The Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014 only require that employees taking Shared Parental Leave (SPL) are paid at the statutory rate, which is currently £148.68 per week, or 90 per cent of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. There is no statutory requirement for employers that offer enhanced maternity rights to women on maternity leave to ‘mirror’ those arrangements for employees who opt to take SPL. This has resulted in claims by fathers that the provisions are discriminatory. The Court of Appeal has now brought clarity to the situation when considering the appeals in two such cases. Continue reading →