Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019

Amendment of section 7 of Principal Act

4. Section 7 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)(a), by substituting “equal to the period referred to in section 6(1)” for “of 18 weeks”,

(b) in subsection (1)(aa)(ii), by substituting “the number of weeks referred to in section 6(1) in total,” for “18 weeks in total, or”,

(c) in subsection (1)(b)(iii), by substituting “subparagraphs (i) and (ii), or” for “subparagraphs (i) and (ii).”,

(d) in subsection (1), by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(ba) where an employee has taken leave pursuant to paragraph (a), (aa) or (b), periods each consisting of not less than 1 week.”,

(e) in subsection (2)(a), by substituting—

(i)“equal to the period referred to in section 6(1)” for “of 18 weeks” in each place where it occurs, and

(ii)“the relevant number times” for “18 times”,

(f) in subsection (2)(b), by substituting “, (aa) or (ba) of subsection (1)” for “or (aa)”,

(g) in subsection (3), by inserting “subsections (3A) and (3B)” for “subsection (3A)”,

(h) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3A):

“(3B) Subsection (3) shall not apply to—

(a) any period of parental leave proposed to be taken by an employee—

(i) in respect of a child who has attained the age of 11 years before or on the specified day, and

(ii) before the 1st anniversary of that day,

if the operation of section 6(2)(a) would prevent the employee from taking all or any part of that parental leave after that day, or

(b) any period of parental leave proposed to be taken by an employee—

(i) in respect of a child who has attained the age of 15 years before or on the specified day, and

(ii) before the 1st anniversary of that day,

if the operation of section 6(2)(c) would prevent the employee from taking all or any part of that parental leave after that day.”,

and

(i) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (4):

“(5) In this section, ‘relevant number’ means the number equivalent to the number of weeks referred to in section 6(1).”.