Paid parental leave addresses a failure of the labour market. In an unregulated labour market, income is not equitable for those who do, and do not, have children. The former are disadvantaged, in that employers need not pay them during necessary time off after childbirth. Parents have intensive newfound labour at home, which is not compensated for. Their economic wellbeing suffers, at a time when it needs to be improved. PPL aims to correct this, by compensating parents for an unavoidable break from paid work while they look after infants. PPL also addresses negative externalities of the cessation of the labour market transaction. These include infant welfare, maternal welfare, gender equality at work and at home, and family choice. Additionally, PPL addresses a power asymmetry in the labour market: employers can coerce parent-employees into returning to work, by threatening job loss. The employee often lacks the resources to legally address such discrimination. Because PPL provides economic security, it reduces employers’ power to discriminate in this way. Since discrimination is likely to target child-bearing aged women, PPL is an equity issue. While private firms are not obliged to follow Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) guidelines, they are obliged to meet non-discriminatory statutory obligations under the Equal Pay Act 1972, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, the Human Rights Act 1993, and the Employment Relations Act 2000.[1] Thus, PPL helps to ensure employers follow statutory law.
Video: All babies simply need one-on-one care in their first few months, which cannot be provided by early childhood education centres…
[1] New Zealand Parliament, New Zealand Legislation. Accessed 1/9/2009 at www.legislation.govt.nz.