In 2017, by means of Subsidiary Legislation 452.114,(1) the legislature set out the minimum requirements to grant paid leave to employees who undergo medically assisted procreation processes, also known as 'in vitro fertilisation' (IVF).
By means of Legal Notice 263/2020, the legislature has amended the national standard order and further extended the limits of this law to include more beneficiaries.
Besides implementing amendments to the definitions of 'medically assisted procreation'(2) and 'prospective parent',(3) Legal Notice 263/2020 has introduced the following main changes.
Leave for single prospective parents
Single prospective parents who are employed and undergo medically assisted procreation, provided that the process of the transfer of the embryo is undertaken on their body, will be entitled to 60 hours' paid leave from their employer. Single prospective parents may use such leave at any time during the IVF treatment in a non-continuous manner, up to a maximum of three times.
Leave for two prospective parents where one is oocyte donor and other is recipient
Where one of the prospective parents is an oocyte donor and the other the recipient, and both prospective parents are employed, they will each be entitled to 60 hours' paid leave from their respective employers. Such leave may be used at any time during the process in a non-continuous manner. However, in this case, such leave can be used for only one IVF treatment.
Leave for oocyte donors who are not prospective parents
Oocyte donors who are employed but are not prospective parents will be entitled to 60 hours' paid leave from their employer. Such leave may be used at any time during the process in a non-continuous manner. In a similar manner to the above, such leave will be granted for only one IVF treatment.
Endnotes
(1) Leave for Medically Assisted Procreation National Standard Order, Subsidiary Legislation 452.114.
(2) 'Medically assisted procreation' means all treatments or procedures that include the in vitro handling of human oocytes, spermatozoa or embryos for establishing a pregnancy. This includes, but is not limited to:
- intra-uterine insemination;
- IVF;
- intracytoplasmic sperm injection;
- embryo transfer;
- gamete, germinal tissue and embryo cryo-preservation; and
- oocyte and embryo donation.
(3) 'Prospective parent' means any legal adult, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, who receives or uses the medically assisted procreation techniques regulated under the Embryo Protection Act.
