Calls for legal right to paid leave for IVF treatment

Natalie Rowntree, from North Yorkshire, recently started her IVF journey and describes the process as “stressful”.

The 38-year-old attended seven IVF appointments over eight weeks, including numerous blood tests, scans and x-rays, one of which left her physically uncomfortable for “a good few days”.

Due to the nature of fertility treatment, all of these appointments have to take place at very specific times of the month – and fitting this into her job at a private optician has proven difficult.

“I just used sick days and vacation days to get through these meetings,” she says.

Added to this is the emotional cost of having to manage the process without the right to leave.

Two years ago, Natalie suffered two miscarriages in six months and has been unable to conceive with her partner since.

“The emotional side is quite difficult and then trying to deal with it at work… do I have to bite the bullet and explain what's going on? Or continue to have sick days and holidays? she says.

According to research from social enterprise Fertility Matters at Work, Natalie is among the estimated 63% of IVF employees who take sick leave to undergo treatment – with the majority claiming they did so to hide their treatment from their employer.

There are now calls for women undergoing fertility treatment to have a legal right to paid leave to attend their appointments.

Campaigners say that while some employers offer fertility support, it is not equal or guaranteed and should be classified as a medical procedure.

Pregnancy with IVF provides the same maternity rights as pregnancy without IVF, but there are currently no legal rights in labor law when it comes to fertility treatment.

This could result in millions of dollars in productivity losses for the economy and businesses, according to new research from Fertility Matters at Work.

Natalie says she avoided discussing the treatment with her managers because she was nervous about how she might be perceived as taking time off work to go through the process.

“If I went to my managers and told them I was pregnant, I wouldn't be nervous about it at all… but in this case, because you don't know how long it's going to go on, you can't put a time frame on the work.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission's employment guidance recommends “good practice” for employers whose employees seek leave for IVF treatment, but acknowledges that such requests do not fall within the protected characteristic of pregnancy and maternity.

However, refusing to grant someone leave for fertility treatment in certain situations could amount to sex discrimination, but campaigners say this is difficult to prove.

Becky Kearns from Fertility Matters at Work co-founded the group with two other women after they all faced their own struggles during IVF while trying to stay afloat in the workplace.

The 39-year-old says providing furlough would be a potential benefit for employers, who could save the economy millions of dollars in lost productivity.

“We found that with 63% of people taking sick leave, which has an impact on business, there is a cost to disrupting that absence.”

She also believes employers need to be more aware of the toll IVF, which she considers a “significant life event,” can take on their employees.

“You often have to attend multiple appointments in a very short period of time, it very much depends on how your body reacts to the medications.

“But we also know that there is still a huge stigma around IVF and infertility.

“We hear almost daily from people who are struggling with this experience… people who take sick leave to hide treatment, the fact that they are then forced to go through absence procedures and possibly have their work monitored.

“And all this because they were undergoing fertility treatment and just couldn’t tell what they were going through.”

She says the women also told them they had left their jobs and signed non-disclosure agreements as a result of undergoing IVF.

The government says that while there is no specific legal right to leave for IVF treatment, it expects employers to treat staff fairly and accommodate reasonable requests.

The government also says it is tightening flexible working rules, which will make it easier for employees to negotiate support arrangements with their workplace.

But that's not enough for Labor MP Alice Macdonald, who will take the issue to Parliament through the Ten Minute Rule Bill, which proposes to enshrine in law a legal right to leave for fertility consultations.

While it is unlikely the issue will become law without official government support, she is keen to keep the issue “firmly on the government's radar”.

“A lot of people, especially women, suffer from this, where you're trying to have a baby and through no fault of your own you need extra medical support, you don't have the right to leave to go to these appointments,” she says.

“Just when you're hoping it will work, hoping that everything will be successful and you'll finally get pregnant and have the baby you wanted, you have another added barrier from your employer.

“There are many employers who support you, but you have to hope you have someone who will understand and give you time off.

“If the law was clear about what your rights are, we think it would open up the conversation and employers would have to have a policy.”

Patrick Milnes from the British Chambers of Commerce says there is concern among businesses about the potential for “over-legislation” pending, in particular, the Employment Rights Bill, which will seek to relax flexible working rules.

“SMBs in particular have spoken to us about how concerned they are about different types of legislative holidays,” he says.

“Most employers we talk to do these things as good practice anyway.

“If you legislate, these processes can become more complex and burdensome, and in fact in many cases it is easier to do this on a case-by-case basis, on an ad hoc basis.

“There is a middle ground between having nothing at all and having a full legislative process, which in some cases can be overwhelming.”

But Natalie says a legal right to leave would make a “huge” difference to her.

“If you didn't have to think about, 'What will people at work think if I leave again?' it will relieve a lot of stress.

“I'm at the beginning stage [of IVF] and I'm thinking about what that will look like in terms of work in the future.

“I don’t want this to remain forever for other women who have to go through this too. I think that's an important thing to fix.”