MUNICIPAL workers in surrogacy arrangements are now entitled to three months’ paid leave, like biological and adoptive mothers, following an agreement reached at the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC).
Parties to the SALGBC – the SA Local Government Association, SA Municipal Workers’ Union, and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) – concluded the agreement providing for parents in surrogacy arrangements.
In terms of the agreement, are now entitled to the same leave as biological and adoptive parents.
The Bargaining Council, the agreement will be applicable retrospectively from October 2023, when the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland declared invalid some provisions of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and corresponding provisions of the Unemployment Insurance Fund Act.
The judge found parts of both acts invalid because of inconsistency with the Constitution to the extent that the provisions unfairly discriminated between mothers and fathers, and between one set of parents and another based on whether their children were born of the mother, were conceived by surrogacy, or were adopted.
Judge Sutherland also ruled that any employee who is a commissioning parent in a surrogate motherhood agreement is entitled to leave.
Earlier this month, the SALGBC advised municipalities to take all necessary steps to give effect to the amendment and display the circular sent by the bargaining council general secretary, Bill Govender.
The agreement on maternity, adoption, and surrogacy leave states that employees adopting a child under three months as well as those who are commissioning parents in surrogacy motherhood arrangements are entitled to three months paid maternity, adoption, or surrogacy leave with no limit to the number of confinements, adoptions, or surrogacy confinements.
“This leave provision shall also apply to an employee whose child is stillborn. Maternity, adoption, or surrogacy leave may commence four weeks before confinement,” reads the agreement.
Imatu, which represents over 110,000 employees in the local government sector, described the fully paid surrogacy leave as a groundbreaking victory for women’s rights.
The union said this breakthrough recognised the evolving nature of parenthood and affirms the principle of equality in the workplace, regardless of the path to motherhood.
Imatu initiated two separate urgent Labour Court applications involving its members who were commissioning mothers in surrogacy arrangements.
This was after their requests for paid maternity leave were refused, a move which the union felt treated the mothers differently simply because they did not physically give birth.
The matters were then settled out of court, paving the way for the amendment.
“This milestone not only empowers women in the workplace, but also reflects South Africa’s growing recognition of diverse family structures, a message that resonates far beyond the walls of local government,” Imatu said.
