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Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Rights and obligations after commencement of parental leave

40: Presumption that employee's position can be kept open in the case of first period of parental leave not exceeding 4 weeks

You could also call this:

“Your job should be kept for you if you take up to 4 weeks of parental leave for the first time”

When you take parental leave for the first time for your child, and it’s for 4 weeks or less, your employer is expected to keep your job open for you. This applies even if the leave includes public holidays. You need to tell your employer about your leave at least as early as the law requires.

Your employer is assumed to be able to keep your job open unless they can prove that your job no longer exists because of a redundancy. This assumption applies even if you don’t give the exact start and end dates of your leave, as long as you’ve told your employer that you’ll be taking up to 4 weeks of leave.

When we talk about keeping your job open, we mean the job you usually do. If you were temporarily moved to a different job before your leave, this rule doesn’t apply to that temporary job.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM120697.

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39A: Succession to employee's entitlements, or

“This rule about keeping your parental leave rights when changing jobs has been removed”

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41: Presumption that employee's position can be kept open in the case of other periods of parental leave, or

“Your job should usually be kept open when you take parental leave”

Part 5 Rights and obligations after commencement of parental leave

40Presumption that employee's position can be kept open in the case of first period of parental leave not exceeding 4 weeks

  1. Where an employee takes a continuous period of parental leave—

  2. that does not exceed 4 weeks (inclusive of any public or statutory holiday falling within the period); and
    1. that is the first period of parental leave taken by the employee in respect of the child; and
      1. of which the employee's employer has had no less notice than the period of notice required by section 31(3) or section 33, as the case may be,—
          1. the employer shall be presumed, in any proceedings under this Act, to be able to keep open for the employee, until the end of that period of parental leave, the employee's position in the employment of the employer unless the employer proves that the employee's position cannot be kept open because of the occurrence of a redundancy situation.

        1. For the purposes of determining under subsection (1) whether an employer has had no less notice of a period of parental leave than the period of notice required by section 31(3) or section 33, as the case may be, it shall be sufficient if the employer had notice that a period of parental leave not exceeding 4 weeks would be taken by the employee, notwithstanding that the employer did not have the requisite notice of the exact date on which the period of parental leave would commence, and the exact date on which it would cease.

        2. The reference in subsection (1) to the employee's position in the employment of the employer shall be a reference to the position ordinarily held by the employee, and shall not include any position to which the employee was temporarily transferred under section 16.