A male employee has queried whether or not he has an entitlement to take Paternity leave, as he has heard that there have been developments in this area. I am unaware of these developments. How do I handle it?

Michelle Ryan writes:

We will take a closer look at current maternity and other family leave entitlements and examine the proposed Parental Leave and Family Leave Bills.

1. Current Maternity Leave Entitlements:

A. Female Employees:

The Maternity Protection Act, 1994 and the Maternity Protection Amendment Act, 2004 (the Maternity Protection Acts) provide the statutory minimum entitlements in relation to maternity leave. A pregnant employee is currently entitled to 26 consecutive weeks of maternity leave. The employee shall decide the date the leave commences, but it shall not be later than two weeks before the expected “week of confinement” and not end earlier than four weeks after the expected week of confinement.

Pregnant employees have the right to take additional maternity leave for a period of 16 consecutive weeks, beginning immediately after the end of the 26 weeks. This must be communicated to the employer no later than 4 weeks before the day on which her additional maternity leave is due to commence.

B. Male Employees:

There is currently no legal entitlement to Paternity Leave in Ireland. Time off for the father for the birth of the child usually consists of a few days leave with or without pay and is at the discretion of the employer. However, there is one exception to this in the case of the death of the mother. Where the mother dies before the 24th week of confinements, then the father is entitled to leave until the expiry of that 24th week and he is also entitled to leave for a period of 16 consecutive weeks. Where the mother dies after the 24th week, he may take leave until the expiry of the 40th week.

The father is also entitled to a one off right to paid time off work to attend two antenatal classes immediately prior the birth.

2. Adoptive Leave

A. Female Employees:

Adoptive Leave is covered by the Adoptive Leave Acts 1995-2005 and sets out that a female adopting mother is entitled to 24 consecutive weeks unpaid leave and an additional adoptive leave of 16 consecutive weeks unpaid leave.


B. Male Employees:

Sole male adopters are entitled to 24 consecutive weeks unpaid leave and additional adoptive leave of 16 consecutive weeks unpaid.

Leave is only available to the father in the event of the mother’s death for the entire period or the balance of the period if the mother dies on or after the date of placements. The father is also entitled to the entire period of additional adoptive leave or the balance of the period if the mother dies on or after the commencement of additional adoptive leave.


3. Parental Leave

Female and Male Employees:

Parental Leave is covered by the Parental Leave Acts 1998-2006, and has recently been amended by EU Regulations. Parental leave applies to natural and adoptive parents and those in locum parentis to children.

Employees are entitled to 18 weeks parental leave per child provided they are in continues employment by that employer for 12 months.

In the case of natural parents, the leave must be taken before the child reaches its 8th birthday. In the case of adoptive parents of a child between the age of 3 and 8 years at the time of the adoption order, the leave must be taken within 2 years of the order. Parents of a child with a disability may take parental leave at any time before the child reaches 16 years or ceases to have a disability.

4. Carer’s Leave

Female and Male Employees:

An employee’s entitlement to carer’s leave is governed by the Carer’s Leave Acts, 2001 – 2006. The Act provides for carer’s leave for a maximum period of 104 weeks. This must be for the purpose of providing full time care and attention to a “relevant person”. It is the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs that must determine whether a person is in need of full time care and attention. The employee must provide a copy of this decision to their employer prior to being permitted carer’s leave.

The Act provides that carer’s leave may be taken in one continuous period of 104 weeks or in a number of broken periods, totalling 104 weeks. An employer may refuse to permit an employee to take a period of carer’s leave which is less than 13 weeks duration and must give reasons for this refusal. In addition, an employee, in the event that they break their continuous period of 104 weeks, must return to work for a minimum of a 6 week interval between the next block of carer’s leave.

5. Force Majeure Leave

Female and Male Employees:

The Parental Leave Act, 1998 as amended by the Regulation entitled Parental Leave (Notice of Force Majeure Leave) Regulations, 1998 provide that an employee is entitled to force majeure leave where for urgent family reasons, owing to an injury or to the illness of a person referred to in Section 13 (2) of the Act, the employee’s immediate presence is indispensable at the place where the person is.

The persons referred to in Section 13 (2) of the 1998 Act are – child, adopted child or a person in relation to whom the employee is in loco parentis; spouse or person with whom the employee is living as husband or wife or same sex partners; brother or sister; parent or grandparent.

Force majeure leave must not exceed three working days in any period of twelve consecutive months or five working days in any period of thirty six consecutive months.

6. Proposed Parental Leave Bill

Fianna Fáil Senator Mary White has published a Bill which proposes that the father of a new born child can share a portion of the 26 weeks of maternity leave to which the mother is entitled.

The ‘Parental Leave Bill 2013’, which was at the committee stage on the 26 February 2014, proposes that the current maternity leave scheme be amended to enable a woman to transfer a proportion of her maternity leave and benefits to the father of the child, if she so wishes. If passed, this legislation would bring Ireland in line with the UK, where there is provision to share maternity leave.


7. Family Leave Bill

According to the Government Legislative Programme, publication of the Family Leave Bill is expected for early 2015. The Bill aims to consolidate with amendments all family leave legislation on maternity, adoptive, parental and carer’s leave. The heads of the bill have been agreed and the text is being drafted.


8. Implications for Employers and Looking Ahead

Employers should be aware of the various family leave entitlements of their employees and should set out clearly those entitlements in policy documents.

Employers should be especially cognisant of the fact that employees on any of the above family leaves, are on protected leave. It is unlawful to terminate a person’s contract whilst they are on such a form of protected leave and employees are entitled to return to the role they had before the leave commenced.