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Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Restrictions on parental leave

6A: Treatment of employment with same employer for purposes of determining subsequent parental leave entitlements

You could also call this:

“How your job time is counted after returning from parental leave”

When you go back to work for the same employer after taking parental leave, there are special rules about how your work time is counted. These rules help figure out if you can get parental leave again in the future.

If you return to your job right after your parental leave ends, or if you come back while you still have the right to be hired first by your old employer, these rules apply to you.

Here’s what happens: When you start working again, it’s like your job is brand new. The time you work from that day forward is what counts for your next parental leave. It’s as if you’re starting over, even if you worked there before.

This rule is more important than another rule in the law (section 43). So if there’s any conflict, this rule wins.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM120455.

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6: Restriction on taking of parental leave within 6 months of end of previous period of parental leave in respect of another child, or

“You must wait 6 months after finishing parental leave before taking it again for another child”

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7: Meaning of primary carer, or

“Who counts as a primary carer for a child”

6ATreatment of employment with same employer for purposes of determining subsequent parental leave entitlements

  1. This section applies if an employee resumes service with the same employer—

  2. at the end of a period of parental leave; or
    1. while the employee is entitled, following parental leave, to preference in obtaining employment with the employee's employer.

      1. For the purposes of determining subsequent entitlements to parental leave under this Act, the employee's period of employment with the employer must be treated as beginning on the day that the employee resumes service with the employer.

      2. This section overrides section 43.

      Notes
      • Section 6A: inserted, on , by section 13 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave for Self-Employed Persons) Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 20).