Pregnancy - What Rights Have The Worker? Monday, May 14, 2012 (page 7)
When Ama Aboagewa (not real name) got her new teaching job with a private school
in a busy Accra suburb, little did she know that her long cherished dream of
getting pregnant will be a long shot in the dark for the next three years
because of her conditions of service.
She could have shut the door in the face of the headmaster the moment he showed her the document to append her signature but alas, her options were very limited.
Almost three years after her national service, hundreds of applications to companies that would not even acknowledge receipt and bad old men who would want to see her pants before giving her a job, she had given up hope of ever finding one until the headmaster called and offered her the job.
A phenomenon is emerging on the labour front where female workers in some companies risk being dismissed for becoming pregnant unless they serve a number of years.
The situation is widespread particularly in the hospitality and private educational institutions whose conditions of service insist that female workers do not bear the fruits of the womb within a specified period of time.
“Female employees serve a period of three years or more before becoming pregnant. This condition shall be met for the employee to enjoy a period of three months maternity leave, resuming work thereafter,” reads Ama’s condition of service.
It continued, "The employee shall be dismissed or made to go on maternity leave without pay if the condition above is not met. It will also be detrimental to the course of the school to get pregnant in succession. Such a teacher may be paid off."
The posture of the institution is in violation of Article 27(1) of the 1992 Constitution which states that " Special care shall be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period before and after child-birth; and during those periods, working mothers shall be accorded paid leave."
Even though the Labour law is silent on whether employers could give a duration within which their employees could get pregnant, the practice contravenes, Section 57 (1) of the Labour Law (Act 651) which states that "A woman worker, on production of a medical certificate issued by a medical practitioner or a midwife indicating the expected date of her confinement, is entitled to a period of maternity leave of at least twelve weeks in addition to any period of annual leave she is entitled after her period of confinement."
In addition to Section 57(2) of the same law which says "A woman worker on maternity leave is entitled to be paid her full remuneration and other benefits to which she is otherwise entitled."
Similarly, the trend contravenes International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 158 which Ghana is yet to ratify.
Article 5(d) of the Convention indicates that race, colour, sex, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin shall not be a justifiable ground for the termination of appointment.
When contacted, the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah,described the practice as an abuse of the right of workers.
“It is not fair. There is no legal framework or any other statute whether foreign or local that really stipulates when somebody should get pregnant.”
“Beyond that, pregnancy as it is, is something that helps in bringing up children for the building of the nation. So if somebody is doing that then they are infringing on the right of the female worker.”
“The law does not say that when you are employed, it should take so many years before you get pregnant,” he emphasised.
He, therefore, urged such employees to expose those employers saying “ they should expose those employers. They should definitely let all of us know , particularly their unions.”
“They should let the TUC, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare and other stakeholders in the labour front know about it so that we can nip this in the bud,” he stated.
The TUC Secretary-General, however, observed that most of the time such things happen at work places where the workers are not unionised.
For his part, the Public Relations Officer of the National Labour Commission (NLC), Mr Mohammed Affum, confirmed the practice and stated that on occasions that the Commission had to deal with such issues, it either asked the employer to restore the appointment of the employee or compensate the affected employee.
"Such actions cannot be justified and we always ensure that the right thing is done. Such practices affects productivity and deny the nation a labour force that would in turn replace and replenish the current labour force," he told the Daily Graphic.
She could have shut the door in the face of the headmaster the moment he showed her the document to append her signature but alas, her options were very limited.
Almost three years after her national service, hundreds of applications to companies that would not even acknowledge receipt and bad old men who would want to see her pants before giving her a job, she had given up hope of ever finding one until the headmaster called and offered her the job.
A phenomenon is emerging on the labour front where female workers in some companies risk being dismissed for becoming pregnant unless they serve a number of years.
The situation is widespread particularly in the hospitality and private educational institutions whose conditions of service insist that female workers do not bear the fruits of the womb within a specified period of time.
“Female employees serve a period of three years or more before becoming pregnant. This condition shall be met for the employee to enjoy a period of three months maternity leave, resuming work thereafter,” reads Ama’s condition of service.
It continued, "The employee shall be dismissed or made to go on maternity leave without pay if the condition above is not met. It will also be detrimental to the course of the school to get pregnant in succession. Such a teacher may be paid off."
The posture of the institution is in violation of Article 27(1) of the 1992 Constitution which states that " Special care shall be accorded to mothers during a reasonable period before and after child-birth; and during those periods, working mothers shall be accorded paid leave."
Even though the Labour law is silent on whether employers could give a duration within which their employees could get pregnant, the practice contravenes, Section 57 (1) of the Labour Law (Act 651) which states that "A woman worker, on production of a medical certificate issued by a medical practitioner or a midwife indicating the expected date of her confinement, is entitled to a period of maternity leave of at least twelve weeks in addition to any period of annual leave she is entitled after her period of confinement."
In addition to Section 57(2) of the same law which says "A woman worker on maternity leave is entitled to be paid her full remuneration and other benefits to which she is otherwise entitled."
Similarly, the trend contravenes International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 158 which Ghana is yet to ratify.
Article 5(d) of the Convention indicates that race, colour, sex, marital status, family responsibilities, pregnancy, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin shall not be a justifiable ground for the termination of appointment.
When contacted, the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah,described the practice as an abuse of the right of workers.
“It is not fair. There is no legal framework or any other statute whether foreign or local that really stipulates when somebody should get pregnant.”
“Beyond that, pregnancy as it is, is something that helps in bringing up children for the building of the nation. So if somebody is doing that then they are infringing on the right of the female worker.”
“The law does not say that when you are employed, it should take so many years before you get pregnant,” he emphasised.
He, therefore, urged such employees to expose those employers saying “ they should expose those employers. They should definitely let all of us know , particularly their unions.”
“They should let the TUC, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare and other stakeholders in the labour front know about it so that we can nip this in the bud,” he stated.
The TUC Secretary-General, however, observed that most of the time such things happen at work places where the workers are not unionised.
For his part, the Public Relations Officer of the National Labour Commission (NLC), Mr Mohammed Affum, confirmed the practice and stated that on occasions that the Commission had to deal with such issues, it either asked the employer to restore the appointment of the employee or compensate the affected employee.
"Such actions cannot be justified and we always ensure that the right thing is done. Such practices affects productivity and deny the nation a labour force that would in turn replace and replenish the current labour force," he told the Daily Graphic.
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