Lawyer takes on Queensland Government in battle for right to paid maternity leave

LAWYER lodges sex discrimination case after he was refused equivalent of maternity leave when he became a dad.

sex discrimination case

A PROSECUTION lawyer who was refused the equivalent of 14 weeks paid maternity leave has lodged a sex discrimination claim against the Queensland government.

Chris Minnery, a prosecutor with the Director of Public Prosecutions for more than 10 years, was refused the leave after his daughter's birth last year, because he was not a pregnant woman.

Mr Minnery's claim raises the issue that men who adopt or have a child through a surrogacy arrangement can get 14 weeks paid leave off work but he, as a biological father, cannot.

It is only the second discrimination case to go to Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal involving a man seeking the same paid spousal leave as a woman on maternity leave.

Mr Minnery, who has also worked as counsel assisting the State Coroner, is claiming discrimination on the basis of sex and family responsibilities.

He and his barrister wife Sarah Minnery, who works privately in family law, had their daughter Charlotte in March last year.

They decided Charlotte initially would be breastfed and then Mr Minnery would take leave from October to be her primary carer, according to tribunal documents.

But his claim says the Justice Department's paid parental leave policy only allowed 14 weeks paid leave for women primary carers, to be taken at the start of maternity leave.

He said in an email to Helen Kentrotis, business manager in the Office of the DPP, that he believed a ministerial directive on the policy was discriminatory.

Male nurse Luke Tung - pictured with his wife Sara Guildford and daughter Willow - was denied maternity leave and lost his discrimination case against Queensland Health.

"It is unlawful to discriminate against me on these grounds and I believe that I am entitled to 14 weeks' paid leave,'' Mr Minnery said in his claim.

Lisa Pan, a department human resources consultant, said the intent of paid maternity leave was to give pregnant employees sufficient time to prepare and recover from the birth process.

"As only the female can give birth the paid maternity leave provision only applies to pregnant (female) employees,'' Ms Pan said, in an email, filed in the tribunal.

Mr Minnery, who was only entitled to a week paid spousal leave, took a few months recreational and unpaid leave.

Last month The Courier Mail reported how nurse Luke Tung, legally represented by the Nurses' Union, lost a similar discrimination case over his right to paid "maternity leave''.

A tribunal member found Queensland Health reasonably refused him 14 weeks paid leave, because its policy only allowed it for pregnant females.

Academics gave evidence of the benefits to both parents, the child and the mother if fathers were allowed paid parental leave after the birth.