The Federal Government has just commenced implementation of its 14-day paternity leave for male federal civil servants whose spouse delivers a baby. Male federal workers whose families adopt a child under four months are also included. ROBERT EGBE reports that greater clarity on some aspects of the laudable policy will make it even more beneficial to workers.
More than a year after it approved the policy, the Federal Government has finally commenced implementation of its 14-day paternity leave policy for male federal civil servants whose spouses deliver a baby. Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, stated this in a November 27 circular titled, ‘Computation of Leave Based on Working Days and Approval of Paternity Leave in the Public Service.’ The leave is in line with the Public Service Rules, 2021 Edition, she said.
According to the circular, a male worker whose wife gives birth to a new baby will be entitled to the leave. It reads: “Government has also approved paternity leave for serving male officers whose spouse delivers a baby. The period of the leave shall be 14 working days. The leave shall not be more than once in two years, and for a maximum of four children.”
Similarly, a male worker whose family adopts a child under four months will be entitled to the leave. “Where the family of a male officer adopts a child under four months old, the officer will similarly enjoy paternity leave for 14 working days,” it added. Yemi-Esan also said the request for such leave must be accompanied by the Expected Date of Delivery’s (EDD) report of the officer’s wife or evidence of approval of the adoption of the child by the relevant government bodies.
Paternity leave advantages
In September last year, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a 14-day paternity leave for men in the federal civil service – a historic first. Yemi-Esan, who announced this on September 29, 2021, said: “Paternity leave is the leave that is approved for men when their spouses or wives have given birth to a new-born baby; or if the husband and wife have just adopted a baby of less than four months old, then the man is entitled to paternity leave of about 14 days.
“So, that is what has been approved for men so that the men and their babies also can bond well together. It’s important because we want the young children and the youth to really bond properly with their fathers, just as they bond well with their mothers. So, this is the time that has been approved now, for men to bond at the early stages, especially at the early stages of a child’s life; that is when it’s very important for this bonding to take place.”
The Federal Government’s consideration of bonding as one of the reasons for paternity leave is backed by credible research on heterosexual couples. For instance, a 2017 publication by Canadian researchers, Sarah Allen, and Kerry Daly, titled “The Effects of Father Involvement: An Updated Research Summary of the Evidence,” argued that better immersion of the father in the process of raising a child can lead to improved development outcomes for the child and a better relationship between the parents. Infants of highly involved fathers, as measured by the amount of interaction, including higher levels of play and caregiving activities, are more cognitively competent at six months and score higher on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. By one year, they continue to have higher cognitive functioning, are better problem solvers as toddlers and have higher IQs by age three,” the authors said.
States lead, FG follows
With the implementation, the Federal Government has joined several other countries around the world that also practice paternity leave. However, several states are already implementing the policy. Lagos State approved 10 days of paternity leave in 2014. A year later, Enugu State approved three weeks of paternity leave for the state civil servants. In August 2020, Oyo State unveiled plans to approve paternity leave. Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Faosat Sanni, stated this at a workshop on ‘Safe Motherhood,’ organised by Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Oyo State chapter, in Ibadan. On Monday, the Akwa Ibom State government announced that it had approved a 14-day paternity leave for its male civil servants.
Globally, paternity leave, maternity leave and adoption leave are the three types of ‘parental leave’ commonly practised. Parental leave has been available as a legal right and/or governmental programme for many years, particularly in the form of maternity leave. In 2014, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reviewed parental leave policies in 185 countries and territories and found that all countries, except Papua New Guinea, have laws mandating some form of parental leave. A different study showed that of 186 countries examined, 96 per cent offered some pay to mothers during leave, but only 44 per cent of those countries offered the same for fathers.
A more recent study showed that reforms on paid leave for fathers have gained popularity since 2011. In 2021, there were 114 countries with paid leave for fathers. In Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Gabon, Cameroon, Chad, Ivory Coast, Madagascar and Togo offer men engaged by the government days or weeks off to support their wives at home after giving birth. Kenya approved two weeks, but the employer must recognise the wife. Mauritius gives five successive working days of leave. Paternity leave in the remaining countries is covered in family allowance leave or what is considered ‘family events concerning the worker’s home.’ Married men in these countries can take up to 10 days of paid leave. In Ethiopia, married men can take up to unpaid five-day leave.
