Parental Leave
If you are an employee and have worked continuously for your employer for at least a year, you are entitled to take parental leave. The purpose of parental leave is to allow a parent or person with formal parental responsibility to take time off work to care for a child.
Your employer may have its own parental leave scheme in place, but if not, the law provides for a fallback scheme.
Under the fallback scheme you must give 21 days' notice of your intention to take leave. Your employer has the right to postpone your leave for up to 6 months if to agree to your request would cause particular disruption to the business. They cannot do this if you requested parental leave to start immediately after your child's birth or placement for adoption.
Who can take parental leave?:
- You can take parental leave up until your child's fifth birthday.
- Parents of disabled children can take parental leave up until their child's 18th birthday.
- Adoptive parents can take leave up to the 5th anniversary of the date of the placement, or the child's 18th birthday - whichever is sooner.
Duration of parental leave
Employees can take a total of 13 weeks for each child (18 weeks if your child is disabled and in receipt of Disability Living Allowance).
Under the fallback scheme, parental leave must be taken in weekly blocks with a maximum of 4 weeks a year per child. If you only take one day, this will count as one weeks leave! The exception to this is in the case of a disabled child, when leave can be taken in multiples of days rather than weeks.
Pay during parental leave
Unless otherwise agreed with your employer, parental leave is unpaid.
The right to return to work
If the parental leave is for a period of 4 weeks or less, you have the right to return to the same job. If you take parental leave for a period longer than 4 weeks, you have the right to return to the same job unless this is not reasonably practicable, in which case you must be returned to a job that has the same or better status, terms and conditions as the old job.
It is illegal for your employer or colleagues to treat you unfairly or dismiss you because you took or tried to take parental leave.
The effect of parental leave on your terms and conditions of employment
Under the fallback scheme, throughout your parental leave your contract of employment continues, but many of your terms and conditions of employment may be suspended.
