Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987
The purpose of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act is to ensure job security for parents of young children. Both parents can make use of its provisions unless they both work within the public service.
The Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act has four categories of leave, which may be taken by eligible employees. These are:
- special leave of up to ten days during the pregnancy
- paid maternity leave of up to 14 weeks for mothers and adoptive mothers at the time of the child’s birth or arrival – this may be started six weeks before the baby is due
- partner’s/paternity leave of up to two weeks for the partner or adoptive partner at the time of the birth or the child’s arrival
- extended parental leave of up to 52 weeks (inclusive of any maternity or partner’s/paternity leave already taken) during the first year of the child’s life or arrival.
Adopted children must be under the age of five for these provisions to apply.
In order to take advantage of parental leave, employees must notify their employers three months in advance of the baby’s due date. They must provide a doctor’s certificate verifying the due date. The employee must also give three weeks’ notice before starting the leave.
An employer may, in exceptional circumstances, refuse to allow the employee to take parental leave. This is only where the employee holds a key position that cannot be vacated or adequately filled for that length of time. The Employment Court has stringently interpreted this exception and the reality is that refusals are rare.
A spouse or partner is a person in a married, civil union, or de facto relationship (including same-sex partners) with the mother or the primary carer who assumes the care of the child they intend to jointly adopt. They do not need to be the natural parent of the child.
The Department of Labour website has good information about parental leave issues.