The Parental Entitlements Working Group is calling on government and the private sector to follow Scotiabank Cayman’s lead in expanding parental leave for employees.
The group, spearheaded by local moms Bethany Ebanks-Pacheco and Lorren Stainton, have embarked on a mission to improve parental leave entitlements in Cayman.
Ebanks-Pacheco and Stainton started a petition earlier this year to elicit public support to move legislators to make law changes to increase entitlements. The petition has crossed 3,100 signatures.
“In recognition of May being the Month of the Child, and Mothers Day this weekend, we ask the government and private sector to support urgent change to improve and extend parental leave entitlements in the Cayman Islands so that new mothers and their families can give the best start to life to their little ones,” the Group said in an emailed statement following Cayman Compass queries.
Current maternity entitlements under the law are 20 working days leave on full pay, 20 working days leave on half pay, and 20 working days on no pay. Cayman Islands Civil Servants are entitled to 90 days maternity leave, whereby, 30 days are paid and 60 days are unpaid.
“We only have to look at many of our Caribbean neighbours and other countries of a similar living standard (eg: UK, Canada) to quickly realise that the Cayman Islands, for all its wealth, prosperity and government surpluses, is doing its working mothers and families a disservice when considering the meagre parental leave entitlements that are currently afforded its residents,” the Group said.
Last week, Scotiabank Cayman announced its new standard for parental leave for employees, which includes increased fully paid leave for all parents welcoming a new child, including adoptive parents, legal guardians and parents who have given birth.
Under the new programme, maternity leave will be increased to 16 weeks – up from 13 weeks – while fathers, adoptive parents and appointed legal guardians with a new child, will receive 4 fully paid weeks of parental leave.
“We are very happy to be introducing this enhanced parental leave policy for our team. It reinforces our commitment to a culture of diversity and is one that puts the welfare of our people at the heart of our success. It is also a progressive move to accommodate and respect personal dynamics and the family situation of each of our employees, already helping to drive our business success,” Janelle Milburn, human resources manager at Scotiabank Cayman said in a statement announcing the new policy.
For the Parental Entitlements Working Group, this move is a step in the right direction.
“We applaud this move, particularly as it comes not off the back of legislative reform requiring them to do so, but the acknowledgement that they wanted to make their policies inclusive for parents and extend the time families have with their newborns,” the Group said in its statement.
“Not only is this good news for their staff but it clearly signals just how inadequate the current Cayman Islands parental leave policy is, when a private sector company decides to offer beyond the legal requirement.”
The Scotiabank Parental Leave Policy came into effect in March 2022 for Scotiabank employees in the Cayman Islands and other countries in the region where the bank operates.
Anya Schnoor, Scotiabank executive vice president, Caribbean, Central America and Uruguay, said, “delivering on our core purpose of ‘for every future’ underpins our approach to making our parental leave policy inclusive of all parents. No matter where Scotiabankers are located, they will be able to expect quality coverage and flexibility that affords them the time away from work to support their families.”
The Parental Entitlements Working Group is scheduled to meet with Health Minister Sabrina Turner after having met with Governor Martyn Roper.
The group is set to meet with Premier Wayne Panton later this month.
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