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Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Extended leave

26: Duration of extended leave

You could also call this:

“How long you can take off work to care for your child”

You can take extended leave from your job to care for your child. How much leave you can take depends on how long you’ve worked for your employer. If you’ve worked for at least 6 months, you can take up to 26 weeks of leave. If you’ve worked for at least 12 months, you can take up to 52 weeks of leave.

If you and your partner both work, you can share the leave. Together, you can take up to 26 weeks if you’ve both worked for 6 months, or up to 52 weeks if you’ve both worked for 12 months. If one of you has worked for 12 months and the other for 6 months, you can share up to 52 weeks, but the person who’s worked for 6 months can only take up to 26 weeks.

If you take primary carer leave, it will reduce the amount of extended leave you can take. However, if you take special leave or partner’s leave, it won’t reduce your extended leave. Also, if you work on a keeping-in-touch day during your leave, it doesn’t add extra time to your leave.

These rules might change depending on other parts of the law, so it’s a good idea to check the whole Act.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM120649.

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25: Restriction where 2 or more children born or adopted at one time, or

“Rules for having or adopting multiple children at once have changed”

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27: Period during which extended leave may be taken, or

“When you can take your extra time off work after having a baby”

Part 3 Extended leave

26Duration of extended leave

  1. Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the maximum amount of extended leave that an individual employee may take in respect of a child is—

  2. 26 weeks, if the employee meets the 6-month employment test; or
    1. 52 weeks, if the employee meets the 12-month employment test.

      1. If an employee and that employee's spouse or partner are each individually entitled to extended leave in respect of the same child, the maximum combined entitlement of the employee and his or her spouse or partner is—

      2. 26 weeks, if both meet the 6-month employment test; or
        1. 52 weeks, if both meet the 12-month employment test; or
          1. 52 weeks, if one meets the 12-month employment test and the other meets the 6-month employment test (in which case the person who meets the 6-month employment test may not take more than 26 weeks of extended leave out of the combined total entitlement of 52 weeks).

            1. If an employee takes primary carer leave in respect of a child, the period of extended leave to which the employee and his or her spouse or partner are entitled in respect of the child is the relevant period specified in subsection (1) or (2) reduced by the total period of primary carer leave taken, excluding any period of primary carer leave in excess of 26 weeks taken under section 9(2).

            2. If a female employee takes special leave under section 15, the period of extended leave to which that female employee or her spouse or partner is entitled in accordance with this Act is not reduced.

            3. If an employee takes a period of partner’s leave, the period of extended leave to which the employee and his or her spouse or partner are entitled in accordance with this Act is not reduced.

            4. The period of extended leave to which an employee and his or her spouse or partner are entitled is not increased by the number of hours worked by the employee or his or her spouse or partner on a keeping-in-touch day in accordance with section 71CE(2) or 71DB(2).

            5. This section is subject to the other provisions of this Act.

            Notes
            • Section 26: replaced, on , by section 33 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 8).
            • Section 26(3): amended, on , by section 19 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 45).