Absence of work still involving some labour? (9,5)
I believe the answer is:
maternity leave
'absence of work still' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'some labour?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'some' could be 'a' and 'a' is found in the answer.
'labour?' could be 'l' (political abbreviation) and 'l' is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'involving' is the link.
(Another definition for maternity leave that I've seen is " temporary office absence".)