Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987

Payment for parental leave - Duration of parental leave payment

71L: End of parental leave payment

You could also call this:

“When your parental leave money stops coming”

Your parental leave payment will stop when one of these things happens first:

  1. 26 weeks after your payments started
  2. You go back to work as an employee or self-employed person
  3. You are no longer the main person looking after the child

If you are the birth mother of the child, you will keep getting payments until the earlier of points 1 or 2, even if you have a miscarriage, stop being the main carer, or the child dies.

There are some special rules that might change when your payments end. These rules are about sharing your payment with your partner or spouse, and about payments for babies born too early.

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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=DLM121703.

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71K: Start of parental leave payment, or

“When you can start getting money for parental leave”

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71LA: End of parental leave payment for self-employed persons, or

“When self-employed people stop getting money for parental leave”

Part 7A Payment for parental leave
Duration of parental leave payment

71LEnd of parental leave payment

  1. A parental leave payment is payable to a person in respect of a child for a period that ends on the earlier of—

  2. 26 weeks after the date on which parental leave payments began in accordance with section 71K; or
    1. the date on which the person returns to work as an employee or a self-employed person; or
      1. the date on which the person ceases to be the primary carer in respect of the child.

        1. Subsection (1)(c) does not apply, and parental leave payments continue to be payable until the earlier of the dates specified in subsection (1)(a) and (b), if the person receiving the parental leave payments is the biological mother of the child to whom the payments relate and—

        2. she has a miscarriage or ceases to be the primary carer in respect of the child; or
          1. the child dies.

            1. This section is subject to section 71EA (effect of transfer of entitlement to spouse or partner) and section 71DA(5)(c) (entitlement to preterm baby payment).

            Notes
            • Section 71L: replaced, on , by section 67 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 8).
            • Section 71L(1)(a): amended, on , by section 25 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 45).
            • Section 71L(2): amended, on , by section 11 of the Regulatory Systems (Workplace Relations) Amendment Act 2017 (2017 No 13).