Business faced the prospect of a £2billion burden last night as the EU moved to treble maternity pay.
A European Parliament committee passed a plan to make firms pay new mothers their full salary for at least 20 weeks.
The UK Government opposes the Pregnant Workers Directive, but Labour's socialist EU allies backed it.
Labour MEP Mary Honeyball, the party's only representative on the 37-member women's rights and gender equality committee, refused to say which way she voted.
The MEPs brushed aside concerns about the impact of the move during a recession.
The plan would effectively treble statutory maternity pay in the UK, which currently provides women with six weeks at 90 per cent of salary, followed by a longer period on a basic £123 a week.
A Government spokesman said ministers were 'disappointed' and hoped to overturn the plan before it becomes law.
But critics pointed out that the UK has already surrendered its veto on employment law and could be outvoted.
Experts warned that the move could cost UK companies up to £2billion a year and discourage them from employing women of childbearing age.
Although the state currently reimburses firms for the bulk of statutory maternity pay, business leaders fear the scale of the increase would see struggling companies ordered to shoulder more of the burden.
The Institute of Directors said the move would also encourage women to take much longer off work.
A spokesman said: 'The directive is a massive worry to us. We estimate that the UK will be hit with a bill of £1.5billion to £2billion a year - a very substantial cost.
'Given the state of the public finances there has to be a strong risk that employers would end up being forced to pay.'
Employment minister Lord Young admitted the Government had serious concerns about the plans, but insisted they were still at an early stage. He said the UK already had one of the most ' generous' maternity leave policies in Europe, with 80 per cent of women taking all their paid entitlement.
But he added: 'A substantial increase in maternity leave at full or near-full pay risks undermining this delicate balance at a time when economies across the EU can least afford it.'
Marina Yannakoudakis, Tory spokesman on women's issues in the European Parliament, warned that the move would damage the job prospects of young women, She said small business in particular would think twice before employing them.
She added: 'Small business owners with only a handful of staff are struggling to meet payroll costs already, without the EU forcing them to pay a member of staff for five months without a day's work.'
The EU vote was universally condemned by UK business leaders. John Wright, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the tidal wave of employment legislation from Brussels was damaging firms' competitiveness.
He said: 'We desperately need a moratorium on changes to legislation until employers have found their feet again. We need to be left alone to get on with creating jobs and helping take Britain out of recession. EU law is actually exacerbating our unemployment crisis.'
David Yeandle of the EEF manufacturing organisation said: 'We are very concerned that the poor state of the UK's public finances will mean that, either directly or indirectly, a future government will pass on these additional costs to employers.'
Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said it was vital to maintain pressure on MEPs and ministers to ditch the costly plan.
The directive will go before the full European Parliament next month, when MEPs are expected to rubber-stamp it.
Later this year employment ministers will meet to hammer out a deal with the Parliament. But the UK will have no veto on any move.
Dailymail UK News
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