MPs in New Zealand this week approved legislation which will make the country one of only two in the world to provide paid leave in the event of miscarriages and stillbirths.

Ginny Andersen, the backbench MP who proposed the bill, said she hoped “other countries will also begin to legislate for a compassionate and fair leave system that recognises the pain and grief that comes from miscarriage and stillbirth”.

However, Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy (DfE) told Irish Legal News that parental bereavement leave and pay legislation due to come before Stormont in the next few months would only include provision for parents who experience a stillbirth, not miscarriages.

A two-month consultation on the Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Bill closed last August and Economy Minister Diane Dodds published her Department’s assessment and response in January.

The consultation followed the introduction of similar legislation in Great Britain, providing that all bereaved parents have the right to at least two weeks’ paid leave from work.

A spokesperson for the Department told ILN: “The Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay Bill will include provision for working parents that experience a stillbirth, which in Northern Ireland is considered to be when a child is still-born after 24 completed weeks of pregnancy.

“Following the introduction of parental bereavement leave and pay in GB in April 2020, Minister Dodds was keen to ensure that similar employment rights were afforded to working parents in Northern Ireland. As such, the focus of this bill has been placed on working parents who experience stillbirths and child deaths.”

They added: “Whilst the bill does not include explicit provision to cover miscarriage, we would expect and encourage employers to support and treat their employees with compassion and empathy in such distressing circumstances.

“The Department will continue to closely follow the development and progression of all related employment rights in GB and further afield to ensure that employee rights in Northern Ireland are both comparable and fair. It is hoped that the bill will commence its passage through the Assembly before the summer.”