This section brings together basic information about the rights and obligations of employees, employers and self-employed people in respect of parental leave. It contains the current parental leave entitlements, featuring statutory paid parental leave for birth mothers, their partners, as well as adoptive parents.
The Government has announced changes to parental leave provisions as part of the 2014 Budget:
For more details, see these media releases by Minster of Labour, Hon Simon Bridges.
Changes to parental leave
The Government has announced changes to parental leave provisions as part of the 2014 Budget:
- The current 14 weeks' of paid parental leave will be increased in two stages - from 1 April 2015 paid parental leave will increase to 16 weeks and from 1 April 2016 leave provisions will be extended to 18 weeks.
- From 1 April 2016 parental leave payments will apply to more workers - in particular to people who have recently changed jobs, seasonal and casual workers, and workers with more than one employer.
- From 1 April 2016 primary carers, Home For Life parents and other carers with similar permanent care arrangements will be able to access paid parental leave
- For babies born on or after 1 April 2015, the Government will increase the parental tax credit from $150 a week to $220 a week, and extend the payment period from eight weeks to 10 weeks.
For more details, see these media releases by Minster of Labour, Hon Simon Bridges.
