Responding to questions in the Senate on Thursday on Government policy with regard to maternity leave, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister, Dr Sekai Nzenza said women are entitled to maternity leave within their first year of employment.
Nzenza said the policy of going on maternity leave after 24 months had been outlawed. Said Nzenza:
The policy on maternity leave is that it does not really matter when a woman starts work. As soon as she starts work and she gets pregnant, she is allowed to take maternity leave. We have also put into place that she has hours to go home and breast feed as opposed to the last policy which only allowed a woman to take maternity leave when she has been on the job for 12 months. That has changed.
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