Hiring hot topics: what you need to know about Parental Leave
Parental leave gives your employees time away from work to welcome a new addition to their family. Employers should take steps to make sure they’re not only meeting their legal requirements, but also doing what they can to support their team member during this important time. This will make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone.
What are your employees’ parental leave entitlements?
In Australia, eligible employees can take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave after the birth or adoption of their child. To be eligible, an employee must be either permanently employed or, if casual, meet set criteria, and have worked for you continuously for 12 months before their leave starts.
They can also request another 12 months off, taking the total to 24 months. However, it is up to your discretion as the employer whether or not you approve this extra time.
Pending their eligibility for government funded leave, this leave is unpaid. Although you legally don’t have to offer any additional paid leave, your business might choose to do so under a formal paid parental leave policy. Employees might also use other owing paid leave entitlements during their time off work, such as:
Annual leave
Long service leave
Personal leave (also known as sick or carer’s leave)
Employer obligations before, during and after leave
By law, you must hold an employee’s job for them as part of the return to work guarantee under the Fair Work Act. This means they can return to the same job once their parental leave comes to an end.
During this time, employers can have someone covering the role or split the work amongst the team, as long as there’s a job for the employee to come back to.
“You just have to be aware that there is that role being kept open,” says Andrew Jewell, Principal at Jewell Hancock Employment Lawyers. “The best case scenario is when an employer and employee actively hire the temporary replacement together. That way the work gets done, and it’s clear what role the employee is returning to.”
Before your team member comes back to work, they might want to arrange ‘keeping in touch’ days. They can work up to 10 days (over 1 hour counts as a working day) to help prepare for their return and are a great way to stay up-to-date, refresh skills or take part in planning before stepping back into the workplace.
When it’s time for them to come back, employees are entitled to ask for flexible working arrangements, such as reduced working hours or more work-from-home days. While these can be rejected, you’ll need to have a good business reason to back that up.
This could be that it’s too costly, would mean changing other team members’ working arrangements or hiring new staff, or have a significant negative impact on the business’ services or productivity.
Redundancy and Parental Leave
Redundancies can be complex to navigate when an employee is pregnant or on parental leave. Employees can’t be discriminated against during pregnancy – including being fired, demoted or treated differently – and parental leave legislation means an employee’s job must be kept for them.
“There are circumstances in which genuine redundancies can take place during a parental leave period, for example, if a person works at a factory and that factory closes down,” says Jewell. “However, if I were an employer, I'd be extremely reluctant to implement a redundancy while an employee was absent on parental leave, even if I thought I wasn't doing the wrong thing. I’d want to give them the chance to get back to their desk.”
Best practices
While it’s important to be aware of the minimum legal requirements surrounding parental leave, ideally, a good employer should try to go above and beyond. That's the best way to maintain the relationship with your employee, advises Jewell, as well as helps build a more inclusive culture to attract and retain top talent.
Some best practices for employers include:
Be flexible during pregnancy: Prior to taking leave, pregnant employees may need to take time off to attend medical appointments, or might have other symptoms that could benefit from more days working from home or having more flexible working arrangements.
Consider physical accommodations: Towards the end of their pregnancy, employees in physical roles may need extra support or accommodations. For example, it could help retail workers who stand all day to have a chair or stool to sit on.
Keep a level of communication open: Even though it’s not obligatory, Jewell would always suggest employers keep a level of communication with employees. “Some want more contact than others and might want to know all the company announcements, while others will say ‘talk to me at the end of my leave’,” says Jewell. However, it’s always worth checking in to help them feel in the loop.
Meet employees halfway: Flexible working requests can be tricky when it’s time for them to come back from leave, but think about how you can adapt – for example, if starting with two days isn’t enough, would three days or alternatives like job sharing, work?
Supporting employees through parental leave isn't just about meeting legal obligations – it's an investment in the well-being of real people and their families during a major time in their lives.
For more information on parental entitlements, visit Fair Work. You can also consult your HR team or an employment lawyer for more specific advice.
Information provided in this article is general only and it does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. SEEK provides no warranty as to its accuracy, reliability or completeness. Before taking any course of action related to this article you should make your own inquiries and seek independent advice (including the appropriate legal advice) on whether it is suitable for your circumstances.