39.—In Schedule 3 to the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 , in paragraph 5 (which specifies periods which do not breach continuity of employment) for subparagraph (1) (d) (inserted by the 1981 Act) there shall be substituted—

"( d ) a period during which an employee was absent from work while on protective leave or natal care absence, within the meaning of Part IV of the Maternity Protection Act, 1994.".