Paid Parental Leave
Working parents who will adopt or give birth to a child from 1 January 2011 may be eligible to take advantage of Australia’s first Paid Parental Leave Scheme (“the Scheme”).
From 1 January 2011, primary carers who meet the eligibility criteria will receive up to 18 weeks pay at the national minimum wage. To be eligible, the employee must have:
- been in paid work continuously for at least 10 of the 13 months prior to the birth or adoption of the child;
- worked for at least 330 hours in that 10 month period (just over one day a week) with no more than an eight week gap between two consecutive working days.
- not earned more than $150,000.00 per year;
- been approved by the Family Assistance Office.
Employees are not required to have worked full-time to qualify. Qualification may even be granted to those who are self-employed, casual, recently changed jobs or have multiple employers.
If the employee returns to work while receiving payments from the Scheme, their entitlement will cease. However, if agreed between the employer and the employee, the employee may participate in workplace activities whilst on Scheme for up to 10 days, for the purposes of ‘keeping in touch’ with the workplace. The employee is entitled to receive payment for these days at their normal rate of pay. The 10 day ‘keeping in touch’ allowance does not need to be taken all at once. If the employee receives payment for more than 10 days, they will cease to receive payments under the Scheme.
The Scheme is funded by the Family Assistance Office, not the employer. However, the payments are to be managed by the employer. The participation of the employer in managing the payments is voluntary until 1 June 2011, but will be compulsory after that date. It is advisable that employers use this 6 month window to make any necessary changes to their pay-roll systems.
If you are concerned about your parental leave obligations, or any other employment law issue, please contact Tony Pattinson or Sarah Quilliam of our office.
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