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You might assume that being made redundant when you're on maternity leave is illegal. But you'd be wrong. Though the law gives women some protection, it's still perfectly legal for employers to give new mothers the boot while they're off, claiming their job is no longer required.
So what about dads who choose to take advantage of their parental leave entitlement when their baby is born? All parents can now take up to four weeks off unpaid over the course of a year to care for a child. Add on two weeks statutory paternity leave, throw in a fortnight's holiday, and bingo, you're off work for a couple of months once your baby's made its appearance.
The three main political parties are proposing - in different formats - to make even more extended periods of leave a statutory right for new fathers. But as my partner, Richard, discovered recently after the birth of our son, some men could find themselves out of a job just when they think they're heading back to the office.
Our plan was always that Richard would take several months unpaid sabbatical (a perk of his terms and conditions) so we could share the childcare in those precious early days.
After discussions with his employer, "who was amenable but slightly scoffing and clearly thought it was an odd sort of notion for a man to want to look after a baby," Richard notes - five months leave was agreed. A matter of days before he was due to start back at work, he was informed that his position was likely to be made redundant.
It feels as though Richard's extended period of paternity leave was used as a way of getting rid of a longstanding, and therefore relatively expensive member of staff.
Men have, essentially, the same rights as women on maternity leave. Employers must be scrupulously careful not to target anyone on parental leave for dismissal if no genuine redundancy exists, warns Emma Hawksworth, employment partner at solicitors Russell Jones & Walker. Compensation is theoretically unlimited in sex discrimination cases, which is how false redundancy linked to parental leave is construed.
Employers, of course, won't be daft enough to cite paternity leave as a reason for redundancy, so proving it is always going to be difficult - as it has typically been for women made redundant during or just after their maternity leave. Employees also go to tribunal at their own cost even if they win: there is no legal aid for this type of claim.
Richard is fighting the redundancy on the grounds that his work responsibilities have not diminished or changed - despite, ironically, his employer's prior agreement to his request for flexible working following his leave period, meaning he now works four, rather than five, days per week. His union agrees that an inadequate case is being made for the redundancy.
But the parallels with women's experience of maternity leave are not encouraging. As Hawksworth points out, "the legal protections of maternity leave don't always match up to what happens in reality. It is very common for a company to 'restructure' during a woman's maternity leave, and sometimes she turns out to be the only one made redundant."
According to a survey of 3,500 dads by parenting website Netmums, 28% of men said their ideal scenario would be to share childcare with their partner while both worked flexibly. However, the same survey showed that only 5% actually manage it. And in a survey of 1,500 readers for FQ magazine, 46% of men said they thought taking extended paternity leave would adversely affect their career.
However, some employers are demonstrating how men can successfully integrate their roles as employees and fathers. Matthew Ellis, an IT project manager for Fujitsu Services, says his company bent over backwards to accommodate his request for an extended period of leave. He requested three weeks off after the birth, and, six months later he was allowed to use 11 weeks from his parental leave entitlement plus three weeks holiday to go travelling as a family.
The benefits are not just an enhanced relationship with his daughter, he says, but also a better appreciation of the work mothers traditionally do.
Striking this kind of deal requires open and honest discussions about how to make the leave work for both parties, advises Patrick Meades, a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers. When he discovered his wife was expecting twins, he knew it would be helpful to take more than the statutory two weeks off. So he chatted with his manager and two months' leave was mutually agreed. "I got to be much more part of the way we work things at home, which means I can do more to take the pressure off," he says.
Now back at work four days a week after subsequent negotiations about flexible working, does Meades feel he is perceived as uncommitted?
"Not at all. There are partners here who work part-time," he says. "If it means my progression is delayed, then I'm happy to take a bit more time."
It could take men a generation to really feel comfortable about taking longer paternity leave, reckons Nic Sale, head of diversity at business psychologist Pearn Kandola. One of the biggest obstacles is macho corporate cultures, she says.
"That means it's very difficult to implement changes when it comes to childcare, unlike in the Nordic countries, which value - in both men and women - more traditionally feminine, nurturing qualities."
Though we don't yet know the outcome of Richard's proposed redundancy, the whole episode has, he says, provided a sharp lesson in the risks that working mothers have faced for a long time. "I think other men in my company might well look at what happened and think, 'Well, he took time off to be with his new baby and was made redundant. Do I want to do the same? Hmm, too risky.'"
Had he known what was in store, would he make the same choices?
"Yes, because having that time with my son is something I'll treasure forever," he says. "But I'm left feeling angry, because it's not a risk that anyone should have to take."
• Names have been changed
Paternity righrts
• Currently, two weeks' paternity leave at or around the time of the birth, paid at the statutory paternity pay rate (£117.18 per week).
• All parents, up to 13 weeks' unpaid parental leave (per child) up till their child's fifth birthday. A maximum of four weeks per year.
• Liberal Democrats: would replace maternity leave with 19 months of shared parental leave. No parent to take more than 12 months. First six weeks paid at 90% of salary, remainder at the statutory weekly rate.
• Labour: wants to give fathers up to 26 weeks of additional paternity leave - and pay - in the second six months of a child's first year, if the mother returns to work and has sufficient leave and pay from her 52 week entitlement.
• Conservatives: would retain the first 14 weeks as mother's entitlement, with 38 weeks then available to be split between parents as they choose.
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