Reproductive Leave

Reproductive leave is a new form of workplace entitlement. Reproductive leave provides paid time off for health issues such as menstruation, IVF, perimenopause, menopause, vasectomies, hysterectomy, terminations and gender transition treatments. While reproductive leave is currently only available in a few workplaces in Australia, unions are working to expand the reach to as many employees as possible. For instance, the Australian Council of Trade Unions is pushing for the federal adoption of reproductive leave in all workplace awards. This campaign, with its slogan of ‘It’s for every body’, is calling for ten days paid leave for all workers to take time off to cope with reproductive health issues. While the leave would predominantly cater to women in the workplace, there is also provision for men and other genders to take reproductive-related leave. This article looks at the proposed features of reproductive leave.

How reproductive health impacts work

Research has found that menstruation, menopause and chronic conditions such as endometriosis can significantly impact women’s engagement with the workforce. The federal government is currently investigating strategies to help with these issues, with a federal parliamentary inquiry into menopause and perimenopause, and a National Action Plan for Endometriosis focused on improving awareness, diagnosis and treatment to address the impact of endometriosis.

However, it is important to emphasise that reproductive issues affect not only women in the workplace but relate to all reproductive systems. It is gender inclusive as trans men and gender diverse workers also experience some of these reproductive-related issues, and men experience reproductive-related events including vasectomies, prostate screening, and pregnancy loss as a non-birthing parent. 

Current leave entitlements

Most employees currently need to access their federally mandated leave to manage reproductive health issues. The Fair Work Act 2009 creates minimum leave entitlements under the National Employment Standards (NES). These minimum standards include a provision for personal/carer’s leave, compassionate leave and family and domestic violence leave. The purpose of these mandated forms of leave is to ensure that all permanent workers can be absent from work when they encounter circumstances that make it very difficult to attend work. The aim is to support workers through these difficult circumstances and to help those workers stay in employment. For instance, domestic violence leave (which enables victims of violence at home to attend court or seek safe housing without risking their job) is an important way to reduce the number of individuals (predominantly women), who are forced out of employment as a secondary consequence of their victimisation.

There is currently no provision in the NES for reproductive leave, meaning that employees who need leave from work to cope with reproductive issues must use their accrued personal leave, annual holiday or unpaid leave. Unfortunately, many women already need to use their leave entitlements to manage caring responsibilities, so they have no leave left to take care of their own reproductive health. This is exacerbated by the private nature of topics such as menstruation, pregnancy loss, menopause and IVF, making it difficult for many workers to talk about these matters to their managers. Given the history of stigma around these issues, employees will often go to great lengths to ‘push through the pain’ and conceal their reproductive health issues from their colleagues and employers.

Some companies do recognise that workers who struggle with these health issues need time away from work and/or work flexibility to manage their conditions. For instance, in the first example of its kind, disability service provider Scope has agreed to provide 12 days reproductive leave to its 7,000 employees. Unions that represent sectors such as health care and banking have also successfully negotiated to include reproductive leave in industrial instruments. Now the ACTU wants all employees to receive the same benefits under the National Employment Standards. In the meantime, employees who would like to see reproductive leave available in their workplace should negotiate to include the entitlement in their enterprise agreement.

State government reproductive leave

At the state level, the Queensland government just introduced ten days paid reproductive health leave for public sector workers and employees of government-owned corporations such as Queensland Rail and Seqwater. Reproductive health leave entitlements come into effect by 30 September 2024 for the state’s largest employer.

Workers can take the non-cumulative health leave to address a variety of reproductive issues, including preventative screenings, health measures, IVF, hysterectomy, vasectomy, and chronic conditions like severe menopause, endometriosis and dysmenorrhea. Premier Steven Miles said the initiative was intended to support women workers and make the Queensland public sector an employer of choice. He hopes other organisations will follow suit to support the health and equality of workers.

Research suggests that employers can benefit from accommodating employees through workplace policies and practices that support workers with reproductive health needs. Such entitlements can break down employment barriers for women and contribute to equal employment and address the gender pay gap. For advice on creating an organisation’s reproductive leave policy that is legally sound and supportive of its workforce, please call Go To Court Lawyers on 1300 636 846.