In South Africa, married men can take a 10-day unpaid leave. According to the OECD, the five countries with the best paternity leave policies are Lithuania – 30 days of paternity leave paid at a rate of 77.58 per cent of regular earnings. Additional shared parental leave of up to 36 months is also available. Japan offers one full year of paid parental leave exclusively for fathers. Sweden offers both parents access to 480 days of shared leave with partial pay. Estonia offers fathers two weeks of paid paternity leave at 100 per cent, plus an additional 435 days of shared parental leave. In Iceland, New 2021 legislation has extended the duration of combined maternity and paternity leave to a total of 12 months, split equally between the mother and father (six months each).
Many grey areas in the new policy
The Federal Government’s new policy on paternity leave is only applicable for the birth of four children. Some have argued that this is discriminatory against other children where they are more than four. However, a local government employee in Lagos, Bidemi Oyewale, disagreed. “Four children are okay,” he said. “Even the health insurance scheme I’m on covers only four children. I think it’s a way to discourage people from having too many children than they can take care of.”
That is not all. What happens when a woman gives birth to more than one child at a go, for instance, twins or triplets? Will the employee be entitled to take separate paternity leaves for each child? It appears not, because under the current maternity leave policy of the federal and state governments, an employee is only entitled to one maternity leave per year, irrespective of whether the birth was multiple or not.
Also, polygyny is acceptable practice in Nigeria, especially among Muslims, with men permitted to have up to four wives in Islam; while no law prohibits adherents of traditional religion from marrying an unspecified number of wives. This argument becomes more valid given the fact that Nigeria is a secular state that permits every Nigerian freedom of religion. However, the policy, by restricting the number of children to four, may shut out polygamous men, except perhaps where the four children are by separate wives.
Can a worker take paternity leave and annual leave separately? Over the years, there has been some sort of confusion as to whether an employee can go on maternity and annual leave in the same year. In other words, does maternity leave consume annual leave? The question is sure to arise for paternity leave and this is one of the issues the Federal Government will have to address. The Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association Section on Business Law Employment and Industrial Relations Committee, Oseinoma Okpeku, noted that in practice, many organisations have clauses in their handbook along the lines of “maternity leave is annual leave consuming.”
In a report “Maternity Entitlements in Nigeria: Policies and practices,” jointly authored in 2019 by the Federal Ministry of Health, UNICEF and the NGO Thrive to Live, it was discovered that a lot of private establishments either had provisions that maternity leave was annual leave consuming or did not allow employees to take maternity and annual leave in the same calendar year. Okpeku, a Partner in Law Crest LLP, argued that from a legal point of view, both benefits are distinct and the conditions for applicability are different. “Annual leave/holiday is provided for in section 18 of the Labour Act and the basis of earning the holidays is tied to an employee’s length of service. Therefore, where an employee has worked for a continuous period of 12 months, such an employee is entitled to some time off with pay. The obligation is mandatory and the only proviso or exclusion is that the employer and employee may agree to defer the holidays but such deferment period must not exceed 24 months.
“Maternity leave, on the other hand, is provided for under section 54 of the Labour Act and applies only to women who have submitted a medical report indicating their expected due date. The section is very clear that every woman who provides such medical evidence is entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave regardless of the length of service. It means that an employee can resume work and proceed on maternity leave the next month.”
Distinguishing between maternity leave and maternity pay, he argued further that whereas maternity leave accrues to every employee, maternity pay applies to only employees that have completed at least six months of service. “By the wording of sections 18 and 54, there are no exclusion clauses meaning that the application of one does not lead to the exclusion of the other. Therefore, it is clear that the intention was for both benefits to run independently. Section 18 is strictly concerned with earned annual holidays with pay whereas section 54 is concerned with leave for employees who provide evidence of confinement and can be with or without pay,” he stated further. In the lawyer’s view, depriving women of earned annual leave because of maternity leave, quite apart from not being supported by statute, could also be termed a discriminatory practice. If Okpeku’s views are valid, then men could possibly enjoy both paternity leave and annual leave in the same year.
Can husbands of nursing mothers close early? Another question the policy appears to be silent on is whether husbands of nursing mothers can leave work early. Nigeria’s current civil service rule allows for four months of maternity leave for new mothers. A month is given to pregnant mothers before birth and three months after birth. Nursing mothers are also permitted to close early upon resumption until the baby is six months old. Despite these questions, most Nigerians agree that the policy is a laudable one and addressing these issues will provide greater clarity for the beneficiaries.