HR/537
Entitlement
This entitlement applies to all children born or adopted after 15 December 1999.
Births: employee parents or those with parental responsibility (as defined by the Children’s Act) may take up to 13 weeks’ unpaid leave (increasing to 18 weeks from 8 March 2013) during the period ending with the child’s 5th birthday;
Adoptions: employees adopting a child may take up to 13 weeks unpaid leave (increasing to 18 weeks from 8 March 2013) during the period ending with the 5th anniversary of the adoption or the child’s 18th birthday, whichever occurs sooner. In the case of multiple births or adoptions, 13 (18) weeks leave is available for each child.
In the case of disabled children, the entitlement is up to 18 weeks and parents may take their parental leave entitlement up until the child's 18th birthday.
Employees must have twelve months’ service with the University prior to the commencement of leave.
Employees must give a minimum of three weeks’ notice prior to commencing leave.
The maximum leave to be taken within each year is limited to 4 weeks.
Leave (other than where the child is disabled) must be taken in blocks of one week. Part of a week (e.g. a single day) will count as a complete week.
Where a child is disabled, leave may be taken as individual days and will count only as days.
Fathers have an entitlement of up to 4 weeks’ leave immediately their baby is born or child adopted. This entitlement is subsumed within the Paternity and Adoptive Leave entitlements as set out above.
Leave for part time staff is proportionate to the amount of time worked.
The Head of Department may postpone the taking of leave (other than leave as set out in i) above) to an agreed future date or period subject to organisational needs. The taking of leave will however not be postponed for more than six months.
Procedure
All requests for parental leave should be made to the appropriate Head of Department. Where unpaid leave is granted, Heads of Departments must notify HR of the details.
Document Created 2000
Document updated February 2013