NEW MEASURES WILL BE INTRODUCED FOR MOTHERS AFTER MATERNITY LEAVE

A new slate of workplace measures are being planned to ease the transition back to work for mothers after maternity leave, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan announced on Wednesday.

Addressing the second annual Workplace Wellness in Action Forum at the Barbados Workers’ Union’s Solidarity House, Jordan said Barbados was modernising its approach to workforce sustainability and family leave, moving away from treating maternity as an isolated issue.

“We’ve just passed in the Upper House the Family Leave Bill, which is now the Family Leave Act, and that speaks to parenting,” he said. “We see the matter of allowing mothers to properly take care of their children as going beyond additional time for maternity leave, because those mothers who work will at some point go back to work.”

He revealed that Government has been collaborating with the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation to build support systems for mothers once they re-enter the labour force — especially in relation to breastfeeding and nutrition.

“Matters like having facilities, wherever it is possible in workplaces, that will allow a mother to express milk and store that milk — we believe those things are important for the wellness of the mother, for the wellness of the parent, but also for the wellness of those children, who will become workers in our society,” he said.

The Family Leave Act extends statutory maternity leave from 12 to 14 weeks for single births and to 17 weeks for multiple births. It also removes previous limits on how many times maternity leave can be claimed from the same employer and eliminates the requirement that the child be born in Barbados. For the first time, fathers are entitled to three weeks of statutory paternity leave, to be taken consecutively within three months of birth or split over the first six months.

Jordan cautioned that cultural and structural factors are key in determining whether returning mothers are truly supported. Urging employers, unions and wellness advocates to act decisively, he said postpartum reintegration must not be treated as private or symbolic but as “core workforce policy” with generational impact.