Parental Leave and Parent’s Leave-New Statutory Leave for Parents

Budget 2016 saw new parental leave entitlements being announced.

Statutory paternity leave of two weeks was announced and is to take effect in September 2016. This will be paid at a rate of €230 per week and will be based on the same prsi requirements as maternity leave.

Up to now most men would have to take unpaid leave-with the employer’s agreement-or holidays.

Parental leave has been available to men and women since 1998 but the uptake amongst men is as low as 5% because it is unpaid.

Employers should consider drawing up paternity leave policies for the new regime to set out how the employee can apply, and other details.

Prior to this change, the entitlement to parental leave in Ireland changed on 8th March, 2013 when the EU Parental Leave Directive 2010/18/EU was transposed into Irish law.

The Irish Government indicated prior to  that they would be publishing a new Family Law Bill which will bring all existing family leave legislation into one Act.

This new Family Law Bill will therefore cover carer’s leave, parental leave, maternity leave, and adoptive leave.

Parental Leave Changes March 2013

Here is a summary of the changes in relation to parental leave when EU Parental Leave Directive 2010/18/EU is transposed into Irish law on 8th March, 2013.

UPDATE 8th March, 2013

Statutory Instrument no. 81 of 2013, European Union (Parental Leave) Regulations 2013, transpose EU directive 2010/18 EU into Irish law with effect from 8^th March, 2013.

Click on the link above to read the regulations.

Summary of EU Parental Leave Directive 2010/18/EU

Workers are entitled to parental leave on the birth or adoption of a child. Such leave may be taken until the child has reached an age determined by national law and/or collective agreements, but before the age of eight.

This Directive applies equally to all workers, men and women, irrespective of their type of employment contract (open-ended, fixed-term, part-time or temporary).

Parental leave shall be granted now for up to 18 weeks.(See Parental Leave Regulations, 2013 above)

In principle, workers should be able to take all of their leave. It should therefore not be transferable from one parent to the other. However, such transfers may be authorised on condition that each parent retains at least one of the four months of leave.

Taking of leave

The conditions of access to leave and adaptability of leave shall be defined by national law and/or collective agreements. For example, European Union (EU) States and/or social partners may:

• adapt leave to the needs of parents and employers, by granting leave on a full-time or part-time basis, in a piecemeal way or in the form of a time-credit system;

• make this right subject to a length of service qualification which shall not exceed one year. Where appropriate, that period shall be calculated taking account of all of the successive fixed-term contracts concluded with the same employer;

• authorise the postponement of leave by the employer, for justifiable reasons related to the organisation;

• authorise special arrangements to ensure the proper operation of small undertakings.

Workers wishing to take parental leave must give notice to the employer. The period of notice shall be specified in each EU country taking into account the interests of workers and of employers.

Each EU country shall also be encouraged to define additional measures and/or the specific conditions for the taking of leave by adoptive parents and parents of children with a disability or a long-term illness.

Taking Parental Leave In Ireland

The 18 weeks per child may be taken in one continuous period or in 2 separate blocks of a minimum of 6 weeks. There must be a gap of at least 10 weeks between the 2 periods of parental leave per child. However, if your employer agrees you can separate your leave into periods of days or even hours.

Section 11 of the Parental Leave Act, 1998 allows the employer to postpone the leave for “substantial reasons” (“would have a substantial adverse effect on the operation of his or her business, profession or occupation”).

Transfer of leave between parents:

Where 2 or more parents in respect of a child are entitled to parental leave in respect of the child and the parents are each employed by the same employer, then each relevant parent shall, subject to the consent of the employer concerned, be entitled to transfer part, not exceeding 14 working weeks, of the period of his or her parental leave to any other relevant parent in respect of the child.

Return to work and non-discrimination

After taking parental leave, workers shall have the right to return to the same job. If that is not possible, the employer must offer them an equivalent or similar job consistent with their employment contract or employment relationship.

In addition, rights acquired or in the process of being acquired by the worker on the date on which parental leave starts:

• shall be maintained as they stand until the end of the leave;

• shall apply at the end of the leave, as shall all changes arising from national law, collective agreements and/or practice.

Similarly, workers shall be protected against less favourable treatment or dismissal on the grounds of an application for, or the taking of, parental leave.

All matters regarding social security and income in relation to parental leave are for determination by EU States and/or national social partners. The Agreement does not therefore contain any stipulations concerning the payment of salary or compensation during parental leave.

Finally, on their return from leave, workers must be able to request changes to their working hours and/or patterns for a set period of time. Employers shall consider and respond to such requests, taking into account both employers’ and workers’ needs.

Leave on grounds of force majeure

Workers may also request leave on grounds of force majeure for family reasons.

Such leave may be requested in particular in cases of sickness or accident making the immediate presence of the worker within the family indispensable.

