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Are You Ready for Paid Parental Leave?

The Government Parental Leave Pay Scheme will be effective from 1 January 2011, with claims being able to be lodged by parents from 1 October 2010. Is your business ready?

From 1 October 2010, claims can be lodged by parents (up to three months in advance of the expected birth or adoption) and employers can register to provide Parental Leave Pay (through Centrelink Business Online Services). Payment under the scheme will not be available to employees until 1 January 2011.

The Paid Parental Leave scheme:

  • is government funded
  • is for eligible working parents of children born or adopted on or after 1 January 2011
  • can be transferred to the other parent
  • is paid at the National Minimum Wage
  • is for up to 18 weeks
  • can be taken any time within the first year after birth

Though parental leave pay is funded by the Government, with eligibility determined by the Family Assistance Office, once approved, it is administered by the employer.

Next steps for employers are:

  1. ensure your parental leave policy is up to date
  2. communicate your policy and its requirements to your staff
  3. the employer’s role is being phased in over the first 6 months - decide whether to commence voluntarily administering payments from January 2011, or wait till it becomes mandatory in July 2011.
  4. check you have adequate payroll systems and processes in place to administer the payments

Key dates for employers:

  • 1 October 2010 - you can opt in and pre-register; first Parental Leave Pay claims for employees can be lodged from this date.
  • 1 January 2011 - first payments commence for children who are born or adopted from this date. You can opt-in to provide Parental Leave Pay to your eligible long-term employees.
  • 1 April 2011 - first claims for Parental Leave Pay can be lodged for children due to be born or adopted from 1 July 2011. The first mandatory decisions will be made for you to provide Parental Leave Pay to your eligible employees from 1 July 2011.
  • 1 July 2011 - you are required to provide compulsory Parental Leave Pay to eligible long-term employees, for babies born or adopted from 1 July 2011.

Clients of Your HRmanager's Retained Advisory Services and Online Library can download an updated Parental Leave Policy and Checklist for their employees from the Online Library.