Parliament passes bill to introduce extra breaks for civil servants with children aged under 2

The Parliament on Sunday passed amendments submitted by the government to the Employment Act, to introduce two half-hour daily breaks without any pay deductions for female government employees with children under the age of two.

The Employment Act currently only allows two half-hour daily breaks for female government employees until their children reach the age of one year.

But the bill, sponsored by Madaveli MP Mohamed Shameez, proposes expanding this to until the children are two years of age.

The bill stipulates that employees will receive the extra breaks from when they return to work after maternity leave to until their children reach two years of age.

The breaks must not be subject to any salary deductions.

The bill was passed by the Parliament with a unanimous vote of 62 on Sunday.

Thoddoo MP Hussain Sameer, a lawmaker from the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), had proposed amending the bill to extend break time to 45 minutes instead of 30. But the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) used its supermajority in the Parliament to reject the amendment.

During the MDP administration, the country passed legislative amendments to extend maternity leave from three to six months.