SA's municipal workers gain surrogacy leave rights

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).

- LOYISO SIDIMBA

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, surrogate parents 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.