Calls grow for Federal Government reform on reproductive leave: ‘we shouldn’t feel guilty about it’

Melissa Mullan ended up quitting her managerial finance role after she became seriously ill during IVF and then lost her baby. She spent 10 days in hospital after developing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), a serious complication of fertility treatment. Ms Mullan said having access to 12 days of paid reproductive health leave a year, which is being proposed for all Australian workers, could have led to a different outcome. “I actually got diagnosed with the OHSS, and I kept working through it because I had no leave. That’s why it got so severe, because I just didn’t rest. Then it just got to the point where I was literally rushed to hospital, and had to have a drain put in my stomach,” she said. With one in six Australian couples experiencing infertility, she is far from alone in dealing with the challenge of juggling work and fertility treatment, which can be physically and emotionally draining, and the heartbreak of miscarriage. There is a new push for the Federal government to make paid reproductive health leave an entitlement for all employees. Roger Hart, a Professor of Reproductive Medicine at UWA and director of two Perth fertility clinics, believes it is a necessary step forward, particularly as Australia’s birth rate is now at an all-time low. “Nobody ever talks about miscarriage or having fertility treatment,” he said. “My ladies having egg collection today, they will have had to tell their boss yesterday that I won’t be into work tomorrow. It’s such short notice. “Miscarriage, for some women, is absolutely devastating. Having to present to emergency departments, sit there and wait and then monitoring and tracking is devastating. 75 per cent of women will have a miscarriage, but nobody talks about that.” Professor Hart said it could be particularly hard for people in FIFO jobs, including men who have to provide a sperm sample to do IVF with their partner, because of swings working away for weeks at at time. “I’ve got ladies who want to be able to freeze their eggs, and they say, how the hell am I going to do this? Because I need to have a scan from day eight onwards,” he said. The Health Services Union has been campaigning for the introduction of reproductive health leave, which would also cover period pain, menopause and men’s issues, for five years. In April, the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, commissioned by the HSU and others, released an analysis of the cost of implementing universal paid reproductive health leave entitlement of 12 days to Australian workers. It found that the value of lost productivity cost from reproductive health conditions was an estimated $21.3 billion a year, with menopause, period pain, endometriosis and miscarriage being the main contributors. Research Fellow and report lead Dr Silvia Salazar said the annual net cost of 12 days of reproductive health leave would be $1.7 billion, which is the equivalent of only $140 per year per employed worker. Dr Salazar said the whole point of reproductive health leave was providing people with equal access to time off. “Most of the people who take leave, paid or unpaid, are usually related to menstrual pain or menopause because so many women are affected,” she said. “But when you look at issues like IVF or endometriosis, the amount of leave that they take, or that they would like to take, is just much higher. “Once they take all their leave because of their reproductive health condition, they cannot take any additional leave if they have to take care of a dependent, or get sick with something else. So it’s really just about providing that equity in the access of leave.” Nearly 35,000 public sector workers in WA, such as child protection workers, park rangers and WorkSafe staff, became entitled to five days of reproductive health leave in a new agreement between the State government and the CPSU/CSA in September last year. The Queensland government implemented a 10-day reproductive health leave policy to all of its workers in October 2024.. A bill introduced to Federal parliament by Greens Senator Larissa Waters in March proposes adding 12 days of paid reproductive leave a year to the National Employment Standards for all Australian workers. The leave could be accessed if an employee is not fit to work because of a reproductive health condition such as menopause or endometriosis, or has to receive fertility treatment, get preventative screening such as prostate or breast scans or to have treatment for a reproductive health condition including a vasectomy or abortion. The bill’s progress was stalled by the Federal election being called shortly after it was introduced. Ms Mullan took a few months off after quitting her job in 2021 to recover from her IVF-induced illness and miscarriage before finding a similar role at another company. Now mum to 11-month-old Tulsi, as well as 12-year-old Amity, she reflects on how paid reproductive health leave “would’ve changed things for me”. “I think it would have given me the opportunity to relax a bit and not feel so stressed about getting back to work because I’d used all my leave. If I’d had 12 days fertility leave, I would have been like, this is my right and I don’t have to feel guilty about it,” she said.