UK Dads to get paternity leave for six months

New fathers are to be given the legal right to six months’ unpaid paternity leave during the first year of their baby’s life under new “family-friendly” laws to be unveiled this week by the government in Britain.  The plan, contained in the forthcoming Work and Families Bill, will give British fathers some of the most generous paternity rights in the world. The legislation is expected to be fiercely opposed by business groups, who say it will be disruptive and expensive, especially for small firms.  The British government said last year that it plans to allow women to be paid to take 12 months off work after having a baby by 2009. From April 2007, women will be entitled to statutory maternity pay for 39 weeks, an increase of 13 weeks.  Source:  Robert Winnett and Claire Newell, The Sunday Times – Britain, timesonline.com.Click here for more information (last visited October 9, 2005, reo).