Another Dose of Outrage

I was in the van yesterday when an item on employment law came on the radio (as a dedicated radio 4 listener, these things happen more often than you might think). The gist was explaining the rights of employees that are being asked to leave their jobs. Various scenarios were discussed by the pannell. The rant that follows is based purely on what I heard on the programme; although I covered employment law a bit on my course, it wasn't in any detail.

The part of the programme that incensed me was when it was revealed that women on maternity leave could not be made redundant; instead they must be offered an equivalent post in the company. I am in favour of equality but this is in no way equal. How on earth does a woman's reproductive ability have any bearing on her ability to do her job? Does the same apply to men on paternity leave? What of the women in the work place who have chosen not to (or are unable to) have children. Why should they be penalised for that choice. And what of the men of the work force? Why is it fair to allow them to have their futures cast into doubt while others around them are safeguarded. The whole system is ludicrous.

On the business side of things; what about the businesses affected? Especially small ones. They could be placed in great risk of their solvency by being forced to lose a good employee as a result of having to retain someone on maternity leave and provide maternity cover. What if it mutually convenient for new mother and employer for her to leave? As I understand it, the law would prevent a good package being offered it there was a sniff of redundancy. A realistic upshot is they could be forced by the excessively stringent laws to avoid employing women of child bearing age and find ways to cover it either by employing much older or much younger women. The whole policy therefore backfires and discrimination is rife through necessity rather than choice.

Yet again it seems common sense has slipped far too far down the list of priorities and it has done so without good reason. Certain newspapers would roll out the phrase, "political correctness gone mad" at this stage however this is not politically correct no matter how it is spun. This is a group of nasty, small people who seem to be professionally outraged on a mission to make life as difficult as possible for everyone around them. They simply use the banner of political correctness to justify their actions.

The time has come to realise that we are not all homogenised clones, we are (shock horror) different. This difference is not something to be covered up and legislated against, it is something to be embraced and celebrated. It has allowed the human race to survive and flourish this long, it allows us to change, adapt and develop with our circumstances. Most importantly of all, it adds depth and richness to all of our lives. Therefore let's stop being embarrassed about it.

JR