Moves to help dad mind the baby

Workers, who have a baby, can take up to two years off work to raise their family but do not receive pay. A new scheme intends to provide a parent with up to 18 weeks of pay on the minimum wage to care for a newborn or newly adopted child.

Since January 1, unpaid parental leave has been available to the primary caregiver who chooses to remain home to look after their new child.

The parent has been granted the right to remain at home for 12 months of unpaid leave and a right to ask their employer for a further 12 months, if desired.

The other parent can take up to three weeks’ unpaid leave after the birth at the same time as their partner and it is up to the family to determine if the mother or father takes the longest period of leave.

From next January, the Federal Government wants all new families to be able to have one parent stay at home with pay for up to 18 weeks. It wants to provide the minimum wage – $569.90 from next month – to the employer to keep paying their staff.

University of Adelaide Professor of Law Andrew Stewart says the new scheme will have a positive impact on workers to make parenting more financially viable.

He says not all workers are entitled to paid leave or to take leave at all. “It’s still a social security payment and for most people, if not all, it will replace the baby bonus,” he says. “It is set at the federal minimum wage, so for almost everyone it’s less than their ordinary pay each week. The right to unpaid parental leave, which everyone has, requires employees to work for the same employer for 12 months before they become eligible.”

He says workers who have not been employed for 12 months will have to satisfy a work test to receive the paid parental leave payments from the Federal Government.

Many workers who change jobs or are working as independent contractors will be ineligible but he says the paid leave will give parents a greater cash injection than the baby bonus.

Professor Stewart says about 40 per cent of the workforce receive paid maternity or paternity leave from their employer. That may range from six to 14 weeks and often is because of individual or union-negotiated entitlements. Paid leave usually is allowed if the parent uses annual leave entitlements.

“Parental leave has been slowly increasing but nothing like as fast as many would like to say,” he says.

“If the Government introduces its own scheme, this will impel some employers to try to negotiate and remove their paid leave entitlements or simply remove them.

“I think employers will still be out to be seen as employers of choice and why they agreed in the first place (to providing entitlements) suggests they are likely to offer parental leave of their own in the future.”

Families who earn above the $150,000 threshold will not receive paid leave. They will have to rely on their employer for paid entitlements.

TIPS TO TAKE LEAVE

PREPARE before you leave “Think about what you need to do to help whoever is going to do your role in your absence. Sometimes the job can fall apart while you’re away.”

CONSIDER returning only after the birth “Determine your energy level and how much you can put into your job. Women often decide to take six more months off, to return for three half-days a week or to resign and start their own business to spend more time at home.”

RETURNING to work “Recognise there is an adjustment period, especially when breastfeeding. It is trial and error and you will find what works for you.

FAMILY is a team effort “Don’t be afraid to ask your partner, or other family members, if they will help you.”

EMBRACE new skills for the workforce “The negotiating, prioritising and organisational skills you learn are transferable to the workplace.”