What is changing?

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• Employees who have or will have responsibility for the care of a child can take 12 months of unpaid parental leave and may request an extension for an additional 12 months (less any periods of unpaid parental leave their partner takes before the extension). The total period with the extension cannot be more than 24 months from the date of birth or placement of the child.

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• Employers must respond to such requests within 21 days of the request, in writing, and in the same manner as flexible work arrangements. Employers can only refuse on reasonable business grounds.

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• Employers and employees need to attempt to resolve the dispute at a workplace level first, however, dispute resolution provisions will enable the dispute to be referred to the Fair Work Commission to make orders, including whether the employer had reasonable business grounds to refuse the request.

Prior to June 6, if a request for flexible working arrangements or an extended period of parental leave was denied, an employee had no further course of action (unless they have an enterprise bargaining agreement or contract).

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Under the changes, an employee can refer the dispute to the Fair Work Commission if the matter:

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• Cannot be resolved in the workplace;

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• The employer failed to respond within 21 days, or

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• If, in the employee’s opinion, the employee rejected the request on unreasonable or illegitimate grounds.

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An employer who seeks to refuse an extension of unpaid parental leave on reasonable business grounds will be subject to additional requirements. 

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Next Steps

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To find out more about navigating parental leave as part of your employee offering, please reach out at any time.

Shabab Maqsud

Head of Client Service – Global Benefit

shabab.maqsud@honan.com.au