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Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Remedies available to employees

56: Parental leave complaints

You could also call this:

“How to complain if your boss doesn't follow parental leave rules”

If you are an employee and you think your employer has done something wrong about your parental leave, you can make a complaint. This is called a parental leave complaint. You can make a complaint if:

Your employer says you can’t take parental leave or that they can’t keep your job open, and you think they’re wrong.

Your employer has fired you or told you they’re going to fire you because of your parental leave.

Your employer has done something that makes your parental leave rights worse.

Your employer has used their power to change your leave dates without a good reason.

If any of these things happen, you can use special procedures to deal with your complaint. These procedures are explained in sections 57 to 67 of the law.

You can’t make a complaint if too much time has passed. You need to make your complaint within 26 weeks of when the problem happened, or within 26 weeks of when your baby was due (or when you or your partner became the main carer for a child). If you’ve already taken parental leave, you have 8 weeks after your leave ends to make a complaint.

You can use these complaint procedures before or after asking for a quick decision from a court (called an interim order).

This kind of complaint is different from other work complaints (called personal grievances) and has its own special process.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM121036.

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Part 7 Remedies available to employees

56Parental leave complaints

  1. Where any employee alleges that the employee's employer—

  2. is not justified in stating, in the notice given to the employee under section 36, that the employee is not entitled to take any period of parental leave or that the employee's position cannot be kept open; or
    1. has, in contravention of section 49(1), terminated the employee's employment or given the employee notice terminating the employee's employment; or
      1. has taken other action, or has omitted to do something, that affects, to the employee's disadvantage, the employee's rights and benefits in respect of parental leave or a parental leave payment; or
        1. has exercised, without reasonable justification, the powers conferred on the employer by section 14 or section 16,—
            1. that allegation shall be a parental leave complaint to which this section applies, and the employee may use, in respect of that parental leave complaint, the procedures provided in sections 57 to 67.

          1. A parental leave complaint to which this section applies shall not be made—

          2. after the expiration of 26 weeks from the date on which the subject matter of the complaint arose; or
            1. after the expiration of 26 weeks from—
              1. the expected date of delivery of the child (in the case of a child to be born to the employee or to the employee’s spouse or partner); or
                1. the first date on which either the employee or the employee’s spouse or partner became the primary carer in respect of the child (in any other case); or
                2. after the expiration of 8 weeks from the expiry of any period of parental leave taken by the employee,—
                    1. whichever is the later.

                  1. The procedures provided in sections 57 to 67 may be used before or after the making of an interim order under section 55.

                  2. A parental leave complaint to which this section applies is not a personal grievance within the meaning of section 103 of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

                  Compare
                  • 1980 No 162 s 34
                  Notes
                  • Section 56(1): amended, on , by section 14(2) of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 7).
                  • Section 56(1)(c): substituted, on , by section 15 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection (Paid Parental Leave) Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 7).
                  • Section 56(2)(b): replaced, on , by section 45 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 8).
                  • Section 56(4): substituted, on , by section 240 of the Employment Relations Act 2000 (2000 No 24).