Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 – What Employers Need to Know

The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (“the Act”) came into force on 1 November 2019 and provides for two weeks leave, paid for by the State, for relevant parents if their child was born or adopted after 1 November 2019.

This new entitlement is in addition to maternity, paternity and adoptive leave entitlements and is distinct from unpaid parental leave.

What Employers Need to Know

• Parent’s Leave must be taken within the first 52 weeks of the birth of the child or from the placement date in the case of adoption.
• In order to avail of Parent’s Leave an employee must have made the required PRSI contributions.
• Employee’s must give at least 6 weeks’ written notice to their employer of their intention to take Parent’s Leave.
• Parent’s Leave can be taken one week at a time or two weeks together.
• Employers are under no obligation to pay employees during the two weeks’ Parent’s Leave. Parent’s Leave is paid for by the State at a rate of €245 per week.
• Employers can, in extenuating circumstances, ask an employee to postpone Parent’s Leave for up to 12 weeks, where the leave would have a substantial adverse effect on business operations. Employees must be given at least 4 weeks’ notice in these circumstances.

What Actions Employers Need to Take

It is recommended that employers update their employment handbooks and family leave policies to provide for Parent’s Leave. Employers will also need to outline the application / notification process and employee’s statutory rights while on Parent’s Leave to ensure they are ready to process Parent’s Leave applications.

How we can help

If you have any queries or concerns, or would like to discuss the above in further detail, please feel free to contact Richard Lee, Partner, in the Employment & Benefits Department of BHSM on 01 440 8300 / rlee@bhsm.ie.

This article is for general information purposes.  Legal advice must be obtained for individual circumstances.  Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this article, no liability is accepted by the author for any inaccuracies.