Paid leave and flexibility to manage reproductive health is an entitlement few Australian workers enjoy. However, ignoring reproductive health negatively affects the economy, workplaces and individual employees. With legislative and policy reform, this entitlement can be made available to all Australian workers, bolstering productivity and worker wellbeing.

In Australia, 90 per cent of young women under 25 experience period pain severe enough to disrupt work or education, costing the economy $14 billion annually. Chronic pelvic pain and menstrual-related disorders, such as endometriosis (affecting 11-14 per cent of women globally), further contribute to lost productivity. A quarter of Australian women aged 45-64 report experiencing menopause symptoms that disrupt their daily lives, including their work and career.

What is reproductive leave?

Reproductive health leave is a workplace entitlement, providing workers with paid time and work flexibility to treat or manage a wide range of reproductive health needs such as menstruation, perimenopause, menopause, polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis, IVF treatments, vasectomy, hysterectomy, terminations and pregnancy loss.

Importantly, the entitlement has three interrelated purposes in that it:

1. Acknowledges how reproductive health impacts all employees across the life course.
2. Provides paid time and work flexibility to support employee reproductive health.
3. Normalises discussions of these needs in the workplace.

The Victorian Health and Community Services Union was the first in Australia to bring a collective bargaining claim in 2020 for reproductive health and wellbeing leave. Kate Marshall, assistant state secretary of the union, remarked that the claim “takes away a taboo and replaces it with an entitlement”.

While that claim proved unsuccessful, momentum is building.

The current Victorian Government and Community Public Service Union enterprise agreement gives access to up to five days of paid reproductive leave. In May 2024, Queensland public sector workers received a nation-leading ten days of reproductive health leave. Disability service provider Scope has become the first Australian not-for-profit workplace to support employee reproductive health leave for its 7,000-strong workforce.

The push for a universal reproductive health leave entitlement continues

Australian Unions have been instrumental in pushing for reproductive health leave entitlements. Campaigns such as “It’s For Every Body” and “It’s Only Natural” cast a spotlight on the social and economic benefits of supporting employees' reproductive health.

Economic analysis commissioned by the Health Services Union and undertaken by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre found that it would cost employers an estimated $920 million annually to make 12 days of reproductive leave a universal employee entitlement. Critically, though, the analysis found that it currently costs the economy $26.55 billion in lost productivity every year without such leave entitlements. This means not providing such entitlements is nearly 30 times more expensive than the leave entitlement itself.

A path forward: legislative and policy reform required

Despite robust economic and wellbeing rationales for universal reproductive health leave, progress remains slow. Moreover, where reproductive leave entitlements have been established, there is significant variation in the length, coverage and method of implementation among workplaces.

A patchwork of individual arrangements for reproductive leave and workplace flexibility is not sufficient to realise productivity and welfare gains across the economy. So legislative and policy reform is worth pursuing.

Currently, the Fair Work Act 2009 provides most permanent employees with a cumulative entitlement of ten days of paid personal/carer’s leave each year. This leave is available when employees are not fit for work due to personal illness or injury or to care for a close family member experiencing a similar situation or an emergency.

While in some cases reproductive health presents as an illness or injury affecting an employee’s ability to work, the current definition of personal/carer’s leave means the employee cannot make use of this entitlement for all reproductive health issues.

Relatedly, current personal/carer’s leave entitlements are unlikely to extend to medical or other appointments requiring an absence from work associated with supporting the reproductive experience. For example, leave for assisted reproductive treatment such as IVF is not a legitimate use of personal leave under the Fair Work Act 2009, as women undergoing treatment are neither “ill” nor “injured”.

Australian workplace laws would benefit from a paid leave entitlement that clearly accommodates and includes reproductive health experiences as a minimum employment standard. This would form part of a fair and relevant safety net of minimum employment conditions.

This could be achieved by expanding the currently narrow reasons for paid personal/carer’s leave to include reproductive health experiences that require an employee to be absent from or unfit for work.

Alternatively, another way forward is to introduce a separate paid reproductive health leave entitlement for employees annually or on a per-occurring basis.

You can’t have one without the other: flexibility is fundamental

We know that absence or incapacity for work is not the broader experience associated with reproductive health. For many employees, the ability to work differently (i.e., work location, hours of work) enables them to work without requiring an absence or an assessment that they are “not fit” for work entirely.

In recent years, flexible work arrangements have grown in many workplaces (but certainly not all). This is most notably due to technology-enabled working-from-home options and recent amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 provisions regarding employee rights to request flexible work arrangements.

Currently, employees can request flexible arrangements when they:

• are a parent or carer for a child school-aged or younger.
• are a carer.
• are pregnant.
• have a disability.
• are over 55.
• are experiencing domestic violence or are caring for an immediate family member experiencing domestic violence.

The addition of pregnancy to the recognised grounds was a recent welcome amendment. However, pregnancy reflects but one reproductive experience.

Employees experiencing reproductive health conditions such as menopause (including perimenopause) can experience multiple symptoms varying in frequency, severity, and duration. It is also a reproductive health condition that affects women well before the age of 55. Yet, being over 55 entitles employees – regardless of their circumstances – to request flexible work arrangements under the Act.

Indeed, recommendations from the recent parliamentary inquiry on issues related to menopause and perimenopause included that the Australian Government consider amending section 65 of the Fair Work Act 2009 to ensure women can access flexible working arrangements during menopause.

There is some bipartisanship on this issue. Coalition senators on the inquiry’s committee suggested that the Senate Education and Employment Standing Committee should review the adequacy of the existing legal framework, including section 65, to ensure women can access flexible working arrangements during menopause.

While these recommendations were made in the context of menopause and the associated parliamentary Inquiry, the Australian Government should consider how broader reproductive health experiences and conditions can be accommodated in Australia’s workplace laws.

The groundwork for change has been laid. Let’s start treading the path towards universal reproductive health leave.

Dr Michelle O’Shea is a Senior Lecturer and interdisciplinary gender equity scholar at Western Sydney University. Through her research and advocacy, she is committed to understanding and redressing gender and intersectional inequities in work, education and health/sport institutional contexts.

Nicola Street is a highly accomplished workplace relations legal and public policy professional specialising in diversity, equity and inclusion informed by workplace laws.

Danielle (Dani) Howe is a PhD Candidate at NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University. Her PhD is focused on the Endo@Work project: developing and evaluating employer guidelines for supporting those with endometriosis in the workplace.

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