The British bank Monzo is attracting praise this spring for offering new paid leave benefits for employees who miscarry or abort their unborn babies.
Notably, the policy recognizes both abortion and miscarriage as losses, though there is a big difference between the two. One is a parent’s choice to have their unborn child killed, the other is the natural, unintended death of an unborn child.
Personnel Today reports in March, Monzo began offering up to 10 additional days of paid leave to parents who go through a “pregnancy loss” as well as up to eight additional days to employees undergoing fertility treatments.
The new benefits apply to partners and surrogate mothers as well, according to the report.
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The company, which employs about 1,600 people, said it wants to provide a “safe and supportive” environment for its employees, a growing number of whom are parents, The Independent reports.
“Colleagues who are undergoing fertility treatments, diagnosis or consultations will have up to eight days of additional paid fertility leave per year. This might be used for taking time to rest after a procedure, recover from the emotional effects of treatments or to attend outpatient appointments and scans,” the bank said in a statement.
The added benefits extend beyond British law, which requires companies to offer leave to parents if their unborn baby dies after 24 weeks of pregnancy, the report states.
Ruth Bender Atik, national director of The Miscarriage Association, praised the bank, saying, “It’s a very thoughtful policy to be offering because it recognizes that, however early a loss, for many people it is a bereavement that can have a significant impact.”
New Zealand also just passed a law to require bereavement leave for parents who lose an unborn baby to miscarriage. The law allows mothers, fathers and adoptive parents to take up to three days of paid leave from work if their unborn child dies in a miscarriage or stillbirth.
Significantly, the law recognizes that unborn babies are valuable human beings by treating their deaths in the same way as the death of a born child. Born or unborn, the death of a child is a tragedy, and parents need time to grieve.
Unlike the new bank policy, New Zealand’s law does not apply to parents whose unborn babies are killed in elective abortions.
ACTION ALERT: To complain contact Monzo at https://monzo.com/about
