Gay men who have had a baby born by a surrogate mother will now be entitled to paid maternity leave, a court has ruled.

A Durban man in a same-sex marriage who was denied maternity leave has emerged victorious after taking the case to the labour court.

The man claimed he was discriminated against when his request for full maternity leave was denied after he and his partner became parents to a newborn child in 2011 after entering into a surrogacy agreement.

His employers had refused him the four-month paid maternity leave, stating that it applied only to women.

He was eventually granted two months' maternity leave as an adoptive parent.

This week the Labour Court found that it was discriminatory to refuse paid maternity leave to a gay man who became a parent through surrogacy.

The applicant’s employer, the State Information Technology Agency, was ordered to pay him for the two months' unpaid leave he took to care for his newborn baby.

The ruling would apply to heterosexual men as well; this means that heterosexual fathers who are the primary caregivers for their babies will be able to argue that they are entitled to maternity leave.

Irvin Lawrence, who represented the male applicant, told TheTimes that the ruling might mean that the Basic Conditions of Employment Act will have to be amended to broaden the definition of maternity leave.