Background
The Act aims to improve work-life balance and gender equality within the family and the workforce.
Parent’s leave was introduced by the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019, to augment the various other types of family leave already available under Irish laws (such as maternity, paternity, adoption, unpaid parental leaves, and other family leaves). The Irish government increased the duration of the parent’s leave from two weeks to five weeks for each parent in March 2021 and from five weeks to seven weeks in July 2022.
This leave may be taken to care for young children up until the age of 2 and is distinct from Parental Leave. Parental leave is an unpaid leave of 26 weeks that may be taken for each eligible child before their 12th birthday.
Key details
The Act increases parent’s leave from seven to nine weeks per parent for children born or adopted after 1 August 2024. The additional two weeks can also be claimed by parents of children under age 2 (or placed in adoption for less than two years) in August 2024.
The leave remains non-transferable between parents. The nine weeks may be taken in a single nine-week period or in separate weekly increments. The leave is paid by the Department of Social Protection at a rate of EUR 274 per week for employees who have made sufficient prior social contributions into the national Social Insurance Fund.
Next steps
Employers should modify their family leave policies in accordance with the Act. All other parent’s leave requirements, as stated in a previous Lockton Global Compliance News update, remain the same.
Employers are not mandated to pay employees on parent’s leave, but competitive employers may see value in supplementing social insurance payments.
Resources
PARENT’S LEAVE AND BENEFIT ACT 2019 (EXTENSION OF PERIODS OF LEAVE) ORDER 2024