Introduction
An employee is entitled to up to 18 weeks' unpaid parental leave per child if they are the birth or adoptive parent of a child who is under 18 years of age. To qualify for ordinary parental leave, employees must have completed at least one year's continuous service with the organisation.
"Ordinary parental leave" should not be confused with shared parental leave. Shared parental leave enables mothers/adopters to commit to ending their maternity/adoption leave and pay at a future date, and to share the untaken balance of leave and pay as shared parental leave and pay with their partner, or to return to work early from maternity/adoption leave and opt in to shared parental leave and pay at a later date. We have a separate policy on shared parental leave.
Rights during "ordinary" parental leave
If you qualify for ordinary parental leave, you will be entitled to a maximum of 18 weeks' ordinary parental leave to be taken up until the child's 18th birthday.
During ordinary parental leave, you remain employed, although pay and most contractual benefits will be suspended. The right to accrue statutory holiday entitlement will, however, remain in place. Certain other terms of employment will also remain in force.
During parental leave you will be entitled to the implied obligation of trust and confidence, and any terms and conditions of employment relating to:
- notice of termination from your employer to you;
- redundancy compensation; and
- disciplinary or grievance procedures.
If you are taking ordinary parental leave you will be bound by the implied obligation of good faith, and any terms and conditions of employment relating to:
- notice of termination from you to your employer;
- disclosure of confidential information;
- the acceptance of gifts or other benefits; and
- participation in any other business.
Conditions of "ordinary" parental leave
We have adopted the default scheme for the taking of ordinary parental leave and the following conditions apply:
- You may not exercise any entitlement to ordinary parental leave unless you have complied with any request we make to produce evidence of parenthood or parental responsibility. This could be in the form of a birth certificate or adoption papers.
- You must give proper notice of the period of leave that you propose to take. This notice must be given to us at least 21 days before the date on which leave is to start and must specify the dates on which the period of leave is to begin and end.
- If you are the father of the child in respect of whom the leave is to be taken and you request ordinary parental leave to begin when his child is born, yours notice must specify the expected week of childbirth and the duration of the period of leave. You must give this notice at least 21 days before the expected week of childbirth.
- Where the ordinary parental leave is in respect of an adopted child and is to begin on the date of the placement, your notice must be given to us at least 21 days before the beginning of the week in which the child is to be placed for adoption, or as soon as is reasonably practicable thereafter. It must specify the week in which the placement is expected to occur and the duration of the period of ordinary parental leave requested.
- You may not take ordinary parental leave in blocks of less than one week (except in relation to a child who is disabled).
- You may not take more than four weeks' leave in respect of any individual child in any one year. For these purposes a year is the period of 12 months beginning when you first becomes entitled to ordinary parental leave in respect of the child in question, and each successive period of 12 months beginning on the anniversary of that date.
- We may postpone a period of ordinary parental leave (other than where parental leave has been requested immediately after childbirth or immediately after placement for adoption) in a situation where we consider that our work would be unduly disrupted if you take leave during the period requested. In such a case, we will allow you to take an equivalent period of ordinary parental leave beginning no later than six months after the commencement of the period originally requested. We will give you notice in writing of the postponement stating the reason for it and specifying suggested dates for you to take parental leave. Such notice will be given no more than seven days after your notice was given to the organisation.
Return from "ordinary" parental leave
When you return to work after a period of ordinary parental leave, you are entitled to return to the job in which you were employed prior to the absence if it was an isolated period of leave lasting four weeks or less.
If the period of parental leave follows on immediately from another period of statutory leave, your right to return depends on the length of leave taken. You have the right to return to the same job if the ordinary parental leave was the last of two or more consecutive periods of leave that did not include:
- a period of ordinary parental leave lasting more than four weeks; or
- any period of statutory leave that, when added to any other period of statutory leave (excluding ordinary parental leave) taken in relation to the same child, means that the total amount of statutory leave taken in relation to that child totals more than 26 weeks.
If you return to work after a period of ordinary parental leave that does not fall into the above description, for example because it follows ordinary and additional maternity leave lasting more than 26 weeks, you are entitled to return to the job in which you were employed prior to the absence, or, if that is not reasonably practicable, to another job that is both suitable and appropriate in the circumstances.