Everyone I've ever met who runs a small business has a horror story to tell of a woman they've employed who's gone on maternity leave pledging to return and then not come back.
There was a story in the press this week about an office manager for a timber merchant who got pregnant with her second child while on a year's maternity leave with the first. The firm dismissed her after she announced her intention to return to work, but warned she'd be disappearing on another year's maternity leave after five months. She's now won a five-figure settlement from an employment tribunal, but the damage she's inflicted on women's employment opportunties is incalculable.
Such behaviour gives people like Lord Alan Sugar justification for demanding that the law be changed to force women to reveal their maternity plans at job interivews – which would be a thoroughly regressive move.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of this country and women who work for them need to realise the terrible burden they place on their employer and colleagues if they’re less than honest about how long they intend to take off and when they plan to return.
My own view is that a year is too long. Nine months should be the maximum: long enough to bond with your baby, establish a routine and make arrangements for child care, and short enough for most employers to cover your absence. But what do you think?