to contribute more equally to parenting (in cases of mum surviving).
It’s pretty concerning that a woman can die during a C section in a first world country this century too.
There was a recent guardian article saying maternal mortality rates are rising, even controlling for COVID. The gap between affluent and disadvantaged areas has widened as well.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/10/sharp-rise-in-number-of-women-in-uk-dying-in-pregnancy-or-shortly-after
Just all round grim 3rd world bullshit.
Poor Brits. With the kind of government that envies the power and wealth that corrupt American politicians have, wait for what’s coming…
As a new parent (M) and the primary carer of two kids, I feel for this guy and any other single parent…
One thing I would say is that paternity leave in the UK is one of the few instances where men’s rights are so bad it is effecting women. The mother doesn’t get a choice to go back to work because paternity leave is so shit. Shared parental is a joke and employers think they’re doing the father a huge favour by “allowing” them to have it.
PS: I believe women are entirely worse off than men, and this is just another instance of them being abused by society, even if it is indirectly.
Can’t he file for disability for grief though? Where are peoples imaginations being wasted in the legislature rn?