Cricket Australia has come up with a historical decision. A landmark parental leave policy has been announced to support professional cricketers through pregnancy, adoption, and other parental responsibilities.
The policy
The policy is meant to provide supports to players in their initial days of parenthood. It came into effect on July 1 and covers Australian players who have state, national or Big Bash contracts. The players can take up to 12 months of paid leave after giving birth or adopting a child. The policy also guarantees a contract extension in the following year, in line with the contractual arrangements of the players. For the partners, there will be three weeks of paid leave allotted. For the primary carers travel support including flights, accommodation and other applicable travel expenses for the child and a carer will be provided as well until the child is four years of age.
Healy appreciates
Australian cricketer Alyssa Healy applauded the efforts by Cricket Australia and said, “The policy is a game changer for players planning for the future while providing job security. With the playing and travel demands on cricketers, I’m pleased this policy provides support to players, so if they choose to, can both care for their child and participate in the game.”
Drew Ginn, the Executive General Manager of High Performance at Cricket Australia talked about how the board policies are trying to cater to the pressures of high-performance sport. “High performance sport is anything but a normal work environment and our policies for our players need to reflect this. The job is physical, the hours irregular and 100 per cent commitment is expected at all times. This is why we’ve developed such a tailored policy taking into consideration all player and key stakeholder feedback. “ Ginn echoed Healey and said that the board is proud to set an example like this and support the players.
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