The Labour Minister, in the National Assembly today, said 110 private and corporation companies have agreed to increase maternity leave for their women employees.
Of the 110 companies, Bhutan Postal Corporation Limited has agreed to increase the maternity leave to six months.
Rest have agreed to increase it to three months.
Labour and Employment Act 2007 states women employees of private and corporations are entitled to two months maternity leave.
However, Lyonpo Ngeema Sangay Tshempo also said long maternity leave will affect private and corporation. “It will increase unemployment issue. Since they are profit driven, it will hamper their profit.”
The six-month maternity for the civil servants was approved in the last session.
The Opposition Leader, Dr.Pema Gyamtsho, on the other hand, said the government should have carried out a proper research before implementing six months maternity leave for civil servants.
“We told the government there is no urgency in implementing the six-month maternity leave. There are advantages and disadvantages such as unemployment issue and profit for private companies. We have also asked the government if they could pay some amount or flexi time,” said Dr. Pema Gyamtsho.
Around 616 children are born to 34,500 women working in private companies.
The number of female unemployment has increased from 9.9 percent in 2013 to 12.7, last year.