Section 13 of the Parental Leave act, 1998 states:

13.—(1) An employee shall be entitled to leave with pay from his or her employment, to be known and referred to in this Act as “force majeure leave”, where, for urgent family reasons, owing to an injury to or the illness of a person specified in subsection (2), the immediate presence of the employee at the place where the person is, whether at his or her home or elsewhere, is indispensable.
		(2) The persons referred to in subsection (1) are—
		(a) a person of whom the employee is the parent or adoptive parent,
		(b) the spouse of the employee or a person with whom the employee is living as husband or wife,
		(c) a person to whom the employee is in loco parentis,
		(d) a brother or sister of the employee,
		(e) a parent or grandparent of the employee, and
		(f) persons of such other (if any) class or classes as may be prescribed.
		(3) When an employee takes force majeure leave, he or she shall, as soon as reasonably practicable thereafter, by notice in the prescribed form given to his or her employer, confirm that he or she has taken such leave and the notice shall specify the dates on which it was taken and contain a statement of the facts entitling the employee to force majeure leave.
		(4) Force majeure leave shall consist of one or more days on which, but for the leave, the employee would be working in the employment concerned but shall not exceed 3 days in any period of 12 consecutive months or 5 days in any period of 36 consecutive months.
		(5) A day on which an employee is absent from work on force majeure leave in an employment for part only of the period during which he or she is required to work in the employment on that day shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsection (4), to be one day of force majeureleave.

Even though force majeure leave is included in the Parental Leave Act, 1988 it is paid leave while parental leave is unpaid.

Context

This Directive introduces the revised Framework Agreement concluded by the European social partners on 18 June 2009. This Agreement follows the Framework Agreement of 14 December 1995 on parental leave.

2010/18/EU

Legislation

Parental leave Act, 1998

Parental Leave (Amendment) Act, 2006

Statutory Instrument no. 81 of 2013, European Union (Parental Leave) Regulations 2013

Parental Leave (Amendment) act 2019

 Redress

Breach of the Parental Leave Act, 1998 can see a Rights Commissioner awarding up to 20 weeks remuneration in compensation to the employee (Section 21 of the Parental Leave Act, 1998)

New parental leave from September 2019

Your parental leave entitlements are due to change from September 2019. Parental leave for parents of eligible children will increase from 18 weeks to 22 weeks from 1 September 2019.

From 1st September 2020 it will go from 22 weeks to 26 weeks.

Parents of children under the age of 12 will be able to take 26 weeks unpaid leave from their job; currently it is capped at 18 weeks per child.

Paid parental leave

From November 2019 it is expected that new parents will be entitle to a new parental leave benefit of two weeks paid leave each during their child’s first year. This is not transferable between parents, however, and the required legislation has not yet been enacted (August 2019).

Parent’s leave from 1st November 2019

A new type of leave from the workplace became law from 1^st November 2019. Parent’s leave is 2 week’s parent’s benefit, paid by the Department of Social protection provided you have sufficient PRSI contributions, for each parent for a child born or adopted after 1^st November 2019.

The amount of the payment is €245 per week; the employer can top it up to your regular wage, but there is no obligation to do so. This benefit also applies to the self employed.

Parental leave v Parent’s leave

The difference between parental leave and parent’s leave is parental leave is unpaid leave for up to 22 weeks in 2019. This is to increase to 26 weeks from 1^st September 2020 and parent’ts leave is for the child’s first year.

Parent’s leave-the law

The law providing for parent’s leave is set out in the Parental Leave and Benefit Act 2019.

You must give 6 weeks’ notice to your employer, take the leave within the first year of the child’s life, and must be a ‘relevant parent’.

It cannot be transferred between parents and can be taken in one lump of 2 weeks or 2 periods of one week. When you are on parent’s leave you continue to accumulate holiday entitlements and you are considered to be in employment.

When you apply to your employer for parent’s leave he can postpone it for up to 12 weeks in certain circumstances-for example, seasonal variations in the volume of work in the workplace, the nature of your duties, and other reasons.

September 2020 Parental Leave Update

The Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019 brought a further change to the parental leave entitlement in Ireland from 1^st September 2020. From this date parents’ leave entitlements increased from 22 weeks to 26 weeks. This is available to parents who had availed of the 22 week entitlement.

Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019 also changed the age of the eligible child from 8 years to 12 years.

Parental leave is unpaid leave.

Parents’ leave and benefit, adoptive leave changes, April 2021

Working parents will be entitled to a further three weeks of paid leave from April 2021. This will be pursuant to the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021. The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 had introduced two weeks of paid parents’ leave for each parent.

Parents’ leave will be available to each parent in the first two years after the birth or adoptive placement of a child. It is open to employees with children who were born after 1^st November 2019 and is non-transferable between parents.

The benefit will be paid at the same rate as maternity, paternity, and adoptive benefits.

The Adoptive Leave Act 1995 gives an entitlement of 24 weeks leave for an employed adoptive mother or single adopting father. An adoptive leave benefit is available to qualified parents.

The Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions act 2021 changes the Adoptive Leave Act 1995. An adopting couple-including same sex couples-will be able to choose which parent may avail of adoptive leave. The parent who is not availing of adoptive leave will be able to paternity leave and benefit.

This bill is expected to be signed into law by the President ‘shortly’, as I write this on 1^st April 2021.