ARTICLE · 22 MARCH 2023

Parental leave entitlements in Australia

Hall Payne Lawyers

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Parental leave entitlements include unpaid leave, government funded paid leave & employer funded paid leave.

AustraliaEmployment and HR

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The parental leave system in Australia consists of a combination of entitlements, including unpaid parental leave under the Fair Work Act (Cth) (FW Act), government funded paid parental leave and employer funded parental leave. Parental leave is often referred to as maternity leave, however, today's modern parental leave system provides entitlements for a much broader cohort than the birth mother.

Unpaid parental leave

The National Employment Standards (the NES) provides all employees (including casual employees) with the entitlement to unpaid parental leave, which consists of:

birth and adoption related leave;
flexible parental leave;
pre-adoption leave; and
special maternity leave.

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