The new labor law established new gains for working women in the private sector, as it presents practical solutions to the problems that working women used to face. The articles of the new labor law offer many advantages for women working in the private sector, as the articles of the law contain guarantees of women’s rights in the event of pregnancy and the breastfeeding period.
The law was keen to preserve and protect women’s rights in all possible ways by granting them abundant facilities, especially for pregnant women.
Daily working hours
The daily working hours of a pregnant woman shall be reduced by at least one hour as of the sixth month of pregnancy, and she shall not be required to work overtime during the period of pregnancy until the end of six months from the date of delivery.
Maternity leave
The worker has the right to maternity leave for a period of four months instead of three, and this leave is paid and includes the period preceding and following delivery, provided that the period of this leave after delivery is not less than forty-five days, according to Article 52 of the Civil Service Law.
Provided that she submits a medical certificate indicating the date on which childbirth is likely to occur, and a working woman may not be employed within the 45 days following childbirth. She cannot obtain maternity leave more than two times only throughout her service period.
The employer may not dismiss a working woman during maternity leave, but there is one case in which he can deprive her of compensation for his wages, unless it is proven that she was working in another job during maternity leave, without prejudice to disciplinary accountability, according to Article 92 of the new labor law.
Breast-feeding
Article (52) stipulates that the female worker who breastfeeds her child during the two years following the delivery date, in addition to the prescribed rest period, shall have the right to the other two periods for breastfeeding, each of which shall not be less than half an hour, and she shall have the right to combine these two periods, and the two periods shall be calculated from her working hours without any salary reduction.
Nursery school
Article 96 of Labor Law No. 12 stipulates that an employer who employs 100 or more female workers in one place must establish a proper nursery for the children of female workers under the terms and conditions determined by a decision of the competent minister.
The article obligates establishments that employ less than 100 female workers in one place, and that they participate in the implementation of the commitment stipulated in the previous paragraph, according to the conditions and conditions that are determined by a decision of the competent minister.
Child care leave
According to Article 72 of the Child Law, a working mother has the right to obtain leave to care for her child. The article states that the number of leaves a mother is allowed is up to three times for all working mothers, and the duration of each time is two years, so the working mother gets six years throughout her period of service to care for the child, and she isn’t required to have several children to be able to obtain multiple child care leaves.
The Labor Law separated the female workers in the formal sector and the private sector in terms of the minimum number of employees in the establishment. In the formal sector, a minimum number of employees is not required, but in the private sector, the number of employees must be at least fifty for the employee to be entitled to childcare leave.
