Parental Leave

25-01-10

Parents in Ireland are entitled to take statutory leave from their employment in the form of parental leave specifically in order to take care of their child. Parental leave has changed since initially coming into force in 1998 and it is an entitlement employers should be familiar with, especially with the employment rights shake up coming in the form of the new Employment Law Compliance Bill.

As stated parental leave is a statutory right which is available to parents who have children who fall within certain parameters. The Parental Leave (Amendment) Act, 2006 and the Parental Leave Act, 1998 are the main legislative provisions governing parental leave in Ireland. The preconditions (as stated in the above legislation) that must be attained before taking parental leave are as follows;

Firstly, parental leave is generally only available to employees who have one year’s continuous service with their employer. However, if an employee has worked more than three months but less than a year and if their child is very near the age threshold they are entitled to pro – rata parental leave. This equates to one week leave for every month worked.

Secondly, the employee must be the natural or adoptive parent of the child (for who the leave is being sought).

Thirdly, parental leave is only granted for children who are under 8 years of age. In the case of adoption, if a child is adopted between the ages of 6 – 8 years, parental leave may be taken for up to two years after the date of adoption. In the case of a child with disability, parental leave can be taken for a child up to 16 years of age.

The statutory entitlement of leave for each child is 14 weeks unless your contract of employment entitles you to more. This leave can be taken in either one continuous block or in two separate blocks of a minimum of 6 weeks. In situations where the later option is availed of, a gap of 10 weeks between the two blocks must be taken. An employer can however agree to let the employee split this leave up into a combination of days/hours. Each parent has an individual right to parental leave, it is only in situations where both parents are employed by the same employer that parental leave may be transferable, provided the employer agrees. Employers should note that employees cannot exceed 14 weeks parental leave in a 12 month period, unless previously agreed with the employer.

Employees on parental leave are not entitled to be paid by their employer. It is also important to point out that there is no parental leave benefit available to employees either. As a result parental leave is completely unpaid. With regards to an employee’s employment rights, all rights except for remuneration and pension contributions are preserved. Therefore time spent on parental leave can be used to accumulate annual leave. Employers should be aware that leave is only to be used to take care of the child concerned, if leave is taken for any other reason/ purpose the employer is entitled to cancel the leave.

Postponement of leave: An employer can postpone an employee’s request for parental leave for up to 6 months where an entitlement is due. Reasons for postponement would include lack of cover or other employees being on parental leave at the same time.

If you have any queries on parental leave please contact us on 01 – 676 0006 or email ezine@hrplus.ie

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