Your employees may ask to take leave so they can get Parental Leave Pay.
The Paid Parental Leave scheme doesn’t change any of your employee’s existing leave entitlements or give them a new entitlement to leave.
To get Parental Leave Pay, your employee must meet the work test. There are some exceptions to the work test if they stopped work due to certain circumstances. Your employee may request evidence from you to confirm both of the following:
- that they would have continued working had it not been for their circumstances
- the period they were unable to work.
Parental Leave Pay
It’s up to your employee to apply for Parental Leave Pay through us and work out leave arrangements with you.
We’ll contact you if you need to provide Parental Leave Pay to your employee. We’ll also provide the funds to pay your employees.
There are things you need to do to accept Parental Leave Pay.
Which employees you provide it to
As an employer, you must provide Parental Leave Pay to an eligible employee who meets all of the following:
- has a newborn or recently adopted child
- has worked for you for at least 12 months before the expected date of birth or adoption
- expects to get a block of at least 8 weeks of Parental Leave Pay within one year of the child’s birth or adoption
- will be your employee until at least the last day of the block of Parental Leave Pay you’ll deliver
- will be returning to your employment after their leave ends
- lives in Australia.
You only need to provide Parental Leave Pay once per child for each employee who meets all of these conditions. We’ll tell you the exact date you’ll need to provide Parental Leave Pay to your employee.
For employees with a child born from 1 July 2023, the block of at least 8 weeks must meet all of the following additional criteria:
- be made up of consecutive weekdays, Monday to Friday with no breaks
- not contain any weekends
- be the first payment of Parental Leave Pay for this child.
Your employee may decide to get their Parental Leave Pay in multiple blocks. We’ll only ask you to provide their first block of payments. We’ll provide any subsequent blocks of payment to them directly.
Your employee’s block of Parental Leave Pay may change depending on their circumstances. In some cases, you may be required to provide Parental Leave Pay to your employee for less than 8 weeks. We’ll continue to tell you the exact dates that you’ll need to deliver Parental Leave Pay to your employee.
How to opt-in
If your employee doesn’t meet the above criteria, you don’t need to provide Parental Leave Pay. However, if you both agree, you can opt-in to provide it to them.
Learn more about how to opt-in to provide Parental Leave Pay.
When we will pay them
If the block of Parental Leave Pay for your employee is in the past, we may pay them directly.
You don’t need to provide Parental Leave Pay to an eligible employee who gets an income support payment from us.
We’ll provide Parental Leave Pay directly to eligible parents who don’t get it from their employer.
Who gets the Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution
If your employee gets government funded Parental Leave Pay for a child born or adopted from 1 July 2025, the Australian Taxation Office will pay them a superannuation contribution. This is called the Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution (PPLSC). The contribution is based on the superannuation guarantee rate.
You don’t need to calculate or pay the contribution. This will be paid directly to your employee’s superannuation fund after the relevant financial year has ended, starting from July 2026.
While you’re not required to pay superannuation contributions on Parental Leave Pay, you can still make voluntary contributions if you choose to.
Read more about the Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution on the Australian Taxation Office website.
Employer Toolkit
The Employer Toolkit is your complete guide to the Paid Parental Leave scheme and what you need to do.
Legal obligations and templates and guides
The templates and guides on the Fair Work Ombudsman website can help you when employees ask for parental leave.
The Supporting Working Parents website lists your legal obligations to employees who are pregnant, on parental leave or who are working parents.
Read the employer guide to supporting working parents on the Australian Human Rights Commission website.