Calls for legal right to paid leave for IVF treatment

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn9 hours agoShareSaveGeorgia RobertsPolitical Correspondent ShareSaveSUPPLIEDNatalie Rowntree from North Yorkshire has recently started her IVF journey, and describes the process as “intense”.The 38-year-old has had seven IVF-related appointments in the space of eight weeks, including multiple blood tests, scans and X-rays, one of which left her in physical discomfort for “a good few days”.As is the nature of fertility treatment, all of these appointments have to be done at very specific times of the month – and fitting this around her job at a private opticians has proven difficult.”I’ve just been using sick days and holidays to go through these appointments,” she says.Added to this is the emotional toll of having to manage the process, with no entitlement to time off.Two years ago, Natalie had two miscarriages over a six month period and since then has not been able to conceive with her partner.”The emotion side is quite difficult, and then trying to manage that around work…do I bite the bullet and explain what’s happening? Or keep having sick days and holidays?” she says.According to research from the social enterprise Fertility Matters at Work, Natalie is one of the around 63% of employees undergoing IVF who are taking sick leave to undergo treatment – with most citing they were doing so to hide their treatment from their employer.Now there are calls for women undergoing fertility treatments to have the legal right to paid time off to attend their appointments.Campaigners claim that while some employers offer fertility support, it is unequal and not guaranteed, and should be classed as a medical procedure.Becoming pregnant through IVF enables the same maternity rights as non-IVF pregnancies, but currently in employment law there are no legal rights when it comes to fertility treatment.According to new research by Fertility Matters at Work, that comes at a potential cost of millions to the economy and businesses in lost productivity.Natalie says she has avoided bringing her treatment up with her managers because she is nervous about the reception she might get for taking time off work to go through the process.”If I was to go to my managers and say I was pregnant, I wouldn’t feel nervous at all about that…but with this, because you don’t know how long it’s going to go on for, you can’t give work a timescale.”Employment guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission advises “good practice” to employers with workers seeking leave for IVF treatment, but it acknowledges that such requests are not covered by the protected characteristic of pregnancy and maternity in law.However, refusing to grant someone leave for fertility treatment could count as sex discrimination in certain situations – but campaigners say this is hard to prove.’Employers could benefit too’Becky Kearns, from Fertility Matters at Work, co-founded the group with two other women after they all experienced their own difficulties undergoing IVF whilst trying to keep afloat in the workplace.The 39-year-old says providing time off would be a potential benefit of employers, who could save the economy millions in lost productivity.”What we’re finding is, because there’s 63% taking sick leave, that is having an impact on businesses, there’s a cost for the disruption of this absence.”She also thinks employers need to be more aware of the toll IVF – which she considers a “significant life event” – can take on their employees.”You often have a number of very short notice appointments you have to attend, it’s very dependent on how your body is responding to medication.”But we also know there’s still a huge amount of stigma that surrounds IVF and infertility.”We receive messages almost daily from people who are struggling with this experience…people taking sick leave to hide treatment, t …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]