Preamble
The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International
Labour Office, and having met in its 88th Session on 30 May 2000, and
Noting the need to revise the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised),
1952, and the Maternity Protection Recommendation, 1952, in order to further promote
equality of all women in the workforce and the health and safety of the mother
and child, and in order to recognize the diversity in economic and social
development of Members, as well as the diversity of enterprises, and the
development of the protection of maternity in national law and practice, and
Noting the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948),
the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (1979), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
(1989), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), the
International Labour Organization's Declaration on Equality of Opportunity and
Treatment for Women Workers (1975), the International Labour Organization's Declaration
on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up (1998), as well
as the international labour Conventions and Recommendations aimed at ensuring
equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women workers, in particular
the Convention concerning Workers with Family Responsibilities, 1981, and
Taking into account the circumstances of women workers and the need to
provide protection for pregnancy, which are the shared responsibility of
government and society, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the
revision of the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952, and
Recommendation, 1952, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session,
and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an
international Convention;
adopts this fifteenth day of June of the year two thousand the following
Convention, which may be cited as the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000.
SCOPE
Article
1
For the purposes of this Convention, the term woman applies to
any female person without discrimination whatsoever and the term child
applies to any child without discrimination whatsoever.
Article
2
- 1. This Convention
applies to all employed women, including those in atypical forms of
dependent work.
- 2. However, each Member
which ratifies this Convention may, after consulting the representative
organizations of employers and workers concerned, exclude wholly or partly
from the scope of the Convention limited categories of workers when its
application to them would raise special problems of a substantial nature.
- 3. Each Member which
avails itself of the possibility afforded in the preceding paragraph
shall, in its first report on the application of the Convention under
article 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization,
list the categories of workers thus excluded and the reasons for their
exclusion. In its subsequent reports, the Member shall describe the
measures taken with a view to progressively extending the provisions of
the Convention to these categories.
HEALTH PROTECTION
Article
3
Each Member shall, after consulting the representative organizations of
employers and workers, adopt appropriate measures to ensure that pregnant or
breastfeeding women are not obliged to perform work which has been determined
by the competent authority to be prejudicial to the health of the mother or the
child, or where an assessment has established a significant risk to the
mother's health or that of her child.
MATERNITY LEAVE
Article
4
- 1. On production of a
medical certificate or other appropriate certification, as determined by
national law and practice, stating the presumed date of childbirth, a
woman to whom this Convention applies shall be entitled to a period of
maternity leave of not less than 14 weeks.
- 2. The length of the
period of leave referred to above shall be specified by each Member in a
declaration accompanying its ratification of this Convention.
- 3. Each Member may
subsequently deposit with the Director-General of the International Labour
Office a further declaration extending the period of maternity leave.
- 4. With due regard to
the protection of the health of the mother and that of the child,
maternity leave shall include a period of six weeks' compulsory leave
after childbirth, unless otherwise agreed at the national level by the
government and the representative organizations of employers and workers.
- 5. The prenatal portion
of maternity leave shall be extended by any period elapsing between the
presumed date of childbirth and the actual date of childbirth, without
reduction in any compulsory portion of postnatal leave.
LEAVE IN CASE OF
ILLNESS OR COMPLICATIONS
Article
5
On production of a medical certificate, leave shall be provided before or
after the maternity leave period in the case of illness, complications or risk
of complications arising out of pregnancy or childbirth. The nature and the
maximum duration of such leave may be specified in accordance with national law
and practice.
BENEFITS
Article
6
- 1. Cash benefits shall be
provided, in accordance with national laws and regulations, or in any
other manner consistent with national practice, to women who are absent
from work on leave referred to in Articles 4 or 5.
- 2. Cash benefits shall
be at a level which ensures that the woman can maintain herself and her
child in proper conditions of health and with a suitable standard of
living.
- 3. Where, under national
law or practice, cash benefits paid with respect to leave referred to in
Article 4 are based on previous earnings, the amount of such benefits
shall not be less than two-thirds of the woman's previous earnings or of
such of those earnings as are taken into account for the purpose of
computing benefits.
- 4. Where, under national
law or practice, other methods are used to determine the cash benefits
paid with respect to leave referred to in Article 4, the amount of such
benefits shall be comparable to the amount resulting on average from the
application of the preceding paragraph.
- 5. Each Member shall
ensure that the conditions to qualify for cash benefits can be satisfied
by a large majority of the women to whom this Convention applies.
- 6. Where a woman does
not meet the conditions to qualify for cash benefits under national laws
and regulations or in any other manner consistent with national practice,
she shall be entitled to adequate benefits out of social assistance funds,
subject to the means test required for such assistance.
- 7. Medical benefits
shall be provided for the woman and her child in accordance with national
laws and regulations or in any other manner consistent with national
practice. Medical benefits shall include prenatal, childbirth and
postnatal care, as well as hospitalization care when necessary.
- 8. In order to protect
the situation of women in the labour market, benefits in respect of the
leave referred to in Articles 4 and 5 shall be provided through compulsory
social insurance or public funds, or in a manner determined by national
law and practice. An employer shall not be individually liable for the
direct cost of any such monetary benefit to a woman employed by him or her
without that employer's specific agreement except where::
- (a) such is provided
for in national law or practice in a member State prior to the date of
adoption of this Convention by the International Labour Conference; or
- (b) it is subsequently
agreed at the national level by the government and the representative
organizations of employers and workers.
Article
7
- 1. A Member whose
economy and social security system are insufficiently developed shall be
deemed to be in compliance with Article 6, paragraphs 3 and 4, if cash
benefits are provided at a rate no lower than a rate payable for sickness
or temporary disability in accordance with national laws and regulations.
- 2. A Member which avails
itself of the possibility afforded in the preceding paragraph shall, in
its first report on the application of this Convention under article 22 of
the Constitution of the International Labour Organization, explain the
reasons therefor and indicate the rate at which cash benefits are
provided. In its subsequent reports, the Member shall describe the
measures taken with a view to progressively raising the rate of benefits.
EMPLOYMENT
PROTECTION AND NON-DISCRIMINATION
Article
8
- 1. It shall be unlawful
for an employer to terminate the employment of a woman during her
pregnancy or absence on leave referred to in Articles 4 or 5 or during a
period following her return to work to be prescribed by national laws or
regulations, except on grounds unrelated to the pregnancy or birth of the
child and its consequences or nursing. The burden of proving that the
reasons for dismissal are unrelated to pregnancy or childbirth and its
consequences or nursing shall rest on the employer.
- 2. A woman is guaranteed
the right to return to the same position or an equivalent position paid at
the same rate at the end of her maternity leave.
Article
9
- 1. Each Member shall
adopt appropriate measures to ensure that maternity does not constitute a
source of discrimination in employment, including - notwithstanding
Article 2, paragraph 1 - access to employment.
- 2. Measures referred to
in the preceding paragraph shall include a prohibition from requiring a
test for pregnancy or a certificate of such a test when a woman is applying
for employment, except where required by national laws or regulations in
respect of work that is:
- (a) prohibited or
restricted for pregnant or nursing women under national laws or
regulations; or
- (b) where there is a
recognized or significant risk to the health of the woman and child.
BREASTFEEDING
MOTHERS
Article
10
- 1. A woman shall be
provided with the right to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction
of hours of work to breastfeed her child.
- 2. The period during
which nursing breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work are allowed,
their number, the duration of nursing breaks and the procedures for the
reduction of daily hours of work shall be determined by national law and
practice. These breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work shall be
counted as working time and remunerated accordingly.
PERIODIC REVIEW
Article
11
Each Member shall examine periodically, in consultation with the
representative organizations of employers and workers, the appropriateness of extending
the period of leave referred to in Article 4 or of increasing the amount or the
rate of the cash benefits referred to in Article 6.
IMPLEMENTATION
Article
12
This Convention shall be implemented by means of laws or regulations, except
in so far as effect is given to it by other means such as collective
agreements, arbitration awards, court decisions, or in any other manner
consistent with national practice.
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article
13
This Convention revises the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952.
Article
14
The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article
15
- 1. This Convention shall
be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour
Organization whose ratifications have been registered with the
Director-General of the International Labour Office.
- 2. It shall come into
force 12 months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members
have been registered with the Director-General.
- 3. Thereafter, this
Convention shall come into force for any Member 12 months after the date
on which its ratification has been registered.
Article
16
- 1. A Member which has
ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years
from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office
for registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year
after the date on which it is registered.
- 2. Each Member which has
ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year following the
expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this
Article, will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter,
may denounce this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years
under the terms provided for in this Article.
Article
17
- 1. The Director-General
of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the
International Labour Organization of the registration of all ratifications
and acts of denunciation communicated by the Members of the Organization.
- 2. When notifying the
Members of the Organization of the registration of the second
ratification, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members
of the Organization to the date upon which the Convention shall come into
force.
Article
18
The Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to
the Secretary- General of the United Nations, for registration in accordance
with article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, full particulars of all
ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by the Director-General in
accordance with the provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article
19
At such times as it may consider necessary, the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office shall present to the General Conference a report on
the working of this Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on
the agenda of the Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.
Article
20
- 1. Should the Conference
adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then,
unless the new Convention otherwise provides:
- (a) the ratification by
a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the
immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions
of Article 16 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have
come into force;
- (b) as from the date
when the new revising Convention comes into force, this Convention shall
cease to be open to ratification by the Members.
- 2. This Convention shall
in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those
Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising
Convention.
Article
21
The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally
authoritative.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________