Anna Malnutt
Anna Malnutt says paid bereavement leave would have made a huge difference to her
Parents who suffer a miscarriage – that is, the loss of a pregnancy within the first 23 weeks – should be legally entitled to paid bereavement leave, according to a report by MPs.
Currently, only those who lose a child or baby after 24 weeks are entitled to two weeks of paid leave. But a group of MPs are calling for the next employment rights bill to extend the measure to all miscarriages.
A Department of Corporate Affairs spokesperson said losing a baby was “incredibly difficult and we know many employers will be compassionate and understanding in these circumstances”.
But Anna Malnutt said she returned to work three days after her miscarriage: “I just didn’t really know how much time I could take off, and I felt like I had to go back.”
Anna experienced three miscarriages in 2018.
Despite her boss’s support, she decided to return to work three days after her first miscarriage, which was recorded as sick leave.
After two more miscarriages, Anna said she “became a shadow of her former self” and suffered from stress and anxiety at work, which ultimately led her to quit her job.
“I am sure that if I had taken the time to properly recover and better managed my return to work, I would have kept this position,” she said.
“They were his babies too”
Anna and her husband now have two children and she works as a volunteer for the Miscarriage Association. She believes that a right to paid bereavement leave would have been “life-changing”.
Her husband attended meetings and work trips when the couple was going through pregnancy losses.
“They were his babies too. And he never really had the time or space to grieve for himself,” she said.
Anna says it also meant he couldn’t support her the way he would have liked.
“If there had been a policy, it would have been a lot easier for him to say, ‘I’m going to have a few weeks off.'”
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Report says sick leave is ‘inappropriate’ for pregnancy loss
It is estimated that more than one in five pregnancies end before 24 weeks and around 20% of women will lose their babies in their lifetime, according to data from the cross-party Women and Equalities Committee report.
He proposes that bereavement leave be extended to include those who have experienced an ectopic pregnancy – when a baby grows outside the womb, a molar pregnancy – when an egg is not fertilized properly, a loss embryo transfer by IVF and terminations for medical reasons.
The committee recognized that several employers, including NHS Trusts and the Co-op, already had policies in place for employees who had lost a baby.
However, he added that it was not universal.
Committee chair, Labor MP Sarah Owen, shared her own experience of losing a baby.
“I wasn’t prepared for the shock of a workplace miscarriage during my first pregnancy,” she said.
“Like many women, I had to legally take sick leave. But I was grief-stricken, not sick, harboring a deep sense of loss.”
The report describes sick leave as an “inappropriate and inadequate” way of supporting staff when they lose a baby, and highlights that the low rate of statutory sick pay means some people cannot afford to take the time they need.
Kath Abrahams, chief executive of pregnancy and children’s charity Tommy’s, said she hoped the Government would act quickly to change the law.
“For too many women, the psychological and physical impact of miscarriage is compounded by the pressure to return to work immediately and a lack of time to grieve,” she said.
“It is unacceptable that sickness absence often remains the only option, potentially leaving women and their partners financially vulnerable,” she added.
The Employment Rights Bill is currently before Parliament. The measure has been described by the government as “the biggest improvement in workplace rights in a generation”.
A Department of Business and Trade spokesperson said: “Our Employment Rights Bill will establish a new right to bereavement leave, make paternity leave and parental leave a right from the first day and will strengthen protection for pregnant women and new mothers returning to work.
