As an employer, what do I need to know about paid parental leave?
Robyn McKinney, employment relations consultant with the Employers and Manufacturers Association, responds:
Fortunately, there are few new obligations for employers in the proposed amendment, which will introduce paid parental leave for new mothers entitled to unpaid leave
under the existing Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act.
Twelve weeks' paid parental leave will be available to eligible employees who take parental leave and whose babies are expected on or after July 1 or whose babies are born or adopted on or after July 1.
Employees will be eligible for both parental leave and parental leave payments if they have worked an average of 10 hours a week in the year before the expected date of delivery, provided that they have worked for no less than one hour in every week and no fewer than 40 hours in every month.
An employee is to be treated as having worked for an hour in any week if he or she would normally work but was absent on paid leave, or on leave without pay (other than parental leave) with the employer's permission, or was being paid accident compensation, or was on protected voluntary service or training.
Within 21 days of receiving notice from an employee that he or she wishes to take parental leave, an employer must tell the employee about the entitlement to payment by giving a notice in a prescribed format to the employee.
Payments are financed by taxpayers, rather than employers, and will be paid by whatever department is required to administer payment under the act into a bank account nominated by the employee.
Payment will be the lower of $325 a week or 100 per cent of the greater of employees' ordinary pay or average weekly earnings (as defined in the Holidays Act).
Employees are entitled to a parental leave payment on top of any provision for paid parental leave.
* Send your Mentor questions to: Ellen_Read@nzherald.co.nz. Answers will be provided by Business in the Community's Business Mentor Programme.
