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Ghana Health Service suspends woman for breastfeeding at work
The woman, Rita Adu-Kyie, has been on a two-week suspension since July 5, 2017.
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The woman, Rita Adu-Kyie, has been on a two-week suspension since July 5, 2017, Accra-based Starr FM reports.
Her suspension letter stated that she would forfeit part of her July salary as part of her punishment.
“My outfit is suspending you from work for two (2) weeks with immediate effect due to your refusal to take verbal instructions from me not to bring your baby to work,” the Municipal Director of Health Services Martin Osafo Osei stated in the letter.
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“More so, you have been warned on several occasions against this conduct,” the letter read in part.
“It should come to your notice that this development may affect your monthly salary for July, 2017 during the period of your suspension and on resumption of duty to work you are expected to report to the Municipal Health Director of Health Service,” it concluded.
But what does the Labour Act say?
According to the Labour Act (Act 651) of Ghana, Section – 57: “(6) A nursing mother is entitled to interrupt her work for an hour during her working hours to nurse her baby.
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(7) Interruptions of work by a nursing mother for the purpose of nursing her baby shall be treated as working hours and paid for accordingly.
(8) An employer shall not dismiss a woman worker because of her absence from work on maternity leave.
(9) In this Part” (b) “nursing mother” means a woman with a child suckling at her breast for a period of not more than one year.”
Commenting on the issue, an expert in Human Resources, Kofi Okyere said that even though the law allows breastfeeding at the workplace, the baby being with the mother all day at work is problematic and could affect productivity.
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He believes that “some of these issues could be handled with a human face”, adding that he can only advise the woman “to appeal on humanitarian grounds for her salary to be restored as well as expunge the suspension from her records.”
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