KINGSTON, Jamaica — Managing Director of Carreras, Marcus Steele, has announced the implementation of paternity leave within the company and an increase in the time for maternity leave.

Steele, who was speaking at Carreras’ 2019 Scholarship Awards Ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel last night, said the paternity leave policy was signed off by the board and management in July and implemented last month, joining a select few corporate companies to do so.

According to Carreras, this new paternity leave entitlement allows a father three weeks paternity leave per child.

In addition, the company has moved the maternity leave period from the standard 12 weeks to 16 weeks.

The new leave entitlements represent Carreras’ commitment to the family and bringing parents more together in the early stages of the birth of their child, Steele said.

He further noted that building the family will lead to building communities and by extension nation building, which is “foremost in Carreras corporate social responsibility programming”.

These two measures now make Carreras, one of the most generous corporate companies in terms of leave entitlement.

This new paternity leave entitlement is very timely and comes in the midst of a national debate regarding the introduction of a Paternity Leave Act to encourage shared parenting, support and mentoring.