There are changes to the Parental Leave legislation which come into effect as of 1st September 2019 and as a result companies Parental Leave policies need to be updated.
As of 1st September 2019 the age of a qualifying child increases from previously reaching 8 years of age to reaching 12 years and the parental leave period is extended from previously 18 weeks per child to 22 weeks per parent per child and will further increase to 26 weeks on 1st September 2020. Employees who previously availed of their full 18- week entitlement will be entitled to apply for the 4 additional weeks’ parental leave.
To qualify for Parental Leave, the employee must be the natural or adopted parent of the child for whom the leave is taken or acting in loco parentis. From 1st September 2019, unpaid parental leave must be taken before the child reaches 12 years of age, except in certain circumstances. If the child has a disability, the leave must be taken before the child reaches 16 years of age or ceases to have a disability, whichever occurs first. In the case of an adopted child, if the child is aged between 10 years and 12 years at the time of the adoption order, the leave must be taken within two years of the adoption order.
Generally, the employee must have at least one year’s continuous service with the employer to be entitled to take parental leave. However, where the child is nearing 12 (or 16 if the child has a disability) and the employee has more than three months’, but less than one year’s, service with the employer, the employee will be entitled to pro rata parental leave. This means that the employee will be entitled to one week’s leave for every month of continuous employment completed with the employer.
Each parent has a separate entitlement to parental leave. Where both parents are employed by the same employer, either parent is entitled, subject to the consent of the employer concerned, to transfer a certain number of weeks of their parental leave to the other.
An employee who is on parental leave will still be regarded as working by the employer and, apart from the employee’s right to remuneration and superannuation benefits, all other employment rights are preserved.
With the extension of parental leave on 1 September 2019, parents with qualifying children who have already taken 18 weeks parental leave will earn an entitlement to the extra leave.
The 22 weeks of parental leave can be taken in one continuous block of leave or in blocks of not less than six weeks with a gap of at least 10 weeks between each block. Any other combination such as individual weeks, days or hours requires the agreement of the employer. However, the employee is not entitled to any more than 22 weeks’ leave per child.
Each parent has a separate entitlement to parental leave. Where both parents are employed by the same employer, either parent is entitled, subject to the consent of the employer concerned, to transfer a certain number of weeks of their parental leave to the other.
An employee who is on parental leave will still be regarded as working by the employer and, apart from the employee’s right to remuneration and superannuation benefits, all other employment rights are preserved.
With the extension of parental leave on 1 September 2019, parents with qualifying children who have already taken 18 weeks parental leave will earn an entitlement to the extra 4 weeks leave.
An employee must give written notice that he or she would like to take parental leave, not later than six weeks before the employee plans to take the leave. The notice must include the following details:
- the date on which the employee intends to begin the leave
- the length of time that the employee plans to be on parental leave
- the manner in which the employee proposes to take the leave
- the employee’s signature.
The Acts provide that an employer may, at his or her discretion, waive all or part of the notification period. The employer may require the employee to give proof that he or she is entitled to parental leave (eg the child’s date of birth, the date of the adoption order or evidence of parentage) and if relevant, the disability of the child.
The employer may decide to postpone the parental leave if satisfied that granting the leave would have a substantial adverse effect on the operation of the business. The postponement may be for a period not exceeding six months, to a date agreed by both parties.
Generally, the employer may postpone the leave only once in respect of any particular child. If the reason for the postponement is seasonal variation in the volume of work, the leave may be postponed twice in respect of the same child. If, solely as a result of postponement, the child concerned will reach the age threshold before the end of the leave, the employee retains the entitlement to take the parental leave.
Once the employee has notified her or his employer that she or he wants to take parental leave, the employee and the employer must prepare a ‘confirmation document’. This document must be prepared no later than four weeks before the leave is due to begin. The document must include the following details:
- the date on which the leave will begin
- the length of time that the employee will be on parental leave
- the manner in which the leave will be taken
- signatures of the employer and the employee.
Once a confirmation document has been signed by both the employee and the employer, it cannot be altered unless both parties agree.
An employee who falls ill while on parental leave and, as a result, is unable to care for the child may suspend the parental leave while ill and begin the parental leave again once she or he is no longer ill.
When commencing a period of parental leave, an employee should contact the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Affairs to preserve their social insurance record and have his or her social insurance credits kept up to date.
An employee is entitled to return to work at the end of a period of parental leave to the job held immediately prior to the leave under the same contract, terms and conditions of employment. If the business has changed ownership during the employee’s absence on the leave, he or she is entitled to work under a contract of employment identical to the contract that existed with the original employer. An employee is entitled to work under terms or conditions not less favourable and including any improvements to the terms or conditions of employment, to which the employee would have been entitled, if not absent from work.
If the job held by the employee before commencing parental leave was not his or her normal or usual job, the employee shall be entitled to return to that job, or to his or her normal or usual job, as soon as practicable.
If it is not reasonably practicable for an employer, or successor, to allow an employee to return to the job held immediately prior to the leave, the employer, or successor, must offer the employee suitable alternative employment under a new contract of employment. The terms of the alternative employment (eg the place of work or the capacity in which the employee is employed) must not be less favourable to the employee than the terms of his or her original job.
Under the EU (Parental Leave) Regulations (2013) employees returning to work have the right to request changes to their working hours or patterns for a set period on their return. An employer must consider this request but does not have to grant it.
An employee on parental leave retains all his or her employment rights (except the right to remuneration and superannuation benefits). The absence counts as reckonable service for the purposes of annual leave, increments, etc. However, an employer may require that a period of probation, training or apprenticeship be suspended while the employee is on parental leave and be completed by the employee on his or her return to work.
Employees benefit from any public holidays that occur during their parental leave. These may be added to the end of the parental leave. Annual leave continues to accrue while on parental leave and should be granted by the employer in accordance with Section 20 of the Organisation of Working Time Acts, 1997. Parental leave cannot be treated as part of any other leave to which the employee is entitled (eg sick leave, adoptive leave, maternity leave, annual leave or force majeure leave).
(Source CIPD Ireland)