By April 2007, paid maternity leave will be payable for a period of nine months, up from the current six months and by the end of the next Parliament the government hope to take it to a full term of a year.

But will this policy of pro-family rights help women in the workplace?

Will businesses, particularly those already heavily burdened by red-tape shy away from employing women – finding ‘justifiable reasons’ not to employ them?

Will therefore these parental sweeteners turn out to be sugar-coated and actually rot our teeth? Share your views on this interesting and potentially explosive area of employment law.

Annie Hayes
Editor, HRZone