While Caymanian mom Bethany Ebanks-Pacheco welcomed news that civil servants will benefit from increased parental leave, she says government missed a chance to announce similar benefits for the private sector.
“I wholeheartedly believe this is a huge, missed opportunity to not only provide the civil servants with this benefit that they truly deserve but also change and align the Labour Act to increase parental leave for the entire community,” said Ebanks-Pacheco, executive member of the Parental Entitlements Working Group, which was formed to champion changes to local parental leave benefits.
She made the comment in an email to the Compass as she responded to the announcement that Cabinet had approved drafting instructions to amend the Personnel Regulations to increase parental-leave provisions for civil servants.
While she said it was “fantastic news” the civil service is now offering such “a robust family leave policy”, Ebanks-Pacheco said she “cannot discredit or discount the other families within our Cayman community that do not work within the civil service but within the private sector”.
She added, “The new benefits could be a great template to implement in the wider society (through the Labour Act) and really set a precedent in the community. It is extremely promising that this change has finally come about in 2024. It surely is about time.”
The Cayman Compass reached out to the Labour Ministry on the issue and a spokesperson said government is reviewing the current Labour Act framework for parental leave “with the goal to modernize the framework for parental leave and annual leave, as well as enhanced enforcement capabilities for the Department”.
The spokesperson was unable to provide a timeline on when this would be moving forward.
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. Civil servants are entitled to 90 days maternity leave – 30 days paid and 60 days unpaid.
When finalised, the Civil Servants Personnel (Amendment) Regulations 2024 will, among other things, increase overall maternity leave entitlements from 90 working days to 110 working days; increase overall paternity leave entitlements from two working weeks to 20 working days; and increase the paid portion of maternity leave from 30 to 60 working days on normal pay.
No timeline has been provided for the implementation of these new benefits.
Fight continues
Ebanks-Pacheco said while the change for civil servants is “a win for the community and a huge step in the right direction”, it is not the end of the matter.
“A woman’s work is never done and I will continue to advocate for a wider change to be implemented to the Labour Act, so no woman or child is left behind,” she said.
While the leave for civil servants is to be increased, there still will be an unpaid portion that needs addressing, Ebanks-Pacheco said.
“In our current cost-of-living crisis, I fear that particularly women will not benefit from the full leave because they have to return to work as they have bills to pay. This will not solve the issue at hand – that women deserve the right to bond with their babies and so do their fathers,” she said.
The same can be said for the paternity leave increase, she added.
“Twenty working days (one full working month) is exceptional and really is a standard for the community – but realistically, how can two parents live off of unpaid leave for two weeks? Or in the case of the new maternity leave increase – 50 days of unpaid leave,” she questioned.
Ebanks-Pacheco said planning and preparation must come into play for parents when a baby is coming, but when bills and “food are so expensive and in some instances 50% of your salary – there really is no room for saving or budgeting”.
She acknowledged that there are several factors to consider when implementing such an amendment, but she added that she was “thrilled to see that the needle is finally moving on this issue because it is long overdue – however, we have to be realistic”.
She questioned if new mothers and fathers will be financially able to take their full entitlement.
She added that “government should take another look at the recommendations and findings that we put forth in January 2023 through our report on the cost of allowing mothers to remain at home with their newborns for the minimum of the first six months”.
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Yet more benefits for our hard working civil servants. Along with great medical coverage and gold-plated pensions.
Something to consider when increasing paid maternity leave, especially to 6 months as was suggested at the end of the article, is the fact that women of child bearing age will surely be overlooked for positions in favor of a man. How would this discrimination be regulated?
Maternity & Paternity Leave: We need to remember that we (Government) will be paying a lot more if we allow maternity or paternity leave to be more than it is now. You know parents usually have choices, you may take leave without pay for up to six months, if you desire, or you could bond longer with your babies by resigning from your job, knowing you will get another good job when you decide to go back to the work force. After paternity leave is up, then fathers should go back to work to support their growing family. The older generation (of which I am a part) combined all of our leave (i.e. including vacation leave) to make our maternity leave longer. I, personally, stayed home with my first one until she was over a year, and had no trouble getting another job when I was ready; with my second one, I had to resign in order to get 3 months home, and again I found another job. We had no paternity leave back then, but fathers assisted after their work and on weekends; and we made it! We didn’t have large families from my time, so we wouldn’t have to have too much maternity leave.
I usually sign my name, but I know I have probably stepped on a lot of toes with this one, so I will remain anonymous.