Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Rights and obligations after commencement of parental leave

47: Failure to accept employment

You could also call this:

“What happens if you don't go back to work after parental leave”

If you take parental leave, your employer might offer you a job that’s very similar to the one you had before your leave. This can happen anytime within 26 weeks after your parental leave ends. If your employer offers you this job, you need to start working within 7 days of the date they specify. If you don’t start the job and don’t have a good reason why, it will be treated as if you stopped working on the day your parental leave started.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM121017.

Previous

46: Failure to return to work, or

“What happens if you don't go back to work after parental leave”

Next

48: Workers employed to replace employees on parental leave, or

“Temporary workers must be told about replacing someone on parental leave”

Part 5 Rights and obligations after commencement of parental leave

47Failure to accept employment

  1. If an employee who has taken parental leave fails, without reasonable excuse, to take up, on the date specified by the employer or within 7 days thereafter, any position substantially similar to the position ordinarily held by the employee before taking parental leave that is offered to the employee by the employee's employer during the period of 26 weeks beginning with the day after the date on which the period of parental leave ends, that employee's employment shall be deemed to have been at an end as from the day on which the period of parental leave began.

Compare
  • 1980 No 162 s 21