Project panellist Jessie Stephens recalls former boss’ inappropriate joke about parental leave

She recalls being taken aback by the exchange which involved her former boss making fun of a male colleague asking for parental leave.

A Project panellist has shared the cruel response her former boss had to a male colleague asking for parental leave.

It comes after a historic bill was introduced to parliament last month that would increase paid parental leave from 20 to 26 weeks by July 2026.

While joining the desk on Sunday night, author and podcaster Jessie Stephens recounted a particularly jarring conversation she overheard in an old workplace.

“I remember years ago at a place I worked at, a man was taking two weeks parental leave, and the boss said, ‘oh, do you need to take some time off to breastfeed?” Ms Stephens said.

Project panellist Jessie Stephens spoke on the Project on Sunday. Picture: The Project

“I thought ‘hmm, that’s probably going to have a lasting impact’.”

“Says something about the culture, for sure.”

The proposed parental leave bill will give each parent an additional two weeks of leave by July 2024.

This will increase to six weeks of leave for each parents by July 2026.

Another feature of the new bill includes the option for parents to take four weeks of leave at the same time as each other, giving them more time to adjust to life with a newborn together.

The changes will benefit over 180,000 families each year, at a cost of $1.2 billion over four years.

The parliamentary committee is currently seeking public submissions on the bill before it closes on December 15.

At the end of October, the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce (WEET) called for superannuation to be paid during parental leave in an effort to close to the gender pay gap.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher would not commit the government to adopting the recommendation,despite the Labor party offering to make it a priority at their national conference in August.