Coldplay rocker Chris Martin has demanded U.K. politicians change the law to help self-employed parents in the music industry.
The father-of-two is backing trade body UK Music’s campaign to get the British government to urgently update parental leave and pay rules to include self-employed parents, like 72 per cent of those in the music industry, so they can share leave like other workers.
Explaining how the rules affected Coldplay’s team, Chris said in a press release: “There is no shared parental leave and pay system in place for self-employed parents. That makes it really tough for many of our freelance colleagues and crew when they have children. Let’s change the law so that self-employed mums and dads can choose when to take parental leave.”
Current rules state that self-employed dads aren’t eligible for any time off or pay after having a child, and mothers may lose a small allowance if they take shared parental leave rather than their own maternity leave.
Savages bassist Ayse Hassan also criticised the current law as harming women in music.
“As a bass player in an all-female band I don’t want to be penalised if I have children or be told by the government that it’s my job to stay at home and look after the baby,” she said. “It’s time for the government to change the rules so self-employed people can chose how to balance childcare and work.”
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