TRAVEL Weekly columnist Noel Josephides caused a storm when he complained about the disruption his female staff caused by getting pregnant and taking time off work to have children (Travel Weekly October 23 1996).
Anyone who shares his views will be dismayed to learn that legislation is currently going through parliament which will not only allow new mums to take more time off work, but also recognises the need for dads to take some time off too.
Among the main points of the Employment Relations Bill are the extension of maternity leave from 14 weeks to 18 weeks; the right to extend maternity absence after one year’s service instead of two as at present; the right to parental leave after one year’s service and the right to a reasonable time off for family emergencies.
A second piece of legislation, the Parental Leave Directive, will give fathers the right to paternity leave, although the amount of time off has not yet been decided.
The legislation, which should become law this summer, has been criticised by Josephides who claims it will damage small companies that do not have the resources of large firms to cope with staff leave.
“The bureaucrats who make these laws should try running a small company so they can see how difficult it is,” he said. “The repercussions following this legislation will lead to a further demise of small companies.”
But it has been welcomed by travel trade union the Transport Salaried Staffs Association.
A spokesman for TSSAsaid: “We think that this family friendly legislation is going to present a huge opportunity for people in the travel industry. There are so many women working in travel, and so many people who have to balance their work commitments with bringing up a family.
“There was an interesting case recently when a woman went back to work after maternity leave and wasn’t feeling too good so she took more time off and was then sacked.
Her case was later ruled to be unfair dismissal, and it is cases like this which the new legislation is designed to protect. It is a huge step forward in employees’ rights that this legislation will allow people to have time off work to cope if their child is taken ill at school.
“TSSA believes that in this situation, employees should have paid leave, but the Government does not want to put any extra burden on employers, so the details of this part of the Bill have yet to be worked through.
“We want staff to give time to their family and also make sure that employers don’t find themselves without key staff at crucial times.
“The Employment Relations Bill also covers other areas of work which are of relevance to people working in the travel industry, including allowing unfair dismissal to be claimed after one year rather than two years at present.
“This part of the Bill will have a huge impact on the travel industry because there is such a high turnover of staff in travel as people move from employer to employer. It will extend legal protection to a huge chunk of travel employees.”
He said some forward-thinking companies, such as Thomas Cook, will not have to do very much to fit in with the requirements once the Bill becomes law, but other big travel companies will have to drastically change their policies. But it is the small organisations which will be hit hardest, the TSSA has conceded.
The spokesman said: “For the smaller companies, each member of staff is a bigger chunk of the workforce, but even so the small companies will not be able to escape from their obligations.”
Thomas Cook human resources director Peter Brown said: “Overall the package measures look incredibly sensible. Some of it will not affect us.
“For example, we already have an extended maternity leave, and we allow time off for family emergencies.”
John Cooper, national sales manager/north – Club Travel 2000
Age: 37.
Education: O’ levels – English Literature, English Language, Maths, History, Geography, Technical Drawing and Biology.
First Travel Job: courier for Summer Plan in the summers of 1983 and 1984. John met British holidaymakers who flew into Paris and were transported by coach to Benidorm. The stamina of his youth allowed him to be a representative for them for their fortnight break, travel back with them for 24hrs, and then meet and greet his next party.
Career Path: following his exhausting and exhilarating star
Andrews has been appointed as business development consultant – leisure.
n DFDSScandinavian Seaways has appointed Matthew Eastlake as its UK sales and marketing manager. He will have responsibility for the growth of the UKbusiness and development of the DFDSSeaways brand following the company’s decision to rebrand as DFDSSeaways from the end of 1999. The ferry operator has also appointed Vanessa Markey
to the position of strategic marketing manager. She joins from USpublisher Primedia where she held the position of marketing manager.
TRAVEL Weekly columnist Noel Josephides caused a storm when he complained about the disruption his female staff caused by getting pregnant and taking time off work to have children (Travel Weekly October 23 1996).
Anyone who shares his views will be dismayed to learn that legislation is currently going through parliament which will not only allow new mums to take more time off work, but also recognises the need for dads to take some time off too.
Among the main points of the Employment Relations Bill are the extension of maternity leave from 14 weeks to 18 weeks; the right to extend maternity absence after one year’s service instead of two as at present; the right to parental leave after one year’s service and the right to a reasonable time off for family emergencies.
A second piece of legislation, the Parental Leave Directive, will give fathers the right to paternity leave, although the amount of time off has not yet been decided.
The legislation, which should become law this summer, has been criticised by Josephides who claims it will damage small companies that do not have the resources of large firms to cope with staff leave.
“The bureaucrats who make these laws should try running a small company so they can see how difficult it is,” he said. “The repercussions following this legislation will lead to a further demise of small companies.”
But it has been welcomed by travel trade union the Transport Salaried Staffs Association.
A spokesman for TSSAsaid: “We think that this family friendly legislation is going to present a huge opportunity for people in the travel industry. There are so many women working in travel, and so many people who have to balance their work commitments with bringing up a family.
“There was an interesting case recently when a woman went back to work after maternity leave and wasn’t feeling too good so she took more time off and was then sacked.
Her case was later ruled to be unfair dismissal, and it is cases like this which the new legislation is designed to protect. It is a huge step forward in employees’ rights that this legislation will allow people to have time off work to cope if their child is taken ill at school.
“TSSA believes that in this situation, employees should have paid leave, but the Government does not want to put any extra burden on employers, so the details of this part of the Bill have yet to be worked through.
“We want staff to give time to their family and also make sure that employers don’t find themselves without key staff at crucial times.
“The Employment Relations Bill also covers other areas of work which are of relevance to people working in the travel industry, including allowing unfair dismissal to be claimed after one year rather than two years at present.
“This part of the Bill will have a huge impact on the travel industry because there is such a high turnover of staff in travel as people move from employer to employer. It will extend legal protection to a huge chunk of travel employees.”
He said some forward-thinking companies, such as Thomas Cook, will not have to do very much to fit in with the requirements once the Bill becomes law, but other big travel companies will have to drastically change their policies. But it is the small organisations which will be hit hardest, the TSSA has conceded.
The spokesman said: “For the smaller companies, each member of staff is a bigger chunk of the workforce, but even so the small companies will not be able to escape from their obligations.”
Thomas Cook human resources director Peter Brown said: “Overall the package measures look incredibly sensible. Some of it will not affect us.
“For example, we already have an extended maternity leave, and we allow time off for family emergencies.”