Wellbeing | What to do if your employee has a miscarriage, but doesn't meet the support criteria?

Written by the Employment Law team at Moorepay

There are a lot of positive changes happening now with family friendly rights in employment law, which is positive news for parents or expectant parents who meet certain eligibility criteria. But how do you support employee miscarriage when they don’t meet the current legislative criteria for support?

Please note that throughout the article the term ‘miscarriage’ will include miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancy. If a baby is stillborn (which is a loss after 24 weeks of gestation) the law and employee’s rights are very different.

Who isn’t legible for SMP currently?

If a miscarriage happens in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, sadly there is no entitlement to statutory maternity, paternity, or parental bereavement leave. However, if you experience pregnancy loss, it can be a devastating, lonely, and traumatic experience for both parents, regardless of how early in pregnancy the loss occurs. It’s more common than people may think and the challenges at work are often misunderstood.