Government Paid Parental Leave Scheme
Under the Commonwealth Government’s Paid Parental Leave Scheme, from 1 July 2023, full-time, part-time, casual, seasonal and contract workers may be eligible for up to 20 weeks paid parental leave paid at the national minimum wage.
Services Australia manages the Government Paid Parental Leave Scheme.
Eligibility
To be eligible, an employee needs to be caring for a newborn or adopted child, and be one of the following:
the birth mother of the newborn child
the partner of the birth mother
the child’s biological father
the partner of the child’s biological father
the child’s adoptive parent
the partner of an adoptive parent
gaining parents in a surrogacy arrangement
the partner of a gaining parent in a surrogacy arrangement
a person caring for a child under exceptional circumstances.
They also need to meet all of the following:
an income test;
have registered or applied to register the child’s birth with their state or territory birth registry;
have worked for their employer for at least 12 months before the expected date of birth or adoption;
expect to get a block of at least 8 weeks of Parental Leave Pay within one year of the child’s birth or adoption;
be employed by their employer until at least the last day of the block of Parental Leave Pay they’ll deliver;
be on leave and not working on Parental Leave Pay days, except for allowable reasons.
An employee may "keep in touch" with their workplace for up to 10 days, during the leave period, without losing Parental Leave Pay.
Visit the Family Assistance Office’s website at www.familyassist.gov.au for more information.
Sharing paid parental leave
A worker may choose to share either some or all of the Government Parental Leave Pay days with the other parent. The most one parent in a couple can use is 90 days. To get the full 100 days, both parents need to claim or the family will forfeit days. Each parent can take up to 10 days at the same time.
A single parent may still share their days with the other parent, however if they choose not to, they are entitled to the full 100 days of Parental Leave Pay.
Parents can take their Parental Leave Pay as any of the following:
a single block
multiple smaller blocks
single days
a combination of smaller blocks and single days.
Obligations of employers
Workers claiming paid parental leave pay must make their claim directly to Services Australia. Employers are required to pass on Parental Leave Pay payments to eligible employees in the same way as they would pay wages. Services Australia will contact the employer if required to provide Parental Leave Pay to an employee and ask them to provide business bank account details, employee’s pay cycle details, business name, ABN and contact details.
Interaction with paid parental leave scheme of employer
Parental Leave Pay is separate and additional to any other obligation the employer may have in relation to parental leave. The Government scheme will have no effect on the parental leave entitlement under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), Employment Contract or Company Paid Parental Leave Policy.
For more information, please visit the Services Australia website: Parental Leave Pay, Dad and Partner Pay, and the Fair Work website: Paid Parental Leave.
